info@fokanaconventiontoronto.com www.fokanaconventiontoronto

info@fokanaconventiontoronto.com
www.fokanaconventiontoronto.com
FOKANA CONVENTION
TORONTO-CANADA 2016
Background
The first recorded arrival of an Indian visitor to America (Salem, Massachusetts) was on
December 29, 1790. Ever since immigrants from India have settled in the United States
and Canada growing to an estimated population of 14,000,000 people. Indian community
in North America is one of the most educated and wealthiest groups. The highest number
of PhDs are held by Indians and the largest real estate assets among immigrants are held
by Indians. They are one of the most enterprising and successful entrepreneurs. Indians
are called Model Minority.
Originating from the Indian state of Kerala, Malayalees constitute a significant number of
the Indian immigrants. The estimated number of Malayalees in North America is
1,200,000.
FOKANA is a non-profit, umbrella organization of Malayalee Associations in North America, with a mandate to provide help, guidance and a ‘home away from home’. Since its inception in 1983, FOKANA has earned global recognition for its efforts towards preserving
Kerala cultural identity and promoting North American Malayalee integration. In recent
years, FOKANA has emerged as the biggest socio-cultural organization of Malayalees in
diaspora.
FOKANA’s first convention was held on the July 4th weekend of 1983 in New York City.
Ever since, FOKANA has been organizing conventions every two years at various US and
Canadian cities. The sixth convention held in Toronto Canada on July 1994, was attended
by more than six thousand Malayalees and prominent leaders from Kerala, USA and Canada. In addition to promoting Kerala cultural activities, FOKANA organizes youth conferences, workshops, and seminars to develop and enhance leadership skills, political awareness, and civic participation among the youth. FOKANA has worked with other IndoAmerican organizations to obtain dual citizenship for people of Indian origins in North
America. Since 1991 FOKANA has initiated the establishment of Kerala Centers around
North America. Activities of these centers include:
Charity donations to deserving orphanages.
Literary discourses and promotion of Malayalam language and literature through poetry
reading, Malayalam literary discussion groups, Malayalam classes, musical concerts, and
dance programs are conducted at regular intervals.
“Bhash akkoru Dollar” (a Dollar for my language) is widely acclaimed by Keralites around
the globe.
For more information on FOKANA and convention, please visit our official website.
www.fokanaconventiontoronto.com
.FOKANA 17th National Convention Toronto 2016
This year FOKANA is organizing its 17th national convention from July 1-4, 2016 at Hilton Toronto/Markham Suites Conference Centre & Spa, 8500 Warden Avenue, Markham, On, L6G 1A5, Canada. Hilton Toronto/Markham Suites Conference Centre & Spa is one of the largest suite capacity
hotels in GTA with large banquet/conference hall capacity. FOKANA has reserved most of its
rooms in advance along with special provision of Kerala food inside the hotel, the very first time in
the history of FOKANA. As part of the convention, we are planning a variety of events such as film
awards, sports, games, beauty pageants, dance and singing competitions and many other cultural
events and performances by participants and celebrities from Canada, USA and India. The four day
convention will be attended by state and central ministers and prominent writers from across the
globe. The expected turnout is around 8,000 to 9,000 people throughout these convention days.
Highlights of the Convention events include, FOKANA International Malayalam Cine Award
(FIMCA), the first ever Malayalam Cinema Award in North America, Miss FOKANA, FOKANA
Malayalee Manka. FOKANA Star Singer Hunt, Udayakumar Memorial Volleyball Tournament,
Short Film festival and award, Star Shows, Musical Shows, Banquet, Youth Banquets and DJ
FOKANA International Malayalam Cine Awards (FIMCA 2016)
FOKANA International Malayalam Cine Awards for all popular categories is the very first movie
award for Malayalam Movies organized in North America. The first Award night will be held on
July 2nd 2016 at the Toronto FOKANA national convention. All winners will be selected by a panel of judges and Gallup poll by the public through all available media worldwide. The award function will be filled with four to five hours of top quality entertainment by International performers
and celebrity artists. A very popular and experienced event management team is working with
FOKANA to make this event even memorable. There will be a large number of celebrities, politicians, business magnets and other VIPS from India attending this convention and the award cere-
Miss FOKANA 2016
Miss FOKANA is a very popular event of the FOKANA convention. For the last few years FOKANA has conducted this beauty pageant successfully. This year, along with price money, the winner
will also get a direct entry to Miss Kerala beauty pageant and a possible chance to get into Miss
India pageant. The pageant will be packed with variety entertainment by talented artists from
here and abroad and the crown will be awarded by a panel of celebrity judges during the banquet
FOKANA Star Singer 2016
FOKANA Star Singer is a new addition to the FOKANA convention. The preliminary round will
be held in all regions of FOKANA and the final will be held at the convention. Famous playback
singer G Venugopal will be the chief judge of this event. Along with price money, the winner will
get a chance to sing in a movie by a prominent music director in the Malayalam industry.
K Udayakumar Memorial Volleyball Tournament 2016
FOKANA organizing its very first Volleyball tournament in memory of former Indian Volleyball
caption K Udayakumar who left us 2014. The preliminary rounds will be organized in various cities in USA and Canada and final round will be held at FOKANA convention Toronto. Winners
will get the Udayakumar Memorial Ever rolling trophy cash prizes.