SVG REMA to provide education and medical assistance to Vincentian nationals in Ontario

An Organisation created to provide relief to students and other Vincentian nationals in Canada was launched last weekend in Toronto.

The St. Vincent and the Grenadines Relief, Education and Medical Assistance Organisation – REMA, will seek to provide assistance to SVG students who encounter financial difficulties while pursuing their studies at tertiary institutions in Ontario;{{more}} and provide relief to nationals temporarily located in Canada who are rendered in need of urgent medical attention.

A number of prominent Vincentian nationals resident in Ontario, officials of the Provincial Government, and representatives of the corporate community in Toronto attended last Saturday’s official launch which was held at the Park Hyatt Hotel in Downtown Toronto.

Foreign Affairs Minister, Sir Louis Straker, delivered the keynote address and commended the organisation on the step it has taken to access resources and provide support to nationals in the Diaspora when in need. He saw this as complementing the efforts of the Government which bases its policies and programmes on the pillars of education, good governance and poverty alleviation.

Consul General, Steve Phillips, whose initiative it was to form this body, assured the gathering that REMA will conduct its business with the appropriate levels of transparency, accountability and fairness. Consul General Phillips is Co-Chair of the 15-member steering committee, along with former schoolteacher, Ronald Gunn.

Saturday’s event was attended by Ontario’s M. P. P. for Eglinton and Lawrence – Mike Colle, O.E.C.S. High Commissioner to Canada – Brendon Browne and other members of the Diplomatic Corps.