5th Annual CIBC Midweek South Asian Awards 2012

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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Jason Kenney, Malala Yousafzai, Fauja Singh, Ajay Virmani, Ginni Sethi among big winners at the 5th Annual CIBC Midweek South Asian Awards 2012
 
The 5th Annual CIBC Midweek South Asian Awards announced its award recipients at a star-studded ceremony at Radisson Plaza on Saturday, November 3.

Organized by CIBC, leading North American financial institution and Y Media, the awards ceremony was held to recognize and honour the achievements of South Asians worldwide.

Gurpreet Dhillon was declared as the recipient of the Midweek South Asian Sportsperson of the Year.  Jagmeet Singh, MPP – Baramlea Gore Malton and Kundan Joshi, CEO Joshi Inc. presented the award to Dhillon for his tremendous contribution in the field of cricket and T20 game in CPC Cricket League Canada. Simar Bedi-Web Atlantic Printers, Pathik Baxi-Simons Desilva and Cinton are proud sponsors of the award.

Charles Sousua, MPP Mississauga South and Minister of Citizenship and Immigration for Ontario and Yudhvir Jaswal, Group Editor and CEO Y Media presented the award of Midweek South Asian Professional of the Year to Naval Bajaj, President, Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce. The award was sponsored by Prashant Rai and Murari Lal, Thap liyal and Rai Law Office.

Teen sensation Malala Yousafzai, who rose to prominence after being shot in the head and neck in an assassination attempt by Taliban gunmen for promoting education and women’s rights was awarded the Midweek South Asian Award for Bravery and Courage. Bob Delaney, MPP Mississauga Streetsville; Badar Munir Chaudhry, Chief Editor Akhbar – e – Pakistan, Canada Head GEO TV and Yudhvir Jaswal were the dignitaries present on stage.  Dr. Inder Preet Budhiraja and Mrs. Rana Sodhi, Bramalea & Bovaird Walk In Clinic sponsored the award. Imran Ali, Consulate General of Pakistan received the award on behalf of Malala Yousafzai.

International media including BBC and GEO TV had broadcast the news announcement. The video clip of the news coverage was played live in front of the audience.

Dr. Shafiq Qaadri, MPP Etobicoke North; Linda Jeffrey, MPP – Brampton Springdale presented the Midweek South Asian Small Business Person of the Year Award to Kiran Kaushal. Tarun Virdi (Mortgage Broker) was the award sponsor.

Priti Lamba, Federal Conservative Candidate of Record Etobicoke North was presented with Midweek south Asian Award in the Field of Community Service (Female) by Chris Fonseca City Councillor Ward 3 Mississauga and Sunny Trehan, Reliance Entertainent. Harpreet Luthra, Luthra Law Office, Mr. Parwinder Singh, Home Life United was the proud award sponsor.

Midweek south Asian Award in the Field of Community Service ( Male) – Staff Seargent BJ Sandhu, Diversity Relations Unit at Peel Regional Police. Navdeep Bains, Former MP presented the award. Baljit Bawa sponsored the award.

Sardar Fauja Singh was conferred with Midweek South Asian Sher E Punjab Award of the Year at a Press Conference on October 12, for his outstanding contribution and bringing pride to the South Asian community. Balraj Singh and Vikram Singh, Dass Optical was the award sponsor.

Vicky Dhillon, City Councillor,  Brampton Ward No. 9 and 10 and Mr. George – Team Chrysler announced Markham Gladiators as the  winner of the 5th annual CPC Intercity Cricket Cup. Captain  Simon Kalyan received the winning trophy on stage. Y Media every year organizes Intercity Cricket Cup. Eight teams are drafted every year for example, Brampton Lions, Mississauga Superstars, Toronto Warriors; to name some.

Brad Butt, MP Mississauga—Streetsville presented the Midweek South Asian Business Person of the Year (Female) Award to Ginni Sethi, President of Radisson Plaza Mississauga, Grand Victorian Centre. The award was sponsored by Rogers TV.

Susan Fennel, Mayor City of Brampton and Yudhvir Jaswal presented Midweek South Asian Person of the Year to Khalid Usman, Director (Finance) of the Canadian Federation of Intercultural Friendship (CFIF). PK Sabharwal, Team Sabharwal sponsored the award.

Raza Hasan, SVP Retail Lending and Wealth Risk Management CIBC and Venki Raman Associate Vice–President, CIBC spoke about the CIBC and Y Media's association as well as presented the CIBC Midweek South Business person of the year to Ajay K Virmani, President and CEO of Cargojet; Film Producer.

CIBC Midweek South Asian Diversity Award was presented to Jason Kenney, Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism by Raza Hasan, Yudhvir Jaswal and Harpreet Sethi.

Among the highlights of this year’s event was the grand performance by Bollywood actress Kashmira Shah. The actress who has appeared in many films notably, Yes Boss, Pyaar To Hona Hi Tha, Jungle, was also presented with a plaque as a token of appreciation by Goldy Madan and Megha Madan sponsors Sai Vachan Creations.

Jake Dheer and Surbhi Joshi were the MC's of the evening.
 
Here is a complete list of winners of the 5th Annual CIBC Midweek South Asian Awards:
 
• Midweek South Asian Sportsperson of the Year – Gurpreet Dhillon
• Midweek South Asian Professional of the Year – Naval Bajaj
• Midweek South Asian Award for Bravery and Courage – Malala Yousafzai
• Midweek South Asian Small Business Person of the Year – Kiran Kaushal
• Midweek south Asian Award in the Field of Community Service (Female) – Priti Lamba
• Midweek south Asian Award in the Field of Community Service (Male) – Staff Sergeant BJ Sandhu
• Midweek South Asian Sher – E – Punjab Award of the Year – Sardar Fauja Singh
• Midweek South Asian Business Person of the Year (Female) Award – Ginni Sethi
• Midweek South Asian Person of the Year – Khalid Usman
• CIBC Midweek South Business person of the year ( Male) – Ajay K Virmani
• CIBC Midweek South Asian Diversity Award – Jason Kenney
• 5th Annual CPC intercity Cricket Cup – Markham Gladiators
 
CIBC South Asian Power List consisting of 25 extra-ordinary South Asians was also announced. Individuals were selected on the basis of financial status, community service, position in public service office, head of a business house, influence in the South Asian and mainstream community, and popularity.

CIBC Midweek South Asian Power List includes:

1. Dr. Ajay K Virmani
2. Alok Mukherjee
3. Amrit Mangat
4. Antony Stan
5. Anu Srivastava
6. Bal Gosal
7. Bhim Asdhir
8. Dr. Gopal Bhatngar
9. Harinder Takhar
10. Harpreet Sethi
11. Jake Dheer
12. Jasbir Sandhu
13. Khalid Usman
14. Kula Sellathurai
15. Navdeep Bains
16. Parm Gill
17. Prashant Pathak
18. Puneet Kohli
19. Rana Sarkar
20. Satish Thakkar
21. Terry Papneja
22. Vasu Chanchlani
23. Vic Dhillon
24. Vicky Dhillon
25. Venki Raman

South Asians form a large and vibrant community in Canada – close to 1.5 million. Since the beginning of the twentieth century, South Asians have been settling in Canada and further diversifying the country. Presently, South Asians are actively involved in Canadian politics at all levels, run small to large-scale businesses, participate in community service, and hold positions of influence in various sectors.