2017 RBC Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Awards

TORONTO, ON--(Marketwired - March 30, 2017) - Canadian Immigrant magazine has opened the online voting phase for its ninth annual RBC Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Awards. This coveted award recognizes and celebrates the untold stories of Canadian immigrants who have made a significant contribution to Canada -- all the more poignant this year as we celebrate Canada 150. The award program is proudly supported by title sponsor RBC Royal Bank. The public can now vote for up to three of their favourite finalists online at www.canadianimmigrant.ca/rbctop25 until May 22, 2017.

Our past winners have been examples of true nation builders, from entrepreneurs to artists, academics, community volunteers, sports heroes, philanthropists, inventors and visionaries, from across Canada. Their reasons, circumstances and timing for coming to Canada are as varied as their backgrounds -- some fled strife in their home countries, while others chose to gain higher education; some arrived as young children, while others arrived as adults with only a few hundred dollars in their pocket.

No matter their roots, each of the winners' stories shares a common thread: an individual rose to a challenge and used that opportunity to make Canada a better place for all. This year is no different.

"At a time when Canada's position as a global leader in diversity and immigration is more important than ever, these awards are a symbol of what Canada is about. It is a country that has been shaped by immigration, from early settlers to today's modern immigrants," says Margaret Jetelina, editor of Canadian Immigrant. "We are so pleased to provide such positive examples of immigrants and their contributions to their adopted land."

The hundreds of nominations received were reviewed by a judging panel composed of past winners. The entries were narrowed to a shortlist of 75 finalists who represent diverse ethnic communities, cities and industries across Canada.

"The RBC Top 25 Immigrant Awards celebrate the unique and diverse makeup of Canada by profiling some truly inspirational newcomers who themselves have made their mark in Canada," said Ivy Chiu, Senior Director, Cultural Markets, RBC. "The voting period is now open online, and we welcome you to cast your vote to recognize the determination and courage from Canada's newcomers, including a new opportunity to recognize an exemplary youth newcomer, too. So many newcomers are worthy of the spotlight, and we're excited to shine a light on the 25 who have made a positive impact in our communities."

For the third year, title sponsor RBC will also recognize one of the 25 winners who demonstrate excellence in business with the RBC Entrepreneur Award. In honour of Canada's 150^th, we are also introducing the Youth Award which will recognize the achievements of immigrant youth (between ages 15 and 30) who are making a difference in their adopted country through achievement and/or service, and show great potential in further building this nation demonstrating that when we invest in youth great things can happen. Similar to our RBC Entrepreneur Award, the Youth Award will be an additional honour given to one of the RBC Top 25 winners. No separate votes are required.

The award winners will be announced on June 27, 2017. They will be recognized on www.canadianimmigrant.ca and in Canadian Immigrant magazine. Each winner will also receive a commemorative plaque and $500 toward a charity of their choice provided by RBC. This year's media partners are the Toronto Star, Metro Newspaper, CBC Toronto, Sing Tao and South Asian Focus.

About Canadian Immigrant and canadianimmigrant.ca

Attracting more than 400,000 readers each month and over 100,000 visitors every month online, Canadian Immigrant is distributed in Toronto, Vancouver and Calgary and helps new Canadians build a successful life and home in Canada. Our mandate to arrive, succeed and inspire -- provides content for newcomers looking for information on careers, education and settling-in to culture and business. Our website, canadianimmigrant.ca, offers daily editorial, forums, tools and resources to help newcomers across Canada. Canadian Immigrant is a division of Metroland Media Group Limited, a dynamic media company with more than 100 community and daily newspapers in print and online, as well as innovative websites including wheels.ca, goldbook.ca, flyerland.ca, Travelalerts.ca and localwork.ca.

ABOUT RBC

Royal Bank of Canada is Canada's largest bank, and one of the largest banks in the world, based on market capitalization. We are one of North America's leading diversified financial services companies, and provide personal and commercial banking, wealth management, insurance, investor services and capital markets products and services on a global basis. We have over 80,000 full- and part-time employees who serve more than 16 million personal, business, public sector and institutional clients through offices in Canada, the U.S. and 35 other countries. For more information, please visit http://www.rbc.com/.‎

RBC helps communities prosper, supporting a broad range of community initiatives through donations, community investments and employee volunteer activities. For more information please see: http://www.rbc.com/community-sustainability/.

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