ICCC Weekly Newsletter 28 June 2021

Asha Bajaj

9 min readJun 30, 2021

ICCC Weekly Newsletter 28 June 2021

President’s Message

Tauseef Sheikh

Greetings on a warm summer day!

I hope you have taken your second dose of the Covid-19 vaccine. If you haven’t, now is the time to do so. The sooner everyone gets vaccinated, the quicker we will be ready to restart our economies. The world needs to reopen, and soon. So folks, let’s not wait any longer, let’s get vaccinated right now.

It has been nearly a month since I have taken charge of the Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce as its President. I am proud to be at the helm of an institution that has served the Indo-Canadian business and professional communities for more than four decades.

In setting priorities and working on specific tasks as the President of the ICCC, I will be guided by the twin mandates of our Chamber: foster bilateral trade and investment relations between Canada and India, and create business and professional opportunities for our members.

I have had the privilege of being on the board of our Chamber since 2017, and am, in fact, the senior-most board member on the current board.

Having served the Chamber’s members, stakeholders and sponsors as a board member for four years has given me unique insights about matters that are of great significance to our Chamber’s functioning. These include strict adherence to governance norms and enhancing the Chamber’s footprint across Canada and in India.

With the cooperation of my colleagues on the board, I am planning to bring about fundamental modification in our operations, where the primary focus will be on adherence to governance norms as stipulated by our Chamber’s bylaws and by Canada’s Not for Profit Corporations Act.

Simultaneously, I will be focusing on enhancing our membership and expanding our Chamber’s footprint by reviving our councils across Canada. Next month, we will be relaunching our India Chapter.

On the anvil is a reconstitution of our committees. Our board has unanimously decided that in addition to the committees already formed, we will also be introducing new, sector-based committees and inviting professionals and individuals with the requisite expertise to lead these committees; we are also inviting such individuals to become members of our existing committees. Please see the announcement about the committees in this newsletter.

We will be making a special thrust to engage with our stakeholders both in Canada and in India. As India celebrates the 75 anniversary of its independence, our Chamber will engage with the Indian diplomatic corps in Canada to bring to our members meaningful programs on this theme. Pertinently, 2022 will also be the 75th anniversary of consular relations between Canada and India.

As the economy opens in the post-pandemic phase, our Chamber is gearing up to revive all its main programs. This includes the Annual Charity Golf Tournament, the 2021 Annual Awards, the SME Expo, and a host of other events that we haven’t been able to hold since March 2020. Depending upon the pace at which the authorities will permit physical participation in public events, we will take a call to hold physical or virtual events this year.

I urge all members to get involved with our Chamber’s activities through the committees or through volunteering for any of the programs that we will be organizing in the remaining months of 2021. I also want to hear from you. Please feel free to write to me at president@iccconline.org. Send me your comments, your views, and opinions, share your ideas. Together, let us rebuild the institution and take it to new heights and greater glory.

Announcement: Reconstitution of Committees

Call to Members: Be a part of ICCC’s growth

Dear ICCC member,

Your Chamber is a not-for-profit organization that depends on the support and assistance of its members’ voluntarism. An organization that is continually engaged in fulfilling its mandate can thrive only with active participation of its members. As the new board gears up to give the Chamber a new direction and a fresh impetus, it is reconstituting the different Committees that pivot the Chamber’s multifarious activities to meet its diverse objectives.

In addition to the existing committees

(see the list of existing committees here:

https://iccconline.org/core-committees

and here:

https://iccconline.org/sector-committees),

the ICCC Board is keen to form a Building Committee that will explore and finalize the acquisition of new office space for the Chamber. Naval Bajaj, former President of the Chamber, is the Chair of the Building Committee.

In addition to the Building Committee, the ICCC is also in the process of forming sector-based committees and expand the existing committees by inducting new members.

Members of the Chamber, who have the requisite qualifications and experience to be a part of the Building Committee and/or any other committee are encouraged to send their information to the Chamber’s President at president@iccconline.org

Call for Nominations: ICCC Annual Awards 2021

Nominations are invited for the Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce’s (ICCC) Annual Awards.

Since 1993, the ICCC has recognized Indo-Canadians for their achievements in 11 different categories at its Annual Awards and Gala Night.

ICCC’s Advisory Board is entrusted with the responsibility of choosing the award recipients in nine open categories. Two additional awards are presented — the President’s Award to unsung heroes, and the Members’ Award, for voluntarism and community services.

Click on the link below to download

the nomination form in each category.

Send completed nomination forms by email to iccc@iccconline.org

Deadline: 5:00 pm Friday 16 July 2021

In the News — Canada

50th Anniversary of Canadian Multiculturalism Day

Canadian Multiculturalism

Multiculturalism: Services & Information

In 1971, Canada became the first country in the world to adopt multiculturalism as an official policy, intending to preserve the cultural freedom of all individuals and provide recognition of the cultural contributions of diverse ethnic groups to Canadian society.

For many years following this initial action, multicultural policies do not meet the needs of all immigrants to Canada, but the introduction of the term brings attention to the need for federal coordination to reflect the diversity of Canadian society.

According to a 2009 study on Canadian Multiculturalism by Laurence Brosseau, Legal and Social Affairs Division and Michael Dewing, Legal and Social Affairs Division (updated in 2018), the concept of Canada as a “multicultural society” can be interpreted in different ways: descriptively (as a sociological fact), prescriptively (as ideology) or politically (as policy).

As a sociological fact, multiculturalism refers to the presence of people from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds. Ideologically, multiculturalism consists of a relatively coherent set of ideas and ideals pertaining to the celebration of Canada’s cultural diversity. At the policy level, multiculturalism refers to the management of diversity through formal initiatives in the federal, provincial, territorial, and municipal domains.

This study focuses on an analysis of Canadian multiculturalism both as a sociological fact and as a federal public policy. It goes on to look at attitudes to multiculturalism, as well as provincial and territorial multiculturalism policies. It also provides a chronology of federal policy on multiculturalism and selected references.

Our Winning Shot: Toronto’s Vaccine World Record

800 volunteers were recruited to lend a hand and 400 vaccinators were available to administer the doses

26,771 Torontonians joined the City of Toronto and Team Toronto vaccination partners at the Toronto Vaccine Day “Our Winning Shot” clinic at Scotiabank Arena on Sunday 27 June 2021. The total COVID-19 vaccine doses administered are believed to be a new world record for most one-day COVID-19 vaccinations given at a single clinic.

Mayor John Tory visited the “Our Winning Shot” clinic yesterday during setup. The Mayor, joined by renowned Toronto Maple Leaf alumnus Wendel Clark, thanked all those working to get the clinic ready and acknowledged that while a world record is something to celebrate, the real prize is the protection of people, their families and communities now have against COVID-19. This morning, Mayor Tory received his second dose of vaccine at the “Our Winning Shot” clinic.

Preliminary counts from Sunday’s clinic indicate 26,771 doses administered. Throughout the day, the clinic administered 978 first doses and 25,793 second doses, with 25,476 adults and 1,295 youth vaccinated. On average, immunizers gave 1,785 vaccines per hour. At 2:21 p.m., the clinic surpassed the Canadian record of 10,470 vaccinations given at a single clinic in one day. At 4:58 p.m., the “Our Winning Shot” clinic surpassed the North American record of 17,003 doses by one clinic in a single day.

Written by Asha Bajaj