Immigrants making lasting contributions to Canada honoured
August 18, 2024
Immigration matters.
According to Statistics Canada, immigrants are making important contributions across every sector of the country’s economy.
For the past 16 years, ‘Canadian Immigrant’ magazine has partnered with presenters and sponsors to recognize immigrants contributing significantly in Canada.
This year’s Top 25 immigrants were celebrated at an awards ceremony at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) Lightbox on August 15.
The group includes academics, entrepreneurs, politicians and creative artists.
Dr. Andy Knight has chalked up a few firsts in a brilliant academic career.
He was McMaster University Student Union’s first Black President and the University of Alberta’s (U of A) Political Science department’s first Black Chair.
In 2021, Knight was appointed a Distinguished Professor at U of A, making him the first Black academic to be elevated to the eminent position in the university’s then 113-year history.
The title is bestowed on the top-tenured professors who are considered leaders in their fields of study.
To be considered among the top 25 immigrants in Canada is an honour that Knight does not take lightly.
“This is a special award in the sense that it tells you how diverse Canada has become and how embracing this country is for people like me,” said the U of A Black Excellence & Leadership Provost Fellow. “I feel very loyal to Barbados. At the same time, I feel very loyal to Canada.”
To mark the first anniversary of the murder of George Floyd, he launched a podcast, ‘BlackTalk’, that provides a unique perspective on the Black experience to help people of all backgrounds open their eyes, reflect and challenge their thinking.
Born in Barbados and with an interest in the Caribbean, Knight accepted a secondment in 2013 to the University of the West Indies St. Augustine campus in Trinidad & Tobago.
As Director of the university’s Institute of International Relations (IIR) & the Diplomatic Academy of the Caribbean, he ensured it served as a conduit for building capacity for leadership throughout the English-speaking Caribbean in the areas of diplomacy, foreign affairs, national/regional security and intelligence in addition to connecting it to the rest of the world by plugging into established global research bodies, multilateral and international donor organizations, global non-governmental organizations and academic institutions from outside the region.
Knight signed Memorandums of Understanding with Wuhan University in China, the Rio Branco School of International Relations in Brazil, the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), the Indian and Argentinian foreign ministries and the University of Havana.
He also created an academic journal, ‘The Caribbean Journal of International Relations & Diplomacy’, revitalized the Diplomatic Dialogues Forum, set up senior visiting fellows and diplomats-in-residence programs and secured research funding and the IIR bid for the Caribbean Child Rights Observatory Network hub to be located within the institute.
Last year, the Department of National Defence awarded a grant to Knight to gauge the extent of White supremacy in the Canadian Armed Forces.
As the Chief Executive Officer of International Renewable Energy Systems (IRES) in Edmonton, Chris Chukwunta is on a mission to transition a million homes and businesses to clean energy by 2050.
“People have got to get on board with this now for the betterment of our planet,” he said.
Chris Chukwunta (Photo by Ron Fanfair)
With a Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Nigeria and a Master’s in Systems Engineering & Innovation from Imperial College London, Chukwunta and his family relocated to Canada in 2018.
“I wanted a place that was good for the family,” the married father of four children said. “I wanted them to be in a space where they would get the best opportunities. From my research, Edmonton was the place to be.”
There was another reason for Chukwunta choosing Canada.
“I was looking to do a lot more with a lot less,” he said. “To be able to do that, I needed to be in a place where there was the most energy intensity per capita. I felt this country is the ideal place because of the weather.”
Though he had a doctorate, Gervan Fearon was unable to read aloud because of a developmental reading disorder.
Despite lecturing to thousands of students in the late 1980s and 90s, it was not until the first week in November 2000 that he was able to stand in front of an audience and read a speech for the first time.
“I worked longer and harder than most to overcome this deficiency,” Fearon said at a community event 24 years ago. “I relearnt my phonics, read grammar books and even read with my newborn as part of the learning process.”
Dr. Gervan Fearon (Photo by Ron Fanfair)
After six years in England where he was born and three years in Jamaica, his family migrated to Canada.
“So in under a decade, I had already lived in three different countries,” Fearon noted. “This meant for much of my youth, I felt that I did not fit in anywhere.”
He has had a meteoric rise.
In 2013, Fearon became Canada’s first Black university President when he was installed at Brandon in Manitoba. He served in a similar role at Brock University where his portrait adorns the Senate Chamber walls.
While at Brock, he and University of the West Indies Vice-Chancellor Sir Hilary Beckles conceptualized the idea for the establishment of the Canada-Caribbean Institute dedicated to connecting scholars from across Canada and the Caribbean to collaborate on vital economic, environmental and social issues that contribute to the shared prosperity of both regions.
Since August 2021, Fearon has been the President of George Brown College which, two years ago, was the first Canadian institution of higher learning to collaborate with a global academic centre – the Global Tourism Resilience & Crisis Management Centre -- focused on the travel industry crises and resilience.
Last January, he was appointed to the Order of Ontario for his leadership in providing ‘transformative education opportunities that benefit learners, industry and the greater community’.
There is nothing wrong with being proud of your hard work and achievements.
In this era when investing in your brand transcends to a strong professional identity, Nadine Williams nominated herself for the award and was successful.
“I did that because I recognize the large volume of work I have put in over the last 16 years as an artist,” said the poet, author and arts educator. “I had success working in the corporate world, but the real success is the power of the pen that I discovered.”
The day before the awards ceremony, Williams performed at the New York Police Department headquarters. Leaving the city around 4.30 a.m., she and her son drove for nearly nine hours to her Niagara Falls home to refresh before heading to Toronto.
Nadine Williams (Photo by Ron Fanfair)
Raised by her grandparents in rural St. Mary’s after her mother left to work in Portland which is about 64 kilometres away before migrating to Toronto in 1975, the artist remembers reading under the kerosene lamp light to family members.
“That was where my love for reading and writing emerged,” she said. “There were about 12 cousins in that small house most of the time and those humble beginnings were the starting point for me rising to become a poet and author.”
In 1985, Williams – who was 15 at the time – and her older brother joined their mother in the Greater Toronto Area.
Faced with reuniting with a mother she hardly knew in a new country and caring alone for her three children, she used the art of writing and storytelling as therapy to overcome those difficult situations.
When the challenges of raising the kids became too much for her to hold down a full-time job, Williams turned to writing in 2008 and published the first of four collections of poetry, ‘The Culmination of Marriage Between Me & My Pen’.
“Being in Canada for almost four decades has been a dream for me,” she pointed out. “I understand the huge privilege it is to call Canada home, making the most of my grandparents’ dreams for me while pursuing a career in the arts. Being able to give back is an important part of the journey.”
While residing in France, friends discouraged Abel Maxwell from considering Canada as a place to settle.
“They told me it was cold, I didn’t know anybody there and I didn’t have the resources to make it,” he recounted. “I thought I would give it a try and I am glad I did even though the journey has not been easy.”
Born in Senegal where he spent his first six years, Maxwell possessed a Master’s in Business Administration and a corporate finance background when he made the transition in 2007.
Abel Maxwell (Photo by Ron Fanfair)
Music, however, has been his lifelong passion.
“Besides being a physician, my Togolese-born father was a guitar player,” said Maxwell. “I joined a conservatory when I was seven to learn the piano and I founded a gospel choir in Lyon., France in 2003 before coming to Canada.”
The Toronto-based singer-songwriter/entrepreneur co-founded a record label and heads AM International which provides event management services, mentorship and business consultancy.
Maxwell, who released his fifth album in 2023, was last March recognized with the Order of La Pleaide for promoting the French language.
Award-winning Chef Noel Cunningham came to Canada 11 years ago to enhance his culinary skills and return to Jamaica.
More than a decade later, he is still here whetting Canadians’ appetites.
“The plan was to spend two years in this country and go back home,” said Cunningham. “I think Canada chose me because of the opportunities that have been provided for me to grow and develop. Right now, I am on national television, showcasing my culinary skills across Canada.”
The only child growing up with his mother and aunt in Kingston asked many cooking-related questions when he was in the kitchen.
Noel Cunningham (Photo by Ron Fanfair)
“I was inquisitive and I waited until my turn came to put together some dishes,” he said. “Of course, I spoiled some of them initially, but I got better as time passed and perfected my craft.”
The defunct prime time ‘Creative Cooking’ show on local television also motivated Cunningham who did culinary arts & chef training at Runaway Bay HEART and Training Institute.
After two years as Chef at Hedonism Hotel & Spa, he came to Canada in 2013 in search of better opportunities.
Cunningham completed a diploma program in Hotel, Motel & Restaurant Management at Red River College in Winnipeg and was Executive Chef and Kitchen Manager at two Manitoba hotels before relocating to the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) in 2019.
Shortly after arriving in Canada’s largest city, his first book -- Cuisine by Noel -- which he describes as ‘a fusion of inventive interpretations and modern cuisine’, was released to mark his 10th anniversary as a Chef.
In 2017, Chukwunonso Nwabufo left Nigeria to pursue a Master’s in Pharmaceutical Science at the University of Saskatchewan.
“The university has state-of-the-art facilities, Canada is a safe country and I thought it was the best place for me to research drug development,” said the 2015 University of Benin Bachelor of Science graduate.
The doctoral candidate in the University of Toronto’s Pharmaceutical Sciences program is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of OneDrug Inc. which World Research Reports recognized as a leader in pharmacogenomics.
Chukwunonso Nwabufo (Photo by Ron Fanfair)
Two years ago, Nwabufo was awarded a Canada Institutes of Health Research doctoral award valued at $105,000 to support his research on the clinical efficacy and safety profile of promising COVID-19 drugs.
Nwabufo comes from a family with a background in health care.
His mom is a nurse and his dad is an entrepreneur.
“It is from there that I learnt about untreatable diseases,” said the healthcare innovator who also has a Master of Business Administration “I wanted to dive deeper and see how we can develop new therapies for medical needs.”
Saddled with over $50,000 in debt and seeking financial relief, Andre Smith founded Flip & Floss (an acronym for Financial Literacy & Investor Program and Future Leaders Obtaining Sufficient Skills) which is a digital app using animation stimulation and gamification to teach young people essential money management skills.
“We are in the business of helping Canadians make better and smarter financial decisions,” he said.
Andre Smith (Photo by Ron Fanfair)
Life was rough for Smith when he migrated from Jamaica in 2011 to pursue university studies.
“Coming from a different culture, it was hard trying to figure out things,” he said. “I did minimum wage jobs, slept on a friend’s couch for three months and was asked to leave a two-bedroom apartment I shared with a housemate. It was not easy. I persevered and am seeing the benefits of that. I have made great connections and impacted the lives of many people. Canada, though it has its challenges like any country, has helped me discover who I truly am.”
Ravaged by a civil war that resulted in the deaths of almost 250,000 people between 1989 and 2003, Dacious Richardson fled Liberia in 2011 in search of a better life.
“I experienced that war and lost many family members and friends,” he said. “It was hard growing up and trying to survive in that environment.”
Richardson landed in Surrey, British Columbia where his dad settled after seeking refuge in Colombia.
“My father came with my two sisters and I was happy to reunite with them,” the 26-year-old said. “The downside is my mom is still in Liberia and I miss her even though we communicate virtually. I am looking forward to the day when we can reunite.”
Despite struggling with trauma and anxiety, Richardson was determined to contribute to Canada.
In 2016, he founded ‘Rise Above Reality Expectation’ which empowers young people through mentorship, sport and other initiatives. He is also the youth coordinator at the Liberian-Canadian Association of Greater Vancouver and a member of the Surrey Newcomer Youth Council, the Canadian Council for Refugee Youth Network and the Yo Bro Yo Youth Initiative.
Richardson works at Frank Hurt Secondary School as a Safe School Liaison for the Surrey School District.
York Regional Police officer Jeff Martin (r) attended the ceremony to support Dacious Richardson (Photo by Ron Fanfair)
Motivational speaker/author Jeff Martin attended the event to support the young man whom he met last year during a speaking tour in British Columbia.
“The work that Dacious is doing in his community with young people is phenomenal,” said the York Regional police officer. “That is where my heart is. I think it is important for us to be celebrated because we work in a position that does not often get the recognition it deserves. Working with people in the trenches is not something you see a lot on television.”
The other honourees were Delasi Essien, Jaideep Johar, Ashid Bahl, Nisreen Baker, Lilian Cazacu, Crystal Hung, Andrea Gomez, Kelly Kaur, Shaheen Nanji, Gordana Radan, Farahanaz Rezaei, Sheref Sabawy, Sevtap Savas, Sahib Singh Rana, Florentine Strzelczyk and Joseph Torres.
The winners were chosen based on a combination of nationwide online voting and judges’ scores.
“For 16 years, we have been amazed by the stories of our Top 25 recipients,” said ‘Canadian Immigrant’ Publisher Sanjay Agnihorti. “As newcomers come to Canada to start new lives, it is important for them to have role models to look up to like our Top 25.”
Western Union was this year’s presenter while COSTI, which provides educational, social and employment services to help newcomers assimilate in Toronto, and Windmill Microlending were the sponsors.
