200 Inspiring Immigrants Have Been Recognized by Their Peers for Outstanding Contribution to Canadian Society Since the Awards' Inception
TORONTO, ON--(Marketwired - June 21, 2016) - Room author Emma Donoghue has been named among the 8th annual RBC Top 25 Canadian Immigrants, along with several other artists, academics, entrepreneurs and champions of many worthy causes. Presented by Canadian Immigrant magazine and sponsored by RBC, this annual awards program celebrates the achievements of inspiring Canadian immigrants.
A true illustration of the diversity Canada represents, this year's winners originally hail from Ireland to Sri Lanka to Nigeria, and now make their home in communities across Canada. Each winner has made a positive economic, social and cultural impact to Canada, and while many of them are internationally renowned for work in their respective fields, just as many are pillars in their local community.
"This year's group of 25 winners is an inspiring and eclectic mix that showcases the diverse talent that immigrants bring to Canada," says Margaret Jetelina, editor of Canadian Immigrant magazine. "We at Canadian Immigrant magazine are very proud that, over the eight years of this awards program, we have now recognized 200 amazing immigrants as Top 25s. And we have honestly just scratched the surface of immigrant talent in Canada."
The Top 25 will be honoured at ceremonies in Toronto today, and in Vancouver on June 23. The program is proudly supported by title sponsor RBC Royal Bank. One of the winners will be presented with an additional award by RBC for individual achievement. The awards program is also supported by the Toronto Star, Metro Newspaper, Sing Tao, CBC Toronto and South Asian Focus newspaper.
Christians Izquierdo, owner of IT consultancy DevFacto, is the second annual recipient of the RBC Entrepreneur Award for excellence in entrepreneurship.
"Every winner that we are celebrating today has dared to dream," said Christine Shisler, senior director, Multicultural Markets, RBC. "Those dreams didn't end just because they packed a suitcase and arrived in Canada. It was only the beginning. Being recognized as an RBC Top 25 Canadian Immigrant is a moment to reflect on the journey of patience, persistence and determination. I'm proud to say that RBC has been helping newcomers to Canada for over 145 years and we will continue to honour this legacy."
Hundreds of nominations were received, from which 75 finalists were shortlisted by a diverse judging panel that included several past winners. Over 50,000 online votes were cast, making it the most popular year in the award's history. The 25 winners were chosen based on a combination of votes and a second round of judging.
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.
The RBC Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Award winners of 2016 are listed in alphabetical order below and include current city residence and home country in parentheses. Full biographies are available on the Canadian Immigrant website.
The RBC Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Award winners of 2016:
About Canadian Immigrant and canadianimmigrant.ca
Attracting more than 430,000 readers each month and over 100,000 visitors every month online, Canadian Immigrant is distributed in Ontario, BC & Alberta and helps new Canadians build a successful life and home in Canada. Its mandate to inform, educate and motivate provides content for newcomers looking for information on careers, education and settling-in to culture and business. Our website, canadianimmigrant.ca, offers daily editorial, forums, tools and resources to help newcomers across Canada. Canadian Immigrant is a division of Metroland Media Group Limited, a dynamic media company with more than 100 community and daily newspapers in print and online, as well as innovative websites including wheels.ca, goldbook.ca, flyerland.ca and localwork.ca.
About RBC
Royal Bank of Canada is Canada's largest bank, and one of the largest banks in the world, based on market capitalization. We are one of North America's leading diversified financial services companies, and provide personal and commercial banking, wealth management, insurance, investor services and capital markets products and services on a global basis. We have over 80,000 full- and part-time employees who serve more than 16 million personal, business, public sector and institutional clients through offices in Canada, the U.S. and 36 other countries. For more information, please visit rbc.com.
RBC helps communities prosper, supporting a broad range of community initiatives through donations, community investments, sponsorships and employee volunteer activities. In 2015, we contributed more than $121 million to causes around the world.
Contact Information:
For more information, contact:
Canadian Immigrant
Sanjay Agnihotri
905-273-8153
sagnihotri@metroland.com
RBC
Ka Yan Ng
647-625-8726
kayan.ng@rbc.com
Dyversity Communications
Sonam Sood
905-907-6911
Sonam.sood@dyversity.com