Canadian Immigrant magazine has kicked off voting for the ninth annual RBC Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Awards, identifying and celebrating the inspiring stories and achievements of Canadian immigrants from all walks of life.
Some 630 entries were submitted following the call for nominations. From the hundreds of worthy submissions, the judges determined a short list of 75 inspiring immigrants who represent a variety of diverse ethnic communities and cultures across Canada. Voting is now open to determine who among the 75 will appear on the RBC Top 25 Canadian Immigrant list. Canadians can now vote for their favourite candidates online at Canadian Immigrant magazine’s RBC Top 25 webpage. Voting closes May 22.
On that list is Ananya Mukherjee-Reed, dean of the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies and professor of political science at York. She has authored several books, edited collections, journal articles and her work has appeared and in popular media and in multiple languages. The theme that dominates her work is justice, particularly gender justice. Her ongoing research explores the development of democratic, sustainable forms of enterprise amongst marginalized women in India.
Mukherjee-Reed obtained her PhD in Economics and Public Policy from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles and her MA and BA in Economics from Kolkata, India. She was recently named as one the five brilliant women from academia by Canadian Immigrant magazine in their Third Annual Tribute to “Immigrant Women of Inspiration”. In 2016, she also received the “Pioneer of Change” award for Excellence in Social Impact from Skills for Change, Toronto. Mukherjee-Reed has lent her voice to many debates on key social issues through media outlets such as the CBC, Omni TV, TVO (through its flagship program “The Agenda with Steve Paikin”), the Toronto Star and many others. For her work on marginalized women in India, she has been interviewed by the Los Angeles Times, BBC Online, Radio Paris, OneWorld South Asia, The Telegraph, The Hindu and others. Recently, she has translated creative works of the first Asian Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore which have been performed at the Harbourfront center, the Toronto Center for the Arts, the Royal Ontario Museum and other cultural venues.
Also nominated are York alumni Ahmed Hussein, minister of immigration, refugees and citizenship; and Adib Razavi, vice-president TAC Sports. Ajay Virmani, a member of the Board of Governors of York University, is among the top 75 nominees.
More than 45,000 Canadians voted in last year’s awards program. Among last year’s recipients were York honorary degree recipient Ignat Kaneff, and alumnae Narmin Ismail and Mina Mawani.
The awards program draws nominations from across Canada and is supported by the title sponsor RBC Royal Bank. All 25 winners will be announced in June and will be recognized in the print and web versions of Canadian Immigrant magazine. They will each receive a commemorative plaque and $500 towards a charity of their choice provided by RBC. This year’s media partners are the Toronto Star, Metro, Sing Tao, South Asian Focus and CBC Toronto.