By Len Chan

The 22nd Immigrants of Distinction Award(IDA) hosted by Immigrant Services Calgary took place Mar. 9 at The Westin recognizing the nominees and recipients of the Awards. Just to be nominated is an honor and each have earned that recognition and for the Awards Recipients a milestone. The MC’s were Joelle Tomlinson and Doug Dirks.

Attending were Hon. Premier Rachel Notley, His Worship Mayor Naheed Nenshi and Lt. Governor of Alberta Lois Mitchell.

Categories were Achievement under 35, Arts & Culture, Community Service, Entrepreneurship & Innovation, Lifetime Achievement, Organizational Diversity, Science, Technology, Engineering & Math and Youth Scholarship.

Entertainment by Suzirya Ukrainian Dance Theatre and Serendib.

The event also had a silent auction.

Under 35 – Hyder Hassan-Pakistan

Arts & Culture- Marjan Eggemont-Netherlands

Community Service- Miroslav Reljic-Croatia

Entrepreneurship -Dr. Rupinder Toor-India

Lifetime Achievement was a tie with Dr. Kamal Botros- Egypt and Dr. Thomas Brown-UK

Science -Dr. Gopal Achari-India
Organizational Diversity – Trico Homes
Youth Scholarships to Mehul Gupta, Jenny Liao, Ruth Legese, Kevin Lin, and Kirsty McGowan.