CPAC Annual Gala Highlights Immigrant Contributions and Research on Equity Issues

CPAC, formerly Chinese Professionals Association of Canada, held its 2025 Annual Gala at the Markham Hilton on March 8, 2025 to raise funds for its research, training and public education initiatives on issues important to Chinese Canadians.

The weekend event attracted hundreds of supporters, mostly from the Greater Toronto Area, who paid special attention to a summary report by CPAC’s Executive Director Andi Shi on the CPAC Institute’s latest research on the Ontario public school curriculum and the underutilization of foreign trained physicians. Shi called for inclusion of East and Southeast Asian Canadian experiences in school teaching and urged healthcare authorities to increase funding and stop discriminatory policies and practices against immigrants from non-white countries. 

“Our advocacy is based on in-depth research on issues affecting Chinese Canadians,” remarked Helen Cao, President of CPAC. “Our goal is systemic change and an inclusive Canada where everyone is equally respected and has an equal opportunity to succeed.”

With the theme of Raising Awareness, Breaking Barriers, and in consideration of International Women’s Day, this year’s gala featured a keynote speaker, Citizenship Judge Albert Wong, who spoke about gender equity and current challenges in advancing equity, diversity and inclusion. Judge Wong concluded his speech with a powerful quote from a Calvin and Hobbes cartoon, “DEI initiatives were not put in place to ensure lower-qualified minorities could get hired instead of more highly-qualified white people. It was put in place to ensure lower-qualified white people were not hired instead of more highly-qualified minorities.”

An important part of the CPAC Annual Gala is to recognize and celebrate the achievements and contributions made by immigrants, and to provide role models for the immigrant community. This is done through the presentation of CPAC achievement awards, the Professional Achievement Award (PAA), which recognizes immigrant professionals who have attained outstanding success and prominent status in recognized professions, and the Young Achiever Award (YAA), which recognizes the professional and community contributions of outstanding individuals aged 29 and under.

The recipients of this year’s PAA were internationally renowned management scholar Rosalie Tung, a professor of International Business at Simon Fraser University, and internationally acclaimed conductor Judith Yan, who is equally adept at symphony, opera and ballet and has conducted for major companies in Canada, U.S.A., Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand.

The 2025 YAA recipients were AI researcher and entrepreneur Alex Cui, Chief Technology Officer of GPTZero, and chiropractor and entrepreneur Phoenix Wong, founder of TRIMOTION Sports Medicine & Training. 

As one of the premier annual events in the GTA Chinese community, the CPAC Gala was attended by many community, business and political leaders, with a large presence of the local Chinese media.

This event was also greatly supported by the corporate sector, with TD Insurance and TD Wealth as its Presenting Sponsors, RBC Royal Bank as a Diamond Sponsor, and CIBC and CPA Ontario as Platinum Sponsors.

Donations to support CPAC’s equity and anti-racism initiatives can be made at: https://cpac-canada.ca/donate/

Photo Captions:

1. CPAC President Helen Cao makes opening remarks.
2. Gala Co-Chairs Lynda Xu and Adrian Cheung make remarks.
3. Steve Laurin, Vice President, Affinity Market Group, TD Insurance, speaks on behalf the Presenting Sponsor.
4. Vivi White, Regional Vice President for Markham, RBC Royal Bank, speaks about RBC’s support for CPAC.
5. Alex Fan, Vice-President, Retail Asian Banking, CIBC, receives an appreciation plaque for the Platinum Sponsor.
6. Jennifer Reynolds, Vice President, EDI and Partnerships, CPA Ontario, receives an appreciation plaque representing the Platinum Sponsor.
7. Professional Achievement Award recipient Rosalie Tung receives her award (from the left: CPAC President Helen Cao, MP Jean Yip, Rosalie Tung, MPP Aris Babikian, Toronto City Councillor Nick Mantas).
8. Professional Achievement Award recipient Judith Yan receives her award (from the left: CPAC President Helen Cao, Judith Yan, MP Paul Chiang, CPAC Foundation Advisor David Kuo).
9. Young Achiever Award recipient Alex Cui receives his award (from the left: CPAC President Helen Cao, MPP Robert Cerjanec, Alex Cui, Deputy Consul General of China Cheng Hongbo, Deputy Mayor of the City of Markham Michael Chan).
10. Young Achiever Award recipient Phoenix Wong receives her award (from the left: CPAC President Helen Cao, YRDSB Chair Ron Lynn, Phoenix Wong, MPP Daisy Wai, MP Han Dong).
11. CPAC Board Members and dignitaries.
12. Citizenship Judge Albert Wong delivers the keynote speech of the evening.
13. Executive Director Andi Shi provides a summary report of CPAC Institute’s latest research.
14.  2025 Gala CPAC
15. Comedy in Motion.
16. MCs Ashleigh Au & Wei Lee (2^nd and 3^rd from the left) and some volunteers and staff.
17. CPAC Board Members and staff with Professional Achievement Award recipient Judith Yan (from the left: Lawrence Yu, Hugh Zhao, Ti Wang, Eric Xiao, Lynda Xu, Helen Cao, Judith Yan and her mother Kitty, Bess Song, Howard Shen, Andi Shi, Adrian Zhang, George Fang).
18. MP Paul Chiang presents a congratulatory letter to CPAC’s President and Executive Director.
19. MPP Aris Babikian presents a congratulatory letter to CPAC leaders.
20. MP Shaun Chen’s Assistant Judy Yeung presents the MP’s congratulatory letter to CPAC’s President.
21. MPP Aris Babikian with CPAC’s President Helen Cao (2nd from the right) and Vice Presidents Bess Song (first from the left) and Lynda Xu.
22. MP Paul Chiang (4th from the left) with CPAC’s current and former Board Members.

About CPAC

CPAC, formerly known as the Chinese Professionals Association of Canada, is a multi-dimensional organization that is an association of professionals, a career service provider, and a developing think tank. For over 30 years, CPAC has been serving the community of internationally educated professionals with their credential recognition, licensure, skills upgrading, cultural integration, employment, professional development and leadership development. The organization now has close to 31,000 members from various cultural and ethnic backgrounds with a wide range of professional training and skills. CPAC also facilitates, through CPAC Institute, the understanding and elimination of systemic racism and barriers to equity, diversity and inclusion, through research, education and training, with the goal of achieving the full potential of a diverse and inclusive Canadian society.