Annual Awards & Gala Night 2015

John Tory, Mayor City of Toronto was the Chief Guest at the 24th Annual Awards & Gala Night on Saturday June 06 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre in downtown Toronto.

Mayor John Tory said that he is working to manifold the relations with India and appreciated the recent visit of Prime Minister Modi to strengthen the bilateral relations. 

He applauded the chamber’s contribution in promoting the bilateral trade and commercial relations and shown his willingness to cooperate with India for developing smart cities. 

Mr. Asim Ghosh, President & CEO of Husky Energy was the keynote speaker for the evening. While accepting the Corporate executive Award of the year from Dharma P Jain, ICCC’s President, he said that India is a hot market . . . a seductive place for people who think they can make a quick return from a pool of 1.2 billion consumers. While many other countries are at a similar level of development, India has a resource of intellectual and managerial capital still to be tapped, Ghosh said.

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 2015, MNP, LLP was tasked with conducting due diligence of the nominations received.

The 2015 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 800 guests comprising the who’s who of the Indo-Canadian society.

In his Presidential address, Dharma P Jain, said, “Recent visit of Prime Minister Modi will elevate Canada-India bilateral relations to a strategic partnership. ICCC has contributed by pioneering ideas to develop a road map for a modern and strategic partnership. As the only bilateral chamber of commerce working to foster trade between Canada and India, we are always alive to pronouncements that can be turned into effective tools for policy formulations.

Our Chamber understands the growing role of cities both in Canada and India for trade and economic matters, and has been a pioneer in developing city-centric trade missions from Canada to India, he further said.”

The South Building of the Metro Toronto Convention Centre (MTCC) was extravagantly decorated by Karma Designs. The four entertainment segments were produced by Divya Kumar Bollywood Dance. The Host provided the catering services.