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The 7th Annual RBC Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Awards honours outstanding contributions from a diverse pool of world-renowned talent in the culinary, medical, educational and entrepreneurial fields
TORONTO, June 23, 2015 – Two celebrity chefs/restaurateurs, Vikram Vij and Susur Lee, have been named among this year’s RBC Top 25 Canadian Immigrants, the people’s choice program that celebrates inspiring Canadian immigrants. Presented by Canadian Immigrant magazine, other winners from the food world include Shasha Navazesh, who founded ShaSha Co.,
Nearly all of this year’s winners arrived in their new home country more than a decade ago and made a significant contribution to
“There is no limit to what an immigrant can achieve in
The winners will be honoured at a celebration in
Alice Chung, owner of Alive Health Centre in
“Newcomers bring a diversity of talent that helps
More than 650 nominations were received in less than two months, from which 75 finalists were shortlisted by a diverse judging panel that included several past winners. Over 45,000 online votes were cast, making it the most popular year in the award’s history. The final 25 were chosen based on a combination of votes and a second round of judging.
“The people recognized by the RBC Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Awards have a true passion for our country, an inventive nature and are an inspiration to many,” said Paul Bailey, Advertising Manager, Chevrolet. “It takes a significant amount of resourcefulness and creativity to come to a new country and break cultural and social barriers to achieve great success. The Chevrolet Ingenuity Award was designed to recognize the efforts of a truly inspirational individual.”
The RBC Top 25 award winners will receive a commemorative plaque and a $500 donation will be made towards a registered Canadian charity of their choice. Winners will also be featured online at canadianimmigrant.ca/rbctop25 and in the July print edition of Canadian Immigrant magazine.
· Tikaram Adhikari (
· Soheila Ansari (Coquitlam, B.C./Iran)
· Amrik Singh Aulakh (
· Ulrike Bahr-Gedalia (Halifax/Germany)
· Henri Boyi (
· John Chang (
· Alice Chung (
· Amanda Yeung Collucci (
· Ver Cruz (Toronto/Philippines)
· Bob Dhillon (Calgary/Born in Japan of Indian origin)
· Dr. Qais Ghanem (Ottawa/Yemen)
· Sherif Guorgui (Toronto/Egypt)
· John Iwaniura (Toronto/Poland of Ukrainian heritage)
· Susur Lee (Toronto/Hong Kong)
· Dr. Tak Wah Mak (Toronto/China/Hong Kong)
· Dr. Rosemary Moodie (Toronto/Jamaica)
· Shasha Navazesh (Toronto/Iran)
· Dr. Dhun Noria (
· Umashanie Reddy (Calgary/South
· Maria Nieves Santos-Greaves (
· Thilak Tennekone (
· Kim Thúy (Montreal/Vietnam)
· Vikram Vij (Vancouver/India)
· Dr. Gezahgn Wordofa (
· Ana María Zúniga (North Vancouver/Chile)
The RBC Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Award winners of 2015
The RBC Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Award winners of 2015 are listed in alphabetical order below and include current city residence and home country in parentheses. Full biographies are available on the Canadian Immigrant (canadianimmigrant.ca/rbctop25) website.
Tikaram Adhikari (
· Soheila Ansari (Coquitlam, B.C./Iran) is a settlement worker and a regular on Aria TV’s Whiteboard.
· Amrik Singh Aulakh (
· Ulrike Bahr-Gedalia (Halifax/Germany) is president and CEO of Digital Nova Scotia, a nonprofit organization.
· Henri Boyi (
· John Chang (
· Alice Chung (
· Amanda Yeung Collucci (
· Ver Cruz (Toronto/Philippines) is president of Vercore International Services, a private training institute that helps immigrants prepare for the job force.
· Bob Dhillon (Calgary/Born in Japan of Indian origin) is a real-estate entrepreneur, whose company, Mainstreet Equity Corp., is the largest landlord in
· Dr. Qais Ghanem (Ottawa/Yemen) is a retired doctor specializing in sleep medicine, who now dedicates his time to creating dialogue around diversity on the radio.
· Sherif Guorgui (Toronto/Egypt) is an internationally trained pharmacist, an entrepreneur, and vice-president of pharmacy at the Ontario Pharmacists Association.
· John Iwaniura (Toronto/Poland of Ukrainian heritage) is president Caravan Logistics, one of the top 50 carriers in
· Susur Lee (Toronto/Hong Kong) has been voted as one of the “Ten Chefs of the Millennium” by Food & Wine magazine, and appears on Chopped Canada as a judge.
· Dr. Tak Wah Mak (Toronto/China/Hong Kong) is a renowned researcher and director of the Campbell Family for Breast Cancer Research Institute.
· Dr. Rosemary Moodie (Toronto/Jamaica) is a pediatrician and advocate for women and children.
· Shasha Navazesh (Toronto/Iran) is CEO of ShaSha Co. He is also the founder and president of the Artisan Bakers’ Quality Alliance (ABQA).
· Dr. Dhun Noria (
· Umashanie Reddy (Calgary/South Africa) is executive director of the Calgary Bridge Foundation for Youth.
· Maria Nieves Santos-Greaves (
· Thilak Tennekone (
· Kim Thúy (Montreal/Vietnam) is an award-winning author. Her first novel, Ru, won the Governor General’s Award for French-language fiction.
· Vikram Vij (Vancouver/India) has appeared on Chopped Canada and Dragons’ Den as a Dragon. He also manufactures his own line of take-home Indian food. Vij has been selected for the Chevrolet Ingenuity Award.
· Dr. Gezahgn Wordofa (
· Ana María Zúniga (North Vancouver/Chile) is president of AZ World Translation and Interpretation Inc., which she grew from a one-woman translation company to an agency working with more than 100 translators.
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