An incredible
rags-to-riches immigrant story from a prominent Tamil Canadian who fled
torture and imprisonment, arriving in Canada with $50 in his pocket, then
rising from the mailroom to the executive suite.
For CI Financial executive Roy Ratnavel,
started in the mailroom is more than a cliche. That was his start on Bay
Street only a few years after escaping the ethnic violence that was engulfing
Sri Lanka.
Ratnavel’s incredible journey begins when
he was 17, taken by government soldiers to a prison camp for no reason other
than guilty of being Tamil. He was tortured for two months, until he was able
to get word out to a family friend-a colonel in the Sri Lankan army.
Uncle Fernando was able to rescue Ratnavel from the camp and return the
bruised, bloodied boy to his family.
Ratnavel’s father understood that there
was no future for his son in Sri Lanka. He sought refuge for his son in
Canada. When the consular immigration officer asked for proof that the boy
faced danger in his homeland, Roy simply lifted his shirt to show the man his
raw scars. It wasn’t long before Ratnavel was on a plane. His father was shot
two days later.
To repay the debt he owed to his hero of
a father, Ratnavel was determined to find the bright future that had been envisioned
for him. He went to night school, worked three jobs at a time, and lived in tiny
apartments with four roommates. He persevered, and he hustled. He accepted no charity, even from relatives,
but he made the most of the opportunities set in his path and the mentorship
offered by those Canadians who recognized his work ethic.
Prisoner #1056 is not only a hugely moving immigrant success story and a searing account of overcoming unimaginable injustice and trauma-it is a passionate narrative of determination, and of finding a way to thrive in the darkest of circumstances.
