Jason Kenney, Minister for Employment and Social Development, and Minister for Multiculturalism was the star attraction at the 23rd Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce’s (ICCC) Annual Awards and Gala Night Saturday June 14 at the lavishly decorated Metro Toronto Convention Centre in downtown Toronto.

While accepting the President’s Award from Naval Bajaj, ICCC’s President, Minister Kenney exhorted the sterling contributions of the Chamber in being a key player in the resetting of the Canada-India bilateral relations. Minister Kenney expressed confidence that with the new government in Delhi, the Canada-India relations are bound to grow and gather momentum.

Minister Kenney was among the recipients of ICCC’s Annual Awards. The Annual Gala and Awards Night is a marquee event where ICCC promotes trade and commerce between India and Canada and recognize the achievements of Indo-Canadians from all across Canada by way of an award presentation. Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce’s Advisory Board independently chooses the award recipients. In 2014, Grant Thornton LLP was tasked with conducting due diligence of the nominations received.

The 2014 award recipients included a spectacular mix of community stalwarts, entrepreneurs, professionals, academics, and young achievers. The evening, replete with entertainment skits and speeches from VIPs, was attended by over 1,200 guests comprising the who’s who of the Indo-Canadian society.

The 2014 recipients of ICCC’s Annual Awards & Gala Night include:

In keeping with the growing significance of the Indian diaspora to Canada-India bilateral ties the theme for 2014 Annual Awards & Gala Night was ‘Unleashing Diaspora Power Building for a New Future.  The latter part of the theme highlighting the Chamber’s new headquarters that it acquired in 2013 in Toronto’s West end, and began operations in 2014.

Honourable Joe Oliver was the chief guest and the keynote speaker at the event. He said, India is the 21st century giant. Referring to a recent book India: The Rise of an Asian Giant, Oliver stated that the title was fitting in the sense “if the 21st century is destined to be the Pacific century, it will belong to a significant degree to this Asian giant (India).” 

The Minister said that it should be “a historic opportunity (for Canada)” as relations between the two countries are so strong that he attributed to similarities between the two countries – similarities in the sense of both being “democracies” and both being members of the Commonwealth.

Minister Oliver said Prime Minister Stephen Harper was “one of the first government leaders to congratulate Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his party’s outstanding electoral success.” He quoted Harper emphasizing how the two countries have now come to “enjoy a rich, long-standing relationship, underpinned by strong people-to-people ties.”

He said Canada was looking forward to working with the new government of India to further strengthen the social and economic partnership to the benefit Canadians. Minister Oliver drew attention to Prime Minister Harper’s second official visit to India November 2012 when he signed the Canada-India Social Security Agreement: “It enables Canada and India to better coordinate pensions and other benefits for those who have worked in both countries.”

In his Presidential address, Naval Bajaj, said, “Last year ICCC created history when it acquired a new 6,000 square feet building that will become its headquarters. This is a significant event in the 37-year-old history of the Chamber. The building will open new growth avenues at a time when the Canada-India economic relations are on an upswing, and the Indo-Canadian population is coming into its own. In addition to serving as a venue for events, and being the operational headquarters, the new building will also house the proposed Centre for Excellence in Entrepreneurship that the Chamber will be launching this year.”

Naval emphasized the continuing relevance of the Chamber and its pivotal role in both the bilateral ties between Canada and India, and in promoting the interests of Indo-Canadians. In an interview published in the National Post on the eve of the Annual Awards and Gala Night, the ICCC President said, “India has moved to the next level in the last 20 years. The Canadian-Indian diaspora has also grown quickly. This community is more and more about enterprise and high-level professionals. They are helping fuel the economy of Canada.”

His Excellency Nirmal Verma, High Commissioner of India to Canada also spoke on the occasion.