Visa denial to Ven Somananda Thera:

Nayake Thera writes to Canadian Embassy

Ven Walpola Piyananda Nayake Thera, the Viharadhipathi of Dharma Vijaya Buddhist Vihara, Los Angeles and President Sri Lankan Sangha Council of North America has written to the Minister of the Canadian Embassy in Colombo about the embassy staff denying a visa for the chief incumbent of Sri Maha Vihara, Pamankada, Ven Havpe Somananda Thera, a 72- year-old member of the Buddhist clergy who had been asked to remove the titles Venerable and Thera from his passport if he wanted a visa to enter Canada.

The Nayake Thera said in his letter to Minister Kenny that he strongly objected to the way in which the embassy staff had treated this senior member of the clergy who had been invited by a Buddhist monk in Canada to attend a religious function there.

The Buddhist monk had visited USA earlier without any problem, the Nayake Thera's letter stated. But the staff of the Canadian Embassy had asked Ven. Somananada Thera to obtain a new passport with the titles Venerable and Thera deleted.