SfC In The News
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March 2000
Making Marks in a New Land
New Pioneers award honours achievements of immigrants and refugees
By Nicholas Keung
Toronto Star Staff Reporter
 
Ismael Cala LopezWhen Ismael Cala Lopez was looking to board a Toronto subway train the first time, he walked into a building with a huge neon sign that said ``Subway.''
 
But all the 30-year-old Cuban immigrant could find there were beverages and sandwiches - and baffling sneers that embarrassed him.
 
``People told me I could find the stations where the signs were, so I entered the restaurant and asked the clerk, `Where's the door to the train?' '' recalled Cala, who came to Toronto as a refugee in June, 1998.
 
``I had very little English and I thought I would never restart my life in this country.''
 
Today, three months short of his second anniversary in Canada, Cala is a York University freshman working toward an honours bachelor degree in mass communication.
 
He is one of six winners of the eighth New Pioneers awards.
``Knowledge gives you freedom and language gives you the access to that knowledge. I know I must have a good command of the language in order to succeed.'
- Ismael Cala Lopez, New Pioneers award winner
"It's so sweet and nice to be recognized for what you have done in a foreign country. It's an amazing feeling,'' said Cala, who will be honoured with the graduate award, for courses he has already completed, at a banquet Wednesday at the Marriott Eaton Centre Hotel.
 
The awards, to be presented by Skills for Change, a Toronto non-profit immigration and settlement agency, acknowledge contributions and achievements by immigrants and refugees who overcome tremendous difficulties.
 
An outspoken radio and television broadcaster in Santiago, Cala started his career job-shadowing in a studio at the age of 8 but eventually fled Cuba for the freedom of the West.
 
"I was trained in language and speeches, but here I was, couldn't understand a word in English and express myself in English.
 
"I felt totally lost in the new world,'' said Cala, who hosted a radio talk show in Cuba and often challenged the government on social and political issues.
 
Cala spent his first year as a migrant studying English with the refugee group Costi and taking keyboarding, computer and career training at Skills for Change.
 
The other five award winners are:
 
Community service: Farid Omar, 28, from Somalia, graduated with an honours degree from the University of Toronto's world diplomacy and international security department and is now the executive director of Toronto's Ogaden Somali Community Centre.
 
Arts: Lata Pada from Bangalore, India, founder of the Sampradaya Dance Academy, is on the South Asian Advisory Committee of the Royal Ontario Museum and the board of Mississauga's Living Arts Centre.
 
Entrepreneurship: Dr. Alfred F. Choo from China, started Vita-Tech Laboratories.  In 1991, as a result of the growth of the laboratory information system, Dr. Choo created Techno Labs (now known as Triple G Corp.) In 1999 it was named one of Toronto's 50 fastest growing high technology companies. He completed his bachelor of science degree in biochemistry at the University of British Columbia and earned his doctoral degree in molecular biology from York University.
 
Science and technology: Dr. Samih Mikhail from Egypt, a past director of Ryerson International Development Centre, whose work has been recognized by the World Bank, the Egyptian Ministry of Higher Education and other agencies in 20 different countries.
 
Youth: Carla Rosario from Peru, a St. Patrick's Secondary School OAC student, led a campaign at her school to assist victims of Hurricane Mitch, work which was commended by the Canadian Red Cross Society. Since coming to Canada in 1997, the 19-year-old has also received many academic awards in biology and math.
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