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New Pioneers Awards
(NPA)
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1996
Winners
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Vincenzo Pietropaolo (Arts)
 Vincenzo was born in
1951 in Calabria, southern Italy. He immigrated with his family to
Canada when he was 12. In 1992, after a 17-year urban planning
career with the City of Toronto, which included dealing directly
with many immigrant communities, Vincenzo decided to follow his
life-long dream to dedicate himself to photography. As a self-taught
photographer, Vincenzo’s first body of work was a social documentary
on Italian immigrant life. Through the camera he is a witness to
individuals and groups overlooked by history books. His most current
work Harvest Pilgrims, documents migrant farm workers who come to
Canada from Mexico, Jamaica and the Eastern Caribbean. His work has
appeared nationally and internationally as feature exhibits; in
books and magazines; on television; and is collected by the National
Archives of Canada, the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography
and held in many private and corporate collections. He is a founding
member of Photo Eclipse, and Silverlight, photo agencies devoted to
documentary photography. Vincenzo also shares his expertise with
students, community groups and unions, through the Artists in
Schools and Artists in the Workplace programs, teaching people to
document their own lives through photography.
Michael
Dang (Community Service)
 Michael grew up in Vietnam and in 1965 attended the
University of Manchester Institute of Science & Technology,
England, where he graduated with a B.Sc., M.Sc., Ph.D. In 1981,
Michael emigrated to Montreal, with his wife and three small
children. Although he spoke Vietnamese, English and French he found
it difficult to understand the local Québecois French and in 1988
moved to Toronto. Not long after settling here, Michael became aware
of the negative Vietnamese-Canadian stereotypes presented in the
media. In response to these images, he and several colleagues formed
the Society of Vietnamese-Canadian Professionals to change these
perceptions by working with the police and the community. From these
challenging beginnings, Michael’s service to the community has
grown. As the father of four daughters and recognizing the special
challenges for youth in society, Michael organized a youth
conference with the Chinese National Council: National Forum on East
Asian Youth and Alienation. He has also helped organize a Vietnamese
Studies Course for educators with the Toronto Board of Education.
Understanding the challenges that foreign-trained professionals face
in having their past education and training recognized, Michael
helped create the Coalition for Access to Professional Engineers
(CAPE) and in 1995 presented a report on Admissions into PEO -
Proposal for an Appeal Process and Prior Learning Assessment. To
date, this work has resulted in three universities in Vietnam
meeting the accreditation requirements for engineering
certification/licensure in Ontario. Michael is currently a board
member of the Access Alliance Community Health Center and the
Multicultural Historical Society of Ontario.
Drago Harmic
and Halil Fehmi (Entrepreneurship)
 Drago and Halil
arrived in Canada from Croatia and Cyprus respectively with no
family or friends for support. Initially, Drago spoke no English and
attended night school. Both men were trained as toolmakers in their
homelands and found it difficult to secure employment with no
Canadian work experience. In 1975, Drago began his own business
which failed in the first year due to lack of financial backing and
business know-how, but led him to complete a management program
through Ryerson Polytechnical University. In 1980, while working for
the same company, Drago and Halil formed a partnership and using
their own personal savings and homes as collateral, began
manufacturing small precision springs. Today, Dominion Spring
Industries Corporation is one of the most modernized spring
manufacturing facilities in North America and produces springs used
primarily in the automotive industry. They began with annual sales
of $60,000 and two employees (themselves). Today they have annual
sales of $12 million and the company employs 70 highly-skilled
individuals, representing 15 different nationalities. Based on their
experiences as newcomers, Drago and Halil employ those who cannot
find jobs due to difficulties with English or lack of Canadian
experience. In conjunction with the Peel Board of Education they
offer English as a Second Language (ESL) training and skills
upgrading at the work site.
Ahmed Samater
(Leadership)
 Forced to leave his family in a Somali refugee camp, Ahmed
arrived in Canada in January 1989. Although he spoke English, Ahmed
faced many less obvious cultural barriers. As a community activist
and educator, Ahmed has worked to bridge the cultural and practical
gaps between the Somali community and the wider community. He
created Midaynta (Association of Somali Service Agencies) which
helps to reunite Somali refugees with their families. He also
developed the Somali Family Support Centre in Flemingdon Park and a
housing guide booklet in Somali. To empower Somali women and
children he helped create the Somaliland Women’s Organization and
the Somali Family Re-unification Project. Ahmed has also created
community events to involve and educate both the Somali and wider
community about the Somali culture. At the national level, Ahmed
represented the Somali community in a precedent-setting
constitutional challenge of the section of the Immigration Act which
requires that refugees produce a "satisfactory identification"
document, presumably from the countries they were fleeing, to be
granted "landed status". This work has far reaching implications in
improving conditions for refugee claimants in
Canada.
Malgorzata Zywno (Science &
Technology)
 Educated as an electrical engineer at the Technical
University of Lodz in Poland, Malgorzata faced gender discrimination
as she sought an academic position. She was also discriminated
against because of her refusal to become a member of the communist
party or to work for the secret police. She left Poland in 1981 and
arrived in Canada as a government-sponsored refugee in 1982. To
fulfill her goal of a career in engineering education, Malgorzata
completed the Master of Engineering degree at the University of
Toronto. For the past 14 years, she has been teaching at Ryerson
Polytechnic University and has published several papers. Malgorzata
served on the Professional Engineers of Ontario (PEO) Task Force on
Admissions (1991-1993), which reviewed PEO’s procedures to ensure
fair and equitable treatment for all applicants to the engineering
profession, regardless of their country of origin, race or gender.
She administers this philosophy as a member of the PEO’s Academic
Requirements Committee. As an educator and administrator, she has
served as the Assistant Chair, Student Affairs, in Ryerson’s
department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and has assisted
students with academic and personal endeavors. She is involved in
the Women in Engineering Committee at Ryerson and works to improve
the climate for female engineering students to encourage young women
to consider a future in engineering through summer camp and
mentorship programs.
Kurnarasamy Nehru (SfC
Graduate)
 After being arrested, detained and tortured for advocacy
against human rights abuses in his native Sri Lanka, Kumarasamy fled
to India with his wife and daughter. Separated from his wife when he
left for Canada, they were eventually reunited in 1989. As a
refugee, Kumarasamy was issued a work permit but could not find
employment. By chance he heard about Skills for Change and enrolled
in the CareerStart program, which provided computer and work-search
training for foreign-trained professionals and people with
accounting backgrounds. Following his graduation from this program,
Kumarasamy continued to volunteer with the organization and
represented graduates as a member of the board of directors.
Kumarasamy worked at Skills For Change as a program assistant from
1992-1995. His work in the community includes: serving on the board
of directors at Bloor Information and Legal Services; counseling
other refugees through the Canadian Centre for Victims of Torture;
and work with two organizations to support and promote the Tamil
culture in Canada. Presently, Kumarasamy is studying toward a BA in
sociology at York University.
Mary Atputhakumar
(Youth)
 Mary
was 14 when her mother obtained a Minister’s Permit for the family
to leave Sri Lanka and apply for refugee status in Canada. She had
limited English and started school six days after arriving in
Toronto. Facing numerous cultural barriers, Mary learned English by
reading books and watching Polka Dot Door. During her first years at
Elmbank Middle School in Toronto, Mary received the New Canadian
Citizenship Award for her contributions at school. As a high school
student at Richview Collegiate in Toronto, Mary has obtained honour
standing every year. Mary is on the track and field team, is
president of the multicultural club, and is the editor of the school
year book. As a leader in The Inner School Christian Fellowship and
member of the Anti-Racism Clubs at Richview, Mary fosters awareness
about the need for unity and cultural understanding among students.
Two mornings each week, Mary tutors children at the Braeburn Center,
which provides social and educational programs for children, youth
and their families. She also volunteers at the Etobicoke General
Hospital and with the Society of the Aid for Ceylon Minorities in
Canada. |
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