He came to Canada in with only a high school diploma and zero English. He cleaned floors the first four years in Canada — and seemed destined to continue doing so forever. Starting in , he founded four professional and business associations in Canada, all still operational.
In , he created a national annual program 10 Most Influential Hispanic Canadians currently with winners from 16 countries and six provinces. Ospina is an inductee in the Canadian Who is Who, the standard reference listing the top 10, Canadians. Like most Canadians, Oncel immigrated to Canada with big dreams hoping for a better future for herself and her family. She immigrated from Romania at a young age of 19 years old.
As such, Oncel is a devoted mentor to women in various industries and always ready to answer any questions for women transitioning from education to the workforce. At five years of age, the Tiop family immigrated to Canada as a result of the second Sudanese Civil war and concurrent political instability within Kenya. In University, Tiop undertook a number of projects. At the ScantelburyLab, she contributes to pediatric epilepsy research. Leveraging her background in software development and strength in mathematics, Tiop was able to automate electroencephalogram analysis through the use of time and frequency analysis by way of the Fourier transform, digital filter design and Continuous Wavelet Transform.
At both the Chang-Chun Ling Lab and Paul-Arnold Lab, Tiop contributes to wet-lab research focusing on synthesis of inhibitors for tumor-associated glycosyltransferases and gene-environmental interactions in the development of psychiatric disorders respectively.
Tiop is also involved in community research, specifically, the regional five-year initiative —spearheaded by the Calgary Centre for Newcomers — aiming to standardize the co-ordination of newcomer youth settlement services.
In addition to research, Tiop is actively involved in the broader technical community. With an international team of undergraduates, she successfully competed in Infosys Summer of Ideas program an international Hackathon under the theme of artificial intelligence. Her team was successful in using machine learning algorithms e. The FHL supports new Canadian youth using sports as a tool to assist in integration, develop a sense of belonging and leadership development.
Simply put, Golden Mti attempts to address barriers to post-secondary education for BIPOC children by equipping youth with resources to succeed through professional tutors, workshops and mentorship. Leo Nupolu Johnson spent eight years in refugee camps in Ivory Coast and Ghana, having fled from civil war in his native Liberia. In , he was resettled in Canada as a government-assisted refugee. In , Nupolu Johnson founded Empowerment Squared, a charitable organization committed to building a world where everyone is empowered with the tools and opportunities to thrive and contribute to society through mentorship and access to education.
Under his leadership, the organization has assisted more than 10, newcomer youth and families with settling in Canada. The organization recently completed the groundbreaking ceremony for Liberian Learning Center which will house the only public library in the West African Nation of Liberia.
He has received the J. In subsequent years, he was engaged in research and teaching at various universities, including the University of Leicester in England, the Universities of Toronto and Windsor in Canada, the University of Sindh in Pakistan and the University of Khartoum in Sudan. In , he co-founded Calmar Orthopaedics, which offers custom-built prosthetic devices for amputees. He set up a private college in , accredited by the Ontario Ministry of Colleges and Universities, and produced more than 5, Network Engineers, Database Administrator and Software Engineers.
He has been active on the boards of several non-profit Canadian organizations that carry out a range of projects to help underprivileged communities. Among these is the International Development and Relief Foundation IDRF , a Canadian registered charitable organization that provides relief aid and development assistance worldwide. He has served as a member of the board of directors, was twice elected as the president, and is currently in the advisory council.
He has been associated with IDRF for the last 35 years. He continues to be active with this program as a member of the fundraising committee. The object of the council is to promote trade between Canada and Pakistan.
He has also been part of a Canadian trade delegation to Pakistan. Apart from his professional life, he writes fiction and has published two novels so far, while the next one is on its way. John Grand Priory. In the meantime, he continues to tour worldwide as soloist with different orchestras recently with Sinfonia Toronto across South America and in recitals and chamber music concerts.
There are two major recording projects coming up in the near future: music of G. Kancheli and M. He frequently gives master classes for underprivileged kids across North America and in the countries of former Soviet Union. Massa made history in , believed to be the first television news reporter in North America to wear a hijab on-air when she was hired as a video journalist for CTV News in Kitchener, Ontario.
She made international headlines again after anchoring the evening newscast at CityNews Toronto in With more than a decade of experience in news, behind-the-scenes and on-air, Massa has worked for both local and national news outlets, in television and radio. Raised in Toronto, Massa arrived in Canada from Panama with her mom and older sister when she was a year old.
After winning a speech competition in the third grade, her mother suggested her outgoing daughter pursue a career on television. Erie Maestro is passionate about early literacy and storytelling, and about community organizing and social justice work. She also introduced the Pilipino Baby Welcoming Program, which welcomed all babies to the library and organized Pilipino language storytimes inside and outside the library.
Maestro continues her advocacy for early literacy and storytelling in Pilipino even in her retirement. Maestro is a founding member and active volunteer of two grassroots organizations: Migrante BC, which protects and promotes the rights and welfare of Filipino migrants and immigrants and the Canada Philippines Solidarity for Human Rights A large part of her life in the Philippines was lived under the shadows of martial law as a student, human rights worker and organizer of the families of political prisoners where she saw firsthand the sacredness and fragility of human freedoms.
In , Maestro arrived in Nova Scotia with her young daughter and balanced her single mother roles and graduate student tasks. Her story is found in, And I will paint the sky: Women speak the story of their lives , a collection of autobiographies of Canadian women edited by Carole Trainer, and in Aboriginal and Visible Minority Librarians: Oral Histories from Canada , a collection of personal narratives edited by Lee and Kumaran.
He appeared before the Supreme Court of Canada in a wide range of civil, constitutional, criminal and regulatory cases, before various provincial courts across Canada, the Federal Court, Federal Court of Appeal, and Tax Court of Canada, and before federal and provincial administrative tribunals.
Justice Jamal was born in Kenya, immigrated to England as a young child, and then immigrated to Canada at the age of He completed high school in Edmonton, Alberta.
He received a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Toronto, bachelor of laws and bachelor of civil law degrees from the Faculty of Law, McGill University, and a master of laws from Yale Law School, which he attended on a Fulbright Scholarship.
He served as a law clerk to Justice Melvin L. Gonthier of the Supreme Court of Canada. Artist, writer, curator City: Fort St. John, B. Country of Origin: Philippines. John, in the Peace Region of Northeast B. Her awareness of the unique challenges of immigrants allows her to personally assist newcomers in her city. She also dreams that her art-concept for a Filipino-Canadian Friendship Monument will someday become a reality. Karla Briones arrived in Canada in a U-Haul truck with her family when she was 18, after a long five-day drive from her native country of Mexico.
She and her family lived the struggles most immigrants experience: cultural, language, environmental and job security barriers. She is the founder of KB Consulting, a business consulting and strategy agency for BIPOC and underrepresented entrepreneurs where she and her team help clients launch, grow and scale businesses.
In , she launched the Immigrants Developing Entrepreneurs Academy IDEA , an online platform designed to educate and connect newcomers to the Canadian business ecosystem. Briones is also part of the team of independent business advisors at Invest Ottawa, the local economic development agency.
She works with all types of entrepreneurs who are launching, building and scaling businesses. She is a small business columnist for the Ottawa Citizen and serves on the board of directors for the Ottawa Markets and the Ottawa Board of Trade, as well as volunteering as a business mentor for Futurpreneur Canada, the Centre for Social Enterprise Development and other local entrepreneurship community groups.
Guest speaker, lecturer and generous with her advice, Briones is passionate about growing the entrepreneurship ecosystem in Canada and giving back to the country that welcomed her with open arms. She is the lucky mom of two amazing, strong and inspiring humans: Carmen, 9, and Nayeli, 13, who also have their own business! She lovingly instills in them her Mexican roots and encourages them to use their Canadian wings to fly after their biggest dreams. Her husband and business partner, Shawn, patiently supports, encourages and contributes to the success of it all.
Working in multiple jobs helped him finance his education as an English—German translator. This led him to work for government, law firms and real estate brokers. He made the move into land development in , securing a small bank loan to open the Nova Scotia-based company Canadian Pioneer Estates Ltd.
It was his vision to bring people together from across the world in friendship and business, thereby building bridges between people.
For this purpose, he created Friends United, a philanthropic initiative to connect Indigenous art and culture with the world. He works closely with embassies around the world to promote Canada, its values, especially with a focus on Indigenous peoples. Bouman built a corporate group of Canadian companies from the ground up, bringing prosperity to Canada and recognition for its Indigenous people. More information is available at friends-united. When Rene Blanco looked at the problem, he saw an opportunity to build a business by helping them to save time and money.
Previously, Blanco worked in Mexican agencies to provide infrastructure and services to rural communities. In , as an international EMBA student, he addressed a social problem within the underserved temporary foreign workers. They have to pay high fees and receive low exchange rates to remit their money back home. Immigrating was integral to her personal journey of transformation after battling life-altering health issues, divorce and other challenges.
She is known for her resilience, transparency, connectedness and relational strengths. Berry has a heart of service and is committed to changing and affecting lives through her work, business and community involvement.
This Black immigrant woman is determined to shatter glass ceilings, bridge career gaps and aid other immigrants make their mark and experience positive transformation. She currently leads the human resource department at Skills for Change and has more than a decade of strategic and operational experience in multiple human resource capacities across various industries.
Her passion is most evident in the areas of talent management, learning and development, recruitment, coaching, DEI and employee engagement. She also provides voluntary support to associations and groups in Jamaica to help prepare students and professionals for a career in Canada. Berry wears many hats heels including that of an entrepreneur. Ida Beltran-Lucila was an accomplished dance artist and arts administrator in the Philippines, bringing a breadth of arts experience and knowledge with her when her family moved to Edmonton, Alberta, in She has also delivered workshops on classical and modern ballet, and Philippine dance, in ballet schools, elementary and high schools, and with senior groups in the effort to promote dance as a recreational, therapeutic and educational tool.
Beltran-Lucila is a driving force in the promotion and development of Philippine art and culture, spearheading a multitude of collaborative projects like the Philippine Arts Festival, Edmonton Filipino Fiesta, Kalinangan and the Learning Table.
She is the director and writer of the documentary Paglalayag: the Philippines to Canada Journey , which chronicles the stories of migration of Filipinos in Edmonton. She is also a regular writer with the Alberta Filipino Journal and was a contributor to other publications in Alberta previously, focusing on arts and culture. Beltran-Lucila has provided a vision on how arts is a vital force in the development of a person and a community.
The majority of her community work is provided on a voluntary basis, as she holds a full-time job with Edmonton Public Schools where she has worked for 12 years now.
Lanre Ajayi is a Nigerian-born visual and new media creator who uses his artistic skills to build forward thinking-communities and tell stories through lived experiences. His artistic projects are a means for educating and entertaining the many shared cultures of Canada. He is responsible for creating platforms to share unique identities through art and cultural activities to promote equity and diversity.
His creative leadership skills enable him to relate well with stakeholders at all levels and his enthusiastic spirit has led him to create community initiatives that have gained international recognition.
As the founder, artistic and creative director of Ethnik Festivals Association, he dedicates his talents to building connections and opportunities within many communities. These initiatives include working with traumatized immigrants from war-torn countries and using his arts and crafts skills as therapeutic means to heal wounds inflicted as a result of war, especially in children.
These stories have been shared internationally, and the film has been selected as a finalist entry in the Festival del Cinema Di Cefalu in Italy, as well as the SideReel Festival in the United States. His passion for building safer communities also led him to start a new initiative during the pandemic called Operation Temporarily Adopt A Mailbox Stand.
This resulted from an encounter with a mail delivery worker who was afraid to knock and deliver a parcel. Ajayi began by cleaning mailbox stands within his neighbourhood. After recording and sharing this act, it started a ripple effect as people took up the challenge of cleaning mailboxes in their communities. His acts of service, as well as the resulting ripple effect, led to a provincial government recognition and award for acts of volunteerism during a challenging time.
Sidhu differentiates herself in Parliament as someone who is focused on health care and advocating for women. She is also the chair of the All-Party Caucus on Diabetes. She currently holds the position of vice-chair of the Status of Women Committee.
Sidhu is proud to be on the Status of Women Committee, advocating for women in her riding and all across Canada. She introduced Motion in to make November of every year diabetes awareness month. Her goal was to raise national awareness of this disease and its complications.
This was the first step in her fight to end diabetes and continues to be at the forefront of the LetsDefeatDiabetes campaign in Canada. Sidhu has been an advocate for Canadians living with pre-diabetes or diabetes since becoming MP. Sidhu was born in India and immigrated to Canada in She lives in her riding of Brampton South with her husband Gurjit, twin daughters, Arshia and Amrit, and her son, Akash.
Tulia Castellanos became the executive director at Mount Pleasant Neighbourhood House in early , after having worked in the non-profit sector for 30 years.
She came to Canada in the early s hoping to find a safe place to rebuild her life. She restarted her career in Canada as a recipient of a federal training initiative aimed to retrain social workers with diverse cultural backgrounds to support the increasing number of refugees coming to Canada. She has worked in multiple areas in social services but most of her work has been focused on the management, development and implementation of a broad range of community-based programs aimed to increase individual and community capacity.
Castellanos worked at Family Services of Greater Vancouver for 24 years in multiple capacities. Her last role was director of strategic community engagement, which allowed her to participate in more than 15 collaborative cross-sectorial tables all aimed to improve social conditions in their communities. Then she moved to the Terry Fox Foundation as their national director of operations.
Castellanos is passionate about newcomer families and their struggles in starting a new life. Throughout her time in Canada, she has always been involved in supporting new Canadians in multiple ways with many organizations. She has served on several boards, including Inland Refugee, AIDS Vancouver and Vantage Point, a member-based provincial organization dedicated to strengthening capacity in the non-profit sector.
Subrata Kumar Das, a celebrated author and erudite scholar, well-known organizer and spirited initiator, made history in Bangladesh in the past, is making history at present in Canada. He has earned respect for his strong voice against discrimination and injustice.
Das has not only written some outstanding books, but also encouraged many Bengalis to write books themselves. Since his arrival in Canada in , he has organized and joined a huge number of cultural, literary, social and religious activities. Since , Das has been anchoring for a community television named NRB. During the COVID lockdown year, Das has encouraged and entertained the whole Bengali community across Canada to keep up their spirit through virtual shows.
Now he is a household name among the Bengali diaspora. Two years after his arrival in Canada, Das started reading the large quantum of Canadian literature, churning the sea of it, and grasped the essence of Canadianness that enabled him to write a superb book on CanLit, the first Bengali-language one on the genre. Toronto International Festival of Authors have, for the first time, included Bengali language and literature in their list in and selected Das to represent Bengali literature in that international forum.
Das not only participated himself, but also included 10 more Bengali writers to take part in that gala ceremony. Salima Neek Gilani was born and raised in Thailand and immigrated to Canada in After graduating from the University of Waterloo, she embarked on a career in Canadian banking.
When she realized that the ethnic food market is underserved, she set on a mission to make the authentic taste of her home country Thailand more readily available to Canadians. Gilani launched her small business, Palette Foods in Gilani is committed to contributing to causes she resonates with in Canada.
She has also served on the board of directors for Peel Seniors Link whose mission is to advance care excellence in the community by helping seniors age at home with dignity. Gilani mentors numerous colleagues and students keen to learn from her success. Country of Origin: Colombia. Murillo immigrated to Canada in with a dream in mind: to merge her entrepreneurial background, her MBA training, and her passion to help her community. She has been working with the Latin American world in Canada, understanding its needs and bringing the community together with a beautiful project called Latincouver, a non-profit organization that has organized more than events in culture and business.
She also created Mirrai, a boutique agency that provides a full spectrum of marketing, consulting and communications services. In Latincouver, her achievements include organizing the recognized cultural festival, Carnaval del Sol, which attracts more than 80, people; the Inspirational Latin Awards, a celebration for recognizing influential Latinos in BC; and ExpoPlaza Latina seminars that address business relationships between Canada and Latin America.
Latincouver supports entrepreneurs through the Latin-Canadian Business Network. During the pandemic, Murillo innovated and changed her way of working to hold 65 events for the Carnaval del Sol. Organizers formed a partnership with more than a dozen local restaurants and artists to support them during these challenging times. MyLatinStore is a place where entrepreneurs can feel inspired and motivated.
Muhtadi Thomas immigrated to Canada from Trinidad and Tobago in He has performed extensively, both nationally and internationally. However, much of his career has been devoted to teaching the art of drumming in community arts programs, schools and community centres. Thomas has also received awards from Music Africa and the Town of Markham for his contribution to the artistic music community. The annual Harry Jerome Award celebrates the world-class excellence achieved by outstanding Black Canadians, not only for their talents and achievements, but also for their community-minded spirit.
Thomas has also been a music judge for Caribana and other events. In addition, he has the distinguished honour of being the only artist to work with Art Starts Neighbourhood Cultural Centre from their inception in Thomas is well known as the founder and artistic director of the highly successful Muhtadi International Drumming Festival, which celebrated the drum, its universality as an art form and its presence in all cultures.
The festival ran for 20 years and featured drumming groups of all ages and skills that display the diverse cultural traditions and drumming styles from all over the world. Thomas is now a retired musician enjoying life with his family. She has produced multiple Nigerian Indigenous movies, which have currently garnered hundred of thousands of views on YouTube.
Sadiq-Soneye is a mentor to many foreign-trained lawyers, who have migrated from their countries of origin to start the licensing process in Canada as immigrants.
She has worked as a civil servant in Nigeria and also worked with Ontario Public Service since she landed in Canada. She graduated from both diplomas while writing the lawyer licensing exams — NCA and Ontario bar exams. Sadiq-Soneye is the first born and has two younger siblings who also migrated to Canada with their families. She is married to a very supportive IT professional and has three daughters. Her father is a lawyer with his firm in Nigeria; it was easy following in his footsteps.
Banker; founder, UnstoppableMe. CEO of the most famous and oldest coffee company in Mexico, Miguel Abascal travelled around the world representing Mexican coffee until he decided to follow his dream to immigrate to Canada. He never thought his first five years were going to be a nightmare. Abascal landed in Toronto in and his first job was as a coffee server in Tim Hortons. After his confidence crashed, he secured several survival jobs over the years trying to figure out why his success formula that worked before was not working in Canada.
His luck started to change in when he discovered the power of mentoring and was able to land a bank teller role at TD. Within a short period of time, he got promoted several times, and finally, in he got a role within his expertise and skill level. In , Abascal also founded a volunteer-based organization called UnstoppableMe. The name UnstoppableMe came after listening to countless stories of newcomers who were facing similar challenges after arriving in Canada and never giving up.
Abascal and the amazing group of unstoppable volunteers have helped more than newcomers. Abascal has received the Volunteer Toronto Legacy Award and the TD Vision in Action award for his outstanding contributions to the bank and to society. He also climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in to bring awareness to the impact of underemployment in our society.
Today, Abascal is living his Canadian dream working for Scotiabank helping Canadians to achieve their savings goals. He is an avid mentor, speaker and beekeeper who enjoys hiking with his wife and son and, strangely enough, he loves the Canadian winters. Born and raised in rural Mexico, he came to Canada alone at just 22 with the hope of finding fulfilment as his true self in a tolerant and accepting society.
For the rest of the province, all interpreters and translators must be certified or accredited with a professional association in Ontario such as the Association of Translators and Interpreters of Ontario or directly from the federal or provincial government.
For more information on the requirements and a breakdown of each region, you can check the DriveTest website here. No matter where in the world you are immigrating from, if you have driving experience the government of Ontario has made it easier for you to get your full license quicker than going through the process from the start.
Make sure you do your research to know what exchange or credits you are eligible for, and what documents you will need to provide to complete your application. Good luck! Buying a Car with No Credit in Ontario? Below is our guide to help you exchange or get credit for your driver's license. Did You Know? More than , immigrants arrive in Ontario every year, especially in Toronto and the surrounding suburbs.
That is almost half of the total number of new Canadians per year, making Ontario the most diverse province in the country! Before we begin, it is important to note that, like with many other things in the US, different states have different rules for driving and transportation. And while most of the regulations and procedures are usually similar, they are not universal.
Therefore, for state-specific information, you will need to visit the website or get in touch with the relevant state agency responsible for transportation. Visitors to the United States can typically continue using their foreign license for a while as long as it is written in English. However, if this is not the case, you will apply for an International Driving Permit from your country of origin.
And while tourists and visitors can benefit from this arrangement for one year, if you establish residency in the US, depending on the state you are living in you only have 30 to 90 days to get your US driving license.
However, some countries have reciprocity agreements with the US that allows their citizens to simply exchange their original license to the American one.
The majority of expats that wish to obtain a driving license in the US will have to go through the full application process. The details of the procedures, like the documents you need to present and fees you need to pay, will differ from state to state but the general steps are usually the same. Before you go to the local branch of Department of Motor Vehicles, make sure you have all the right documents on you. Typically, at least some of the following documents are required for application:.
The legal age for driving varies throughout the country, so make sure that you are eligible to apply for a license. However, if you are 21 or older, this will not be a problem. Check the requirements and find out how to apply by contacting your state's department of motor vehicles. It is your responsibility to know and obey the laws of the state where you are driving. Ask a real person any government-related question for free. They'll get you the answer or let you know where to find it.
Apply for Nonimmigrant Visas to the U. Foreign Nationals Driving in the U.
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