From Torture Survivor to Bay Street Vice Chair: Roy Ratnavel on Resilience, Freedom, and Giving Back

Roy Ratnavel, a retired Bay Street executive in Toronto, recounts escaping Sri Lanka’s decades-long civil war after being rounded up at 17 with 2,700 other Tamils, imprisoned, and brutally tortured—surviving through unexpected compassion, including help from the defence minister’s wife and his father’s army-colonel friend who rescued and cared for him. He reflects on Sri Lanka’s post-2009 reality, citing modest progress but unresolved disappearances, limited structural change, and the need for constitutional reform to ensure equal rights. Arriving in Canada at 18 in 1988 with limited English, he lost his father two days later when he was shot and killed by the Indian Army, which fueled his ambition. Working three jobs, he broke into Bay Street via a mailroom role, gained mentors who supported his education, and rose over 33 years to vice chairman before retiring at 53. Now he mentors immigrants and young professionals, serves on hospital boards, speaks publicly to share resilience, and urges assimilation alongside multiculturalism to protect the Canadian dream.