Fearon and Knight awarded Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Honour
A co-founder and Director of the Canada-Caribbean Institute (CCI) and a renowned Caribbean scholar and contributor to the Institute have recently been among a group of individuals awarded the Top 25 Canadian Immigrant honour.
Gervan Fearon, President of George Brown College and Prof. Andy Knight, University of Alberta were part of a list of 25 individuals named recently.
The Top 25 Immigrant Award, which are presented by Western Union, was first given 16 years ago and is designed to celebrate the inspiring stories of individuals who have made Canada their home and in the process made the country a better place.
Gervan Fearon, PhD.
President, George Brown College City: Toronto Country of origin: England
Leading with education
The conversation around the challenges immigrants face is all-too common, but Gervan Fearon, PhD, CPA, CGA, ICD.D, president of George Brown College in Toronto, takes a new angle to the narrative. “My biggest challenges have become my greatest strengths,” says Fearon who was born in England to Jamaican parents.
“At age six, we moved back to Jamaica and then, at nine, to Canada. So, in under a decade, I had already lived in three different countries. This meant for much of my youth, I felt that I did not fit in anywhere.”
Feeling like an outsider was his challenge to overcome, but as Fearon grew in age and confidence, he realized that he was all he had to be.
“I came to understand that I had a Canadian way of seeing the world, combined with Jamaican cultural roots and an English sense of formality. I was all these backgrounds, and it was okay to simply be myself,” he says.
This understanding gave him the ability to then “fully embrace others with respect to who and where they are, while never limiting my views of their future potential.”
As an economist, scholar, teacher and leader, that’s an important quality. And, to him, education is the mechanism that empowers that potential.
“Education is a pathway, a lever of equality, for social harmony, economic mobility and for a future shared prosperity,” he says.
Building on a progressive career in government and higher education, Fearon is today bringing his vision for the transformative impacts of education to one of Canada’s most culturally diverse, urban post-secondary institutions.
Fearon, who also commits his talents to several prominent boards, says he had to learn how to get comfortable with being uncomfortable to stay true to himself.
“When I was establishing my career, I was often the only Black person in the room,” Fearon says. “It was important to not become distracted by how others may judge me, but rather to focus on excellence, and how I could enhance my capacity to improve the outcomes and positive impacts of my teams, organization and society.”
Gervan Fearon’s Top Tip:
“Education, of course! No matter what your educational background, make it your mission to be a continuous learner, enrol in a program at a school, college or university — you will be surprised where it takes you. Take the time to learn about the services and learning opportunities available to you for both supporting your adjustment and acculturation to a new society as well as for supporting the translation of your skills into recognized value-add capacity for employers and organizations within your new country.”
W. Andy Knight
Professor, University of Alberta City: Edmonton Country of origin: Barbados
Photo by John Ulan
Black excellence
When W. Andy Knight immigrated to Canada, he was surprised to see few people who looked like him in positions of leadership.
“In Barbados, I saw people in authority who were Black and never considered having to struggle to succeed in life in that country. However, in Canada, there were few Black individuals in positions of authority,” he says. “I had to overcome systemic bias and ethnic discrimination to succeed professionally and socially.”
After receiving his bachelor’s from McMaster, his master’s from Dalhousie and his PhD in political science from York University, Knight excelled in his first job at Bishop’s University in Quebec, receiving the Chancellor’s Award for most outstanding teacher. Moving to the University of Alberta in Edmonton in 1998, Knight quickly rose to the rank of full professor in the political science department and served as department chair.
Today, Knight is not only a University of Alberta distinguished professor, but he’s also helping address inequities for Black Canadians as the inaugural provost fellow in Black excellence and leadership.
Adding to that, he is a Fulbright distinguished chair in international and area studies at Yale, a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, a visiting professor around the globe, the author of 16 books, 80 chapters in edited volumes and 68 peer-reviewed journal articles, and a researcher whose grants amount to more than $8.5 million!
His most recent triumph? “I was recently co-recipient of a $2.5 million Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) partnership grant and awarded $1.5 million from the Department of National Security MINDS and SSHRC partnership grant to fund activities of the Canadian Defence and Security Network.”
Knight also gives back to the region where he was born, leading academic and social justice efforts, including establishing the hub of the Caribbean Child Rights Observatory Network under UNICEF.
“I love being in the classroom, imparting knowledge to my students,” says Knight, who was named among Alberta’s top 50 most influential people by Venture Magazine. “I am also passionate about my research and strive to find ways to bring about fairness, equity and justice in our world.”
Andy Knight’s Top Tip:
“My major tip for other newcomers, especially young people, is not to wait until you are older to take on leadership roles. You are tomorrow’s leaders today. Don’t allow other people to define who you are. Have a strong sense of yourself; find out what your normative goals are; prepare yourself by attaining the highest level of education you can achieve; and then use that preparation and knowledge to demand change for the betterment of society.”
