The Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Awards is an annual campaign by ''Canadian Immigrant'' magazine that recognizes outstanding work by
immigrants
Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...
who "have come to
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
and have made a positive difference living in the country."
Overview
First launched by ''Canadian Immigrant'' in 2009, the program takes place online and nominations are open to all Canadians. The program is divided into three phases: nominations, voting and winners announcements. At the start of each year, ''Canadian Immigrant'' invites nominations based on a variety of criteria, which range from contribution to community to professional accomplishments. The award is open to immigrants from all walks of life, be it a community advocate or volunteer, a successful entrepreneur or a cultural icon. A judging panel composed of leaders who work within the immigrant or ethnic communities determine the
shortlist
A short list or shortlist is a list of candidates for a job, prize, award, political position, etc., that has been reduced from a longer list of candidates (sometimes via intermediate lists known as "long lists"). The length of short lists varie ...
on which the public vote.
The winners are featured online and in a special issue each year. Past winners include
Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games
The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC) (french: Comité d’organisation des Jeux olympiques et paralympiques d’hiver de 2010 à Vancouver - COVAN) was the non-profit organization responsible ...
CBC News
CBC News is a division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the news gathering and production of news programs on the corporation's English-language operations, namely CBC Television, CBC Radio, CBC News Network, and CBC.ca. ...
anchor
Ian Hanomansing
Ian Harvey Hanomansing is a Canadian television journalist with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC)."Hanomansing's future is anchored in star potential: Pacific Rim host could be next Mansbridge". ''Vancouver Sun'', June 16, 1997. He form ...
, Canada's 26th
Governor General
Governor-general (plural ''governors-general''), or governor general (plural ''governors general''), is the title of an office-holder. In the context of governors-general and former British colonies, governors-general are appointed as viceroy t ...
Adrienne Clarkson
Adrienne Louise Clarkson (; ; born February 10, 1939) is a British Hong Kong, Hong Kong-born Canadian journalist who served from 1999 to 2005 as Governor General of Canada, the List of Governors General of Canada#Governors General of Canada, 1 ...
, entrepreneur/philanthropist
Aditya Jha
Aditya Jha is a Nepalese Canadian entrepreneur, philanthropist and social activist. A globetrotter, his business portfolio consists of several startups and company turnarounds with interests in Canada, India, Thailand and Nepal. He also runs sev ...
Recipients in 2022 include:
* Tosin Ajibola
* Damineh Akhavan
* Patrick Alcedo
* Minister Omar Alghabra
*
Anil Arora
Anil Arora is the currently serving Chief Statistician of Canada, in office since 19 September 2016. He replaced Wayne Smith (statistician), Wayne Smith, who resigned to protest changes in Statistics Canada's informatics infrastructure stemming fr ...
* Mariam Bilgrami
* Karla Briones
* Rita Chahal
* Diana Alli D’Souza
* Tracy Folorunsho-Barry
* Raquel Fox
* Dr. Sivakumar Gulasingam
*
John Herdman
John Herdman (born 19 July 1975) is an English professional Manager (association football), football manager who is the head coach of the Canada men's national soccer team, Canada men's national team.
Coaching career Early career
Herdman beg ...
* Dr. Akshay Jain
*
Bhutila Karpoche
Bhutila Tenzin Karpoche ( ; , born ) is a Canadian politician who has served as the member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) for Parkdale—High Park since June 7, 2018. A member of the Ontario New Democratic Party (NDP), she is the party's early ...
* Mohamed Lachemi, PhD
*
Paul Sun-Hyung Lee
Paul Sun-Hyung Lee (born August 16, 1972) is a Korean-Canadian actor and television host. He is best known for his roles as Randy Ko in the soap opera ''Train 48'' (2003–2005) and as family patriarch Appa in the play '' Kim's Convenience'' (20 ...
* Leen Li
* Arnon Melo
* Roda Muse
* Amie Peacock
* Janaka Ruwanpura, PhD
* Harman Singh
* Ruairi Spillane
* Rui Wang, PhD
2021
Recipients in 2021 include:
* Luis Carlos Flores Aguilar
* Lanre Ajayi
* Gentille M. Assih
* Ida Beltran-Lucila
* Tulia Castellanos
* Hon. Justice Mahmud Jamal
* Dr. Victoria Lee
* Indra Maharjan
*
Ginella Massa
Ginella Massa (born January 29, 1987) is a Canadian television journalist. An Afro-Latina Muslim reporter and anchor, she became Canada's first hijab-wearing television reporter in 2015, and the first news anchor in hijab when she anchored the 1 ...
* Paola Murillo
* Edsel Mutia
* Leon Ng
* Rita Orji
*
Gurdeep Pandher
Gurdeep Pandher is a Sikh-Canadian, Yukon-based author, teacher and performer, who makes Punjabi dance videos. Gurdeep was born into a farming family, in a small village in Siahar, Punjab. He moved to Canada in 2006 and became a Canadian citizen ...
* Ajay Patel
* Shreya Patel
* Jack Rabba
* Bukola Salami
* Dr. Pere Santamaria
* Anil Shah
*
Sonia Sidhu
Satinderpal "Sonia" Sidhu is a Canadian politician who was elected as a Member of Parliament in the House of Commons of Canada to represent the federal electoral district of Brampton South during the 2015 Canadian federal election.
Early life
...
* Zen Tharani
* Boris Tsimerinov
* Hassan Wadi
* Jaclyn (Jie) Zhang
Hamza Haq
Hamza Haq (born October 27, 1990) is a Canadian actor, best known for his leading role in the television series '' Transplant''.
Early life
Hamza Haq was born to Pakistani parents in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, before immigrating to Canada when he w ...
* Conny Lo
* Jakub Martinec
* Adeola Olubamiji
* Fariba Pacheleh
*
Bruce Poon Tip
Bruce Poon Tip is a Canadian businessman and the founder of G Adventures, an adventure - travel company. He is an author, who wrote the book ''Looptail: How One Company Changed the World by Reinventing Business''.
Early life and education
Bru ...
* Dr. Henry Reis
* Arlene Ruiz
* Krishana Sankar
* Harsh Thakkar
* Halia Valladares Montemayor
* Maryam Yaqoob
2019
Recipients in 2019 include:
* Mohd Jamal Alsharif
* Javier Badillo
* Selwyn Collaco
* Rola Dagher
*
Monika Deol
Monika Deol is a Canadian television personality. She began as an entertainment reporter for Citytv in Toronto, Ontario, and later became a VJ for MuchMusic, hosting and co-producing ''Electric Circus'' from 1988 to 1996. Simultaneously, Deol w ...
Giacomo Gianniotti
Giacomo Keaton Gianniotti (born 19 June 1989) is an Italian-Canadian film and television actor. He studied theater at Humber College and made his acting debut in the Italian television series ''Medicina Generale'' in 2010. He went on to play rec ...
* Devesh Gupta
* Devina Kaur
* Nizar Ladak
* Philip Lee
* Marquis Lung
* Iqbal Malek
* Sam Mod
* Brenda Okorogba
* Maryam Sadeghi
* Gelaine Santiago
* Wali Shah
* Kimberlee Shelley-Ajibolade
* Jane Shin
* Dr. Nhung Tran-Davies
* Samra Zafar
2018
Recipients in 2018 include:
* Margaret Adu
* Pooneh Alizadeh
* Mohammed Alsaleh
* Loizza Aquino
* Sara Asalya
* Harbhajan Singh Athwal
*
Nav Bhatia
Nav Bhatia (born July 9, 1951), nicknamed the Raptors Superfan, is a Canadian businessman and superfan of the Toronto Raptors basketball team. He founded and currently runs the Superfan Foundation to help unite people through the love of the sp ...
* Roberto Campanella
* Kundan Joshi
* Isabel Kanaan
* Dr. Raj Khanuja
* Sophie Lavieri
* Kin Wah Leung
* Tinashe Mafukidze
* Prof. Dr. Mario Monteir * Dr. Saroj Niraula
* Dr. Boluwaji Ogunyemi
* Senator
Ratna Omidvar
Ratna Omidvar (born November 5, 1949) is a Canadian politician and academic, who was named to the Senate of Canada to represent Ontario on March 18, 2016.
* Bernardo Riveros
* Priti Shah
* Naseem Somani
* Karl Subban
* Josephine Victoria Yam
* Rana Zaman
* Jianhua Zhu
2017
Recipients in 2017 include:
* Ishita Aggarwal
* Dr. Zulfiqar Bhutta
* Gabriela Covaci
* Dahlia ElShafie-Mostafa
*
Mohamad Fakih
Mohamad Fakih is a Lebanese-Canadian businessperson, and philanthropist. Founder of the Middle Eastern Halal restaurant chain, Paramount Fine Foods, Fakih also conducts charitable work and community service through the Fakih Foundation.
Back ...
* Jennifer Gillivan
*
Chan Hon Goh
Chan Hon Goh, C.M. D.Litt (simplified Chinese: 吴振红; traditional Chinese: 吳振紅; born in 1969 in Beijing, China), is a Chinese-born Canadian ballerina. Goh was most notably a principal dancer with The National Ballet of Canada before g ...
* Raghwa Gopal
* Maziar Heidari
* Minister
Ahmed Hussen
Ahmed Hussen ( so, Axmed Xuseen; born 1976) is a Canadian lawyer and politician who has been serving as the minister of housing and diversity and inclusion since October 26, 2021. A member of the Liberal Party, Hussen has also sat as the memb ...
* Abdullah Kafashe
* Tony Luk
* Trish Mandewo
* Florfina Marcelino
* Noelle Milne
* Agnes P. Miranda
* Dr. Muhammad Morshed
* Dr.
James Orbinski
James Jude Orbinski, (born 1960 in England) is a Canadian physician, humanitarian activist, author and leading scholar in global health. Orbinski was the 2016-17 Fulbright Visiting professor at the University of California, Irvine, and as of ...
* Shahrzad Rafati
* Ahmad Danny Ramadan
* Miroslav Reljic
* Ninela Sanchez
* Kuldeep Sharma
* Ajay Virmani
* Senator Yuen Pau Woo
2016
Recipients in 2016 include:
*
Kiran Ahluwalia
Kiran Ahluwalia is a Canadian singer, songwriter who infuses African desert blues and Western musical styles. Kiran Ahluwalia won the 'Newcomer' category in the inaugural Songlines Music Awards (2009) – announced 1 May 2009 – the new 'world m ...
* Leen Al Zaibak
* Godwin Chan
* Tilak Chawan
* Queenie Choo
* Igor Dobrovolskiy
*
Emma Donoghue
Emma Donoghue (born 24 October 1969) is an Irish-Canadian playwright, literary historian, novelist, and screenwriter. Her 2010 novel ''Room'' was a finalist for the Booker Prize and an international best-seller. Donoghue's 1995 novel '' Hood'' ...
Ignat Kaneff
Ignat Kaneff ( bg, Игнат Христов Кънев; 6 October 1926 – 12 July 2020) was a Bulgarian Canadians, Bulgarian-Canadian business magnate and philanthropist.
Biography
Ignat Hristov Kaneff was born on 6 October 1926 in Gorno A ...
* Leon Lee
* Fiona Macfarlane
* Mina Mawani
* Renan Orquiza
* Nasser Rad
* Minister
Harjit Sajjan
Harjit Singh Sajjan (, ; born September 6, 1970) is a Canadian politician who has served as the minister of international development since October 26, 2021. A member of the Liberal Party, Sajjan represents the British Columbia (BC) riding ...
Recipients in 2015 include:
* Tikaram Adhikari
* Soheila Ansari
* Amrik Singh Aulakh
* Ulrike Bahr-Gedalia
* Henri Boyi
* John Chang
* Alice Chung
* Amanda Yeung Collucci
* Ver Cruz
* Bob Dhillon
* Dr. Qais Ghanem
* Sherif Guorgui
* John Iwaniura
* Susur Lee
* Dr.
Tak Wah Mak
Tak Wah Mak, (; born October 4, 1946, in China) is a Canadian medical researcher, geneticist, oncologist, and biochemist. He first became widely known for his discovery of the T-cell receptor in 1983 and pioneering work in the genetics of immun ...
* Dr. Rosemary Moodie
* Shasha Navazesh
* Dr. Dhun Noria
* Umashanie Reddy
* Maria Nieves Santos-Greaves
* Thilak Tennekone
*
Kim Thúy
Kim Thúy Ly Thanh, CQ (born 1968 in Saigon, South Vietnam)
*
Vikram Vij
Vikram Vij (born 1964)Vikram Vij of Vij's - Biography Vancouver, BC s ...
* Gezahgn Wordofa
* Ana María Zúniga
2014
Recipients in 2014 include:
* Akram Al-Otumi
* Alan Diner
* Alberto Rodil
* Amit Chakma
* Anna Wolak
*
Arlene Dickinson
Arlene Dickinson (born October 8, 1956) is a South African Canadian businesswoman, investor, author, and television personality. She is the general partner of District Ventures Capital and CEO of Venturepark. Dickinson joined the cast of the C ...
* Dalal Al-Waheidi
* Farah Mohamed
* Gentil Misigaro
* Gradimir Pankov
* Ilse Treurnicht
* James Wang
* John Volken
* Julie Suen
* Manwar Khan
*
Mobina Jaffer
Mobina S. B. Jaffer (born August 20, 1949) is a Canadian Senator representing British Columbia.
Early life and career
Born to a Pakistani family living in Africa, Jaffer was educated in England and Canada. She earned a law degree from the Unive ...
Recipients in 2013 include:
* Aleksandra Nasteska
* Aminata Sillah
* Anar Popatia
* Ginni Sethi
* Indira Samarasekera
* Izzeldin Abuelaish
* Dr. Jawahar (Jay) Kalra
* Leticia LaRosa
* Luis Guillermo Guerra
* Luisa Marshall
* Mamdouh Shoukri
*
Michael Tulloch
Michael H. Tulloch (born 1961/1962) is a Canadian judge. On December 19, 2022, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the appointment of Tulloch as the new Chief Justice of Ontario. He is the first Black judge appointed to the Ontario Court of ...
* Narine Dat Sookram
* Rany Ibrahim
* Sara Eftekhar
* Sharifa Khan
* Sing Lim Yeo
* Srinivasan Suppiramaniam
* Steve Gupta
* Steve Nash
* Sukhdev Toor
* Sukhjit Singh
* Wen Wei Wang
* Winnie Wong
* Zahra Al-Harazi
2012
Recipients in 2012 include:
* Francis Atta
* Kehar Singh Aujla
* Iman Biock Aghay
* Juan Carranza
*
Olivia Chow
Olivia Chow (; born March 24, 1957) is a Canadian retired politician who was a federal New Democratic Party (NDP) member of Parliament (MP) representing Trinity—Spadina from 2006 to 2014. Chow ran in the 2014 Toronto mayoral election, placin ...
* Isabel Cisterna
* Meleni David
* Narima Dela Cruz
* Jagjit Singh Hans (Tiger Jeet Singh)
*
Daniel Igali
Baraladei Daniel Igali (born February 3, 1974 in Eniwari, Bayelsa State, Nigeria) is a Canadian freestyle wrestler who is an Olympic gold medallist. He lives in Surrey, British Columbia.
Wrestling career
As captain of the Nigerian wrestling tea ...
* Commodore Hans Jung
* Suresh Kurl
* Peter Legge
* Tonny Louie
* Ahmed Mustaq
* Dr. Rey Pagtakhan
* Dr. Vivian Rambihar
* Zubeida Ramji
* Satish Thakkar
*
Bing Thom
Bing Wing Thom, (Chinese: 譚秉榮; 8 December 1940 – 4 October 2016) was a Canadian architect and urban designer. Born in Hong Kong, he immigrated to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada with his family in 1950.Keinan "K'naan" Abdi Warsame
*
Tonya Williams
Tonya Williams (born July 12, 1958) is a Canadian actress, producer, director and activist. Sometimes credited as Tonya Lee Williams, she is best known for her role as Dr. Olivia Barber Winters on the American daytime drama ''The Young and the ...
* Nancy Zein
2011
Recipients in 2011 include:
* Ahmed Abdullahi
* Leticia Adair
* Ari Asmar
*
Jean Augustine
Jean Augustine (born September 9, 1937) is a Grenada-born Canadian politician. She was the first Black Canadian woman to serve as a federal Minister of the Crown and Member of Parliament.
From 1993 to 2006, Jean Augustine was a Liberal membe ...
* Baljit Bawa
*
Pinball Clemons
Michael Lutrell "Pinball" Clemons (born January 15, 1965) is an American-Canadian sports executive and former running back and return specialist who serves as general manager for the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He i ...
* Guilherme Dias
* Audrey D’Souza-Moraes
* Esa Para Esananda
*
Karim Hakimi
Karim Hakimi (Persian: کریم حکیمی) (born 1933) is an Iranian-Canadian entrepreneur and optician, known for founding Hakim Optical, a large chain of eyeglass stores across Canada.
Early life
Hakimi was born in Iran. At the age of five, h ...
*
Robert Herjavec
Robert Herjavec (; ; born September 14, 1962) is a Croatian-Canadian businessman, investor, and television personality.
Herjavec founded BRAK Systems, a Canadian integrator of Internet security software, and sold it to AT&T Canada (now Allstrea ...
* Alan Ho
* Toshi Jackson
* Mike Jang
* Mythili Kalyanasundaram
* Ihor Kozak
* Aditya Mohan
* Pyarali Nanji
* Gautam Nath
* Royson Ng
* Nick (Naeem) Noorani
*
Victor Oh
Victor Oh (Chinese: 胡子修, born June 10, 1949) is a Canadian senator from Ontario. He was appointed to the Senate on January 25, 2013.
Early life
Oh was born in Singapore. In 1978, he immigrated to Canada with his wife and children. Over th ...
*
Alex Sangha
Alex Sangha is a Canadian social worker and documentary film producer. He is the founder of Sher Vancouver which is a registered charity for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) South Asians and their friends. Sangha wa ...
*Zulima Wesso
2010
Recipients in 2010 include:
*
Donovan Bailey
Donovan Bailey (born December 16, 1967) is a retired Jamaican-Canadian sprinter. He once held the world record for the 100 metres. He recorded a time of 9.84 seconds to win the gold medal at the 1996 Olympic Games. He was the first Canadian ...
Ian Hanomansing
Ian Harvey Hanomansing is a Canadian television journalist with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC)."Hanomansing's future is anchored in star potential: Pacific Rim host could be next Mansbridge". ''Vancouver Sun'', June 16, 1997. He form ...
* Maggie Ip
* Sultan Jessa
*
Aditya Jha
Aditya Jha is a Nepalese Canadian entrepreneur, philanthropist and social activist. A globetrotter, his business portfolio consists of several startups and company turnarounds with interests in Canada, India, Thailand and Nepal. He also runs sev ...
* Vinod Karna
* David Lin
* Dr. Joyce Madigane
* Hadi-Khan Mahabadi
* Dr. Lalita Malhotra
*
Vivienne Poy
Vivienne Poy (née Lee; ; born May 15, 1941) is a Canadian businesswoman, author and philanthropist. She served as a member of the Senate of Canada from 1998 until her retirement in 2012.
Early life and education
On May 15, 1941, Poy was ...
Recipients in 2009 include:
* Girish Agrawal
* Dr. Birinder Singh
Ahluwalia
* Naseer Ahmad
* Francis Amara
* James Atebe
* Elaine Chan
* Chia-yi Chua
*
Adrienne Clarkson
Adrienne Louise Clarkson (; ; born February 10, 1939) is a British Hong Kong, Hong Kong-born Canadian journalist who served from 1999 to 2005 as Governor General of Canada, the List of Governors General of Canada#Governors General of Canada, 1 ...
* Baltej Singh Dhillon
* Narinder Dhir
*
Ujjal Dosanjh
Ujjal Dev Dosanjh ( pa, ਉੱਜਲ ਦੇਵ ਦੁਸਾਂਝ) (), (born September 9, 1947) is a Canadian lawyer and politician. He served as the 33rd premier of British Columbia from 2000 to 2001 and as a Liberal Party of Canada member of ...
Deepa Mehta
Deepa Mehta, (; born 1 January 1950) is an Indian-born Canadian film director and screenwriter, best known for her Elements Trilogy, Fire (1996 film), ''Fire'' (1996), ''Earth (1998 film), Earth'' (1998), and ''Water (2005 film), Water'' (2005 ...
* Rossbina Nathoo
* Body Ngoy
* Martha Lucia Nino
* Dr. Colin Saldanha
* Terry Sawh
* Dr. Lorelei and
Dr. Rosalind Silverman
* Hari Varshney
* Marcello Veiga
* Anupama Vittal
* Wendy Yuan