Newcomers: The New Pioneers Awards - Celebrating Diversity

What kind of event brings together a master of South Indian courtly dance, a community advocate, one of Canada’s Top 100 Employers, a Professor of Chemistry, an Electrical Commissioning Engineer and a 2006 G8 Summit journalist?

On March 22, 2007, 700 people will find out when they gather at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre for the 15th Annual New Pioneers Awards.

Since 1993, Skills for Change (SfC), through the New Pioneers Awards (NPA), has raised public awareness of the contributions immigrants and refugees make to Canada.

Skills for Change, a non-profit organization providing learning and training opportunities for immigrants and refugees so that they can participate in the workplace and wider community, is itself a model of “Diversity at Work”:

• Over 75% of its staff are immigrants;
• More than half (52%) are from ethno-racial minority groups;
• Staff speak 23 languages; and,
• One in five staff members (18%) is a former SfC client.

Each year, the New Pioneers Awards showcases the outstanding contributions made by immigrants and refugees in six main areas. Skills for Change is proud to honour this year’s recipients.

Hari Krishnan – Arts Award
Born in Singapore, trained in South India, and now living in Toronto, Hari Krishnan has helped create a new Canadian aesthetic - one grounded in classicism while speaking to a global modern audience. Bridging academic scholarship and performance, Mr. Krishnan is an internationally recognized master of the South Indian courtly dance known as Bharatanatyam and is renowned for his experimental work.

Currently the Artistic Director of the Toronto-based company inDANCE, Mr. Krishnan holds an MA in Dance from York University and a BA in Linguistics and Asian Studies from the University of Manitoba.

Mr. Krishnan co-founded The Mangala Initiative, a Canadian non-profit organization that provides economic assistance to communities of female artists who have been denied a political voice in South India.

Beverley Halls – Community Service Award
When Beverley Halls came to Canada from Trinidad, she had to adjust to a school curriculum that was unwelcoming to newcomers and the disabled.

Beverley knew social isolation firsthand. As a deaf female, she had been the brunt of jokes and was poorly treated by many of her peers.

After overcoming drug and alcohol addictions, Beverley devoted herself to helping youth and the underprivileged in society. Joining organizations like the Toronto Police Service, Foodshare and Second Harvest, she was determined to be part of a positive community process. Not to be deterred, she has shown that barriers exist only when you focus on them.

Bruce Poon Tip – Entrepreneurship Award
At the age of 22, Bruce Poon Tip started G.A.P Adventures, a one-person operation offering a few tours to South America.

Today, G.A.P. Adventures offers thousands of small group adventures on all seven continents. With a network of nearly 500 employees around the world, G.A.P Adventures strives to ensure all tours have minimal impact on the environment.

Mr. Poon Tip has been named among Profit Magazine’s Top 10 Canadian Entrepreneurs in the past 25 years and in the Top 40 Under 40 list. G.A.P Adventures has been recognized as one of Canada’s 50 Best Managed Companies, Canada’s Top 100 Employers, and Canada’s Top 10 Employers for Young People.

In 2003, G.A.P Adventures launched its non-profit foundation, Planeterra, which supports community projects and non-profit organizations in countries around the world.

Dr. K.W Michael Siu – Science and Technology Award
In 1977, Dr. K.W. Michael Siu and his wife arrived in Canada, where he earned his Ph.D. at Dalhousie University. In 1981, he accepted a Research Associateship with the National Research Council in Ottawa.

Today, Dr. Siu is a Professor of Chemistry, the NSERC/MDS SCIEX Industrial Research Chair, the Director of the Centre for Research in Mass Spectrometry, and the Associate Vice-President of Research, Science and Technology at York University. His laboratory is one of the few training centres in Canada for protein mass spectrometry, proteomics, and cancer biomarker research.

Graduates from Dr. Siu’s group, many of them immigrants, are in demand in high technology industries, hospital research labs, and academia.

Mr. Juan Orozco, P.Eng, C.E.M. – Skills for Change Graduate Award
Arriving in Canada from Colombia in 2001, Mr. Orozco and his wife found that the harsh Canadian winter was not their most difficult challenge.

To improve his communication skills, Juan joined the Intensive English and employment preparation for internationally-trained engineers courses at Skills for Change. In July 2002, while finishing these courses, he got his first engineering job in Canada.

Now employed with RS& G Commissioning as an Electrical Commissioning Engineer, Juan has shown leadership in a number of prestigious projects across Ontario. In 2005 he received the PEO license and can now practise as a Professional Engineer.

Since 2003, Juan has led his own mentoring program for internationally-educated engineers, helping fellow immigrants overcome the same barriers he was able to surmount.

Ms. Sadia Rafiquddin – Youth Award
In 1990, Sadia Rafiquddin and her family fled the religious persecution they had experienced in Pakistan and came to Canada as refugees.

In high school, Ms Rafiquddin was busy with an intensive course load, two part-time jobs and many extra-curricular activities. A dedicated volunteer, she worked to eliminate violence against women and to increase the self-esteem of young women with disabilities.

After graduating from high school with top honours and numerous awards, Ms. Rafiquddin enrolled in the joint specialist International Relations and Peace and Conflict Studies program at the University of Toronto, where she earned the prestigious William Heaslip Scholarship.

Ms. Rafiquddin’s compliance studies for the G8 Research Group have been published in five different reports and she attended the 2006 G8 Summit in St. Petersburg, Russia as a journalist.

Ms. Rafiquddin loves Canada for the freedom and opportunity she would have been denied as an Ahmadi Muslim woman in Pakistan. “If there is one thing I treasure most after my family, it's my Canadian citizenship and education.”

To purchase tickets to the 15th Annual New Pioneers Awards, call 416-658-3101 ext 223 or visit: www.skillsforchange.org/npa.

CNM