George Bonavia, a well-known broadcaster among migrants in Canada, passed away on Saturday, aged 87.
A former sub-editor of the Maltese daily Il-Berqa, he emigrated in 1948 and between 1961 and 1973 produced a magazine programme on cable radio about migrants in Canada. Up to 1965 he also wrote a regular column on Maltese migrants in Il-Berqa.
Soon after emigrating, Mr Bonavia set up the first association of Maltese migrants in Ontario and between 1952 and 1965 headed The Malta News, a monthly newspaper for Maltese migrants in North America.
Mr Bonavia served as immigration officer in Ontario and became information officer in the Canadian Foreign Service in Ottawa in 1965. Between 1966 and 1968 he served in the Canadian Embassy, in Rome. Prior to retirement in 1981 he worked in the information services section of the Department of Manpower and Immigration within the Multicultural Directorate of the Secretary of State in Ottawa.
As a member of the Akkademja tal-Malti he was instrumental in setting up the Maltese section in public libraries in those areas in Canada where Maltese migrants settled.
He was awarded the Midalja ghall-Qadi tar-Repubblika by the Maltese government in 1998 and Gieh Haz-Zabbar in 2004.
