Presented by Western Union, Canadian Immigrant magazine’s Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Awards program celebrates the achievements of Canadian immigrants. Now in its 15th year, the program has been the leader in highlighting inspiring stories of immigrants in Canada, from coast to coast and from diverse cultures and backgrounds. The awards program is also supported by COSTI Immigrant Services and Windmill Microlending.

This year’s Top 25 will join an inspirational list of past recipients who exemplify the notion of making Canada a better place.  The Top 25 Canadian Immigrants of 2023 were chosen after an extensive nomination, judging, shortlisting and public online voting process. Hundreds of nominations were received, from which 75 finalists were shortlisted by a diverse judging panel of past winners. Nearly 68,000 online votes were cast at canadianimmigrant.ca. 

The Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Award recipients of 2023:

  • Ali Abukar (Saskatoon, SK/Somalia), Chief executive officer at Saskatoon Open Door Society.
  • Paola Ardiles Gamboa (Vancouver, BC, Chile), Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University.
  • Ndiallo Aw Badji (Pincourt, QC/Senegal), CEO of Mamy Kaya Inc. and CEO of Mamy Kaya World.
  • Wyle Baoween (Vancouver, BC/Yemen), Founder and CEO of HRx and co-founder of the Yemeni Canadian Society.
  • Edward Cruz, PhD (Windsor, ON/ Philippines), Assistant Professor at University of Windsor, Faculty of Nursing and co-chair of the Partners in Integration and Education of IENs.
  • Maninder Dhaliwal (Vancouver, BC/India), electrical engineer and founder of Lions Gate International.
  • Natasha Dhayagude (Fredericton, NB/India), CEO and co-founder of Chinova Bioworks.
  • Mina Hoorfar, PhD (Victoria, BC/Iran), Dean, Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science, University of Victoria.
  • Sobhana Jaya-Madhavan (Burnaby, BC/India), Associate Vice President, External Relations, Simon Fraser University.
  • Dean Lin (Hope, BC/Taiwan), Entrepreneur, volunteer and Manager of Enterprise Development at DIVERSEcity Community Resources Society. 
  • Mena Massoud (Markham, ON/Egypt), Actor and founder of Ethnically Diverse Artists Foundation 
  • Archana Medhekar (Toronto, ON/ India), Family Lawyer, Mediator, Author and founder of Archana Medhekar Law.
  • Hénoc Muamba (Toronto, ON/Democratic Republic of Congo), CFL Football player, mentor and public speaker.
  • Hanen Nanaa (Toronto, ON/Syria), Social entrepreneur, youth leader and founder of BAM Collective.
  • Raymond Ngarboui (Winnipeg, MB/Chad), Community Development Coordinator at Community Education Development Association (CEDA).
  • Florence Ngenzebuhoro (Hamilton, ON/Burundi), CEO and Executive Director at Francophone Centre of Greater Toronto.
  • Faouzia Ouihya (Carman, MB/Morocco) Juno-nominated singer and songwriter.
  • Mustafa Popalzai (Toronto, ON/Afghanistan), Detective Constable, Toronto Police Service’s Homicide Unit and co-founder of Project Hope.
  • Ann Pornel (Toronto, ON/Philippines), Comedian, actor, writer and co-host of The Great Canadian Baking Show. 
  • Sam Primucci (Toronto, ON/Italy), Founder and CEO of Pizza Nova.
  • Winston Sayson (Richmond, BC/Philippines) Retired Crown Counsel and community volunteer.
  • Agunbiade Seun Richards (Saint John, NB/Nigeria), Social Entrepreneur, Researcher, and co-founder of the Black Business Professional Networks in Atlantic Canada.
  • Cindy Sinclair, PhD (Toronto, ON/Guyana) Academic faculty, University of Toronto and founder of Sinclair Consulting Services.
  • Beili Wong (Toronto, ON/China), Chttp://www.canadianimmigrant.ca/top25omptroller General of Ontario.
  • Leslie Woo (Toronto, ON/Trinidad and Tobago) Senior Fellow at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy and CEO at CivicAction.

Read their full story on the Canadian Immigrant website, click here.