RBC Top 25 Canadian Immigrants of 2019 announced
Credit to Author: Laura Jackman| Date: Tue, 25 Jun 2019 10:59:04 +0000
11th annual RBC Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Awards:
Grey’s Anatomy actor, food chain entrepreneur and poet laureate are among this year’s winners
Giacomo Gianniotti, actor on the hit show Grey’s Anatomy; Rola Dagher, President of Cisco Canada; Wali Shah, best-selling author and poet laureate, have been named among the 11th annual RBC Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Award winners, along with community leaders, artists, entrepreneurs and philanthropists who will be recognized at the awards ceremony. Presented by Canadian Immigrant magazine and sponsored by Royal Bank of Canada, this is the 11th anniversary of the only national awards program that celebrates the inspiring achievements of Canadian immigrants.
From coast to coast, the 2019 RBC Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Awards are a reflection of Canada’s diversity and nation-building spirit. For the last 11 years, the RBC Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Awards have highlighted stories of Canadian immigrants who have demonstrated incredible contributions and achievements, and, with the inclusion of this year’s 25 winners, a total of 275 winners have been honoured.
“What an amazing year for the awards and Canada! We’ve had a record number of votes cast this year totalling over 65,000 — which is a true testament to the important contributions immigrants make to this great nation of ours,” says Sanjay Agnihotri, Director Canadian Immigrant magazine.
The RBC Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Award winners will be honoured at ceremonies in Toronto today, and in Vancouver on July 4. The program is proudly supported by title sponsor Royal Bank of Canada. In addition, of the Top 25 winners, two have been selected for special recognition, the Entrepreneur Award and the Youth Award.
Sam Mod, is the fifth annual recipient of the RBC Entrepreneur Award which recognizes excellence in entrepreneurship. From Victoria, B.C.; Sam is the co-founder and CEO of award-winning design and development company, FreshWorks Studio.
Krittika D’Silva, is the third annual RBC Youth Award winner. From Surrey, B.C.; she is currently a Computer Science PhD student and Gates Scholar at the University of Cambridge, U.K.
“For 150 years, RBC has been committed to helping newcomers in Canada, not only through the products and services we offer, but also with our community partnerships and programs,” says Ivy Chiu, Senior Director, Newcomer Segment, RBC. “The RBC Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Awards are a shining example of this commitment and RBC is proud to recognize these outstanding immigrants who contributed to making Canada the success it is today and will continue to be in the future. We look forward to another 150 years of supporting and celebrating immigrants. Congratulations to all winners and nominees.”
Thousands of nominations were received, from which 75 finalists were shortlisted by a diverse judging panel of past winners. The 25 winners were chosen based on a combination of nationwide online voting and a second round of judging.
Settlement Agency Award
The Settlement Agency Award was introduced in 2018 to recognize the amazing work immigrant settlement agencies are doing to help newcomers integrate and succeed in Canada. This year too, we invited nominations from across the country and the nominated agencies were posted for an online voting process. After the votes were tabulated, one agency has been selected as the Settlement Agency Award winner for 2019. The winner is Brampton Multicultural Community Centre. Read more about the winner on the Canadian Immigrant website.