It was standing room only for the announcement of this year’s Nesika Awards. With a record number of nominations—160 in all—the large room at the Bonsor Recreation Complex on Nov. 23 was decidedly cozy.
The provincial Nesika Awards celebrate the exceptional work being done to promote diversity and multiculturalism in British Columbia. There are four award categories: Individual, business, youth and organization.
Ha-Shilth-Sa newspaper was nominated in the Organization category. The recipient of the award went to Collingwood Neighbourhood House Society, which serves a culturally-diverse area of Vancouver and offers more than 100 programs and services by embedding intercultural ways of living, playing, learning and working together.
The Youth category was new to the Nesika Awards this year. Jorge E. Salazar got the nod. He works for the Vancouver Foundation focusing on immigrant and refugee youth to promote strong community connections with First Nations, urban Aboriginal, immigrant and refugee communities in B.C.
John Donnelly & Associates conceived and produced the Surry Fusion Festival, B.C.’s largest multi-cultural festival. The company was the recipient of the Business Nesika Award.
Winnie L. Cheung was the recipient of the individual award. She has been instrumental in establishing several signature programs to foster relationship-building between international and local students, as well as engaging the community with the University of British Columbia and promoting learning through the appreciation of cultural diversity.
The judging criteria included how nominees had contributed to raising awareness of diversity, multiculturalism and anti-racism issues, promoted respect and inclusion and created a welcoming environment in their communities.
The winners in each category received a trophy marking their achievement and a $5,000 cheque to be given to a recognized organization of their choice to further advance multiculturalism in B.C.
Minister of Advanced Education, Innovation and Technology and Minister Responsible for Multiculturalism John Yap joined the award winners, nominees, members of the Multicultural Advisory Council and B.C. diversity champions at the awards ceremony.
"Cultural diversity and increased participation and engagement by all cultures are vitally important to create a strong and vibrant social and economic future for British Columbia. The recipients and nominees of this year's provincial Nesika Awards reinforce that commitment to those goals on a daily basis and I am proud to congratulate my fellow British Columbians on their success."
Mo Dhaliwal is the acting chair of the Multicultural Advisory Council, which runs the award event.
“A record number of 160 nominees for this year's Nesika Awards proves how the values of multiculturalism are thriving and enriching the province. It also demonstrates that multiculturalism is not just a policy and legislation, it is a way of life and a way of doing business embraced by many British Columbians."
Nesika (pronounced Ne-SAY-ka) is Chinook for "we, us, our." It comes from a trade language used by many different Aboriginal linguistic groups along the west coast of North America.
