Surrey’s Amrik Singh Aulakh, Soheila Ansari of Coquitlam, Vikram Vij, Vancouver Umashanie Reddy and Bob Dhillon, both of Calgary, were presented with the outstanding immigrant award at a ceremony in downtown Vancouver on Thursday.
By R. Paul Dhillon
SURREY – Nearly a half dozen Indo-Canadians are among the recipients of RBC’s Top 25 Immigrants.
Surrey’s Amrik Singh Aulakh, Soheila Ansari of Coquitlam, Vikram Vij, Vancouver, Umashanie Reddy and Bob Dhillon, both of Calgary, were presented with the outstanding immigrant award at a ceremony in downtown Vancouver on Thursday.
Aulakh, a is a Surrey RCMP Auxiliary Constable and tireless community contributor, has volunteered more than 2,500 hours to the Surrey Crime Prevention Society, doing patrols, traffic safety and speed watch programs and working with the RCMP at Counter Attack roadside checks. He has also volunteered with the Canadian Red Cross, Canadian Blood Services and Canada Revenue Agency.
“No one wants to live in a troubled neighbourhood. I want my city to be a safe and better place to work and live in,” he says. “I am helping seniors, newcomers who have issues and who need to talk to law enforcement. I feel like a great asset to the RCMP and my community. By volunteering I am giving something back to my community.”
Born in India, Aulakh has previously won the Governor General’s Caring Canadian Award, the Queen’s Golden and Diamond Jubilee Awards and a Surrey Leader 2013 Community Leader Award for his commitment to volunteerism.
“I frequently feel like what I’m doing helps people. Whether it’s navigating a difficult system, or providing blood, or filing taxes, it’s helping my community as a whole,” Aulakh says. “When I think about how things were back home, I see the need for people to step up and help people out.”
Ansari is a settlement worker in schools for the Vancouver School Board, tirelessly helping immigrant youth and their families integrate in Canada. She is also a regular on Aria TV’s Whiteboard, offering tips for Iranian newcomers.
Bob Dhillon was born in Japan but is of Indian origin, He is a real-estate entrepreneur, whose company, Mainstreet Equity Corp., has achieved a 1,270 per cent total return on investment over the last 10 years. The largest landlord in North America, Mainstreet’s assets are valued at more than $1.3 billion.
Umashanie Reddy came to Canada from South Africa, and is now executive director of the Calgary Bridge Foundation for Youth, an immigrant serving agency that bridges the journey to Canadian life for newcomer youth and families. Previously she worked for the Calgary Public Library as its diversity services manager. She was also the keynote speaker at Canadian Immigrant’s Calgary Career, Education & Settlement Fair last October.
Vikram Vij is originally from India is a renowned Vancouver restaurateur, cookbook author and celebrity chef and entrepreneur who has appeared on TV shows like Recipe to Riches and Chopped Canada and Dragons’ Den as a Dragon. He also manufactures his own line of take-home Indian food. And, as mentioned before, he is this year’s pick for the Chevrolet Ingenuity Award.
The total 25 winners were chosen from more than 650 nominees and are to be honoured at a celebration in Vancouver on Thursday afternoon.
