CPACT is a business association with the primary objective of fostering stronger commercial relations between Pakistan and Canada. Our Offices details are as follow:
This award is to honor her for addressing bipolar-disorder issues, mental health advocacy and wellness.
Margaret Trudeau
Featured Speaker
Celebrated Canadian | Mental Health Advocate | Bestselling Author
Margaret Trudeau is a Canadian icon, celebrated both for her role in the public eye and as a respected mental-health issues advocate. A bestselling author, Trudeau is the author of four books, including her Changing My Mind, which charts her life’s ups and downs, and her latest title, The Time of Your Life, which offers women an inspirational and practical approach to creating a healthy, happy, secure, and satisfying future. Trudeau is the proud mother to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
From becoming a prime minister’s wife at a young age, to the loss of both her son and her former husband, to living with bipolar disorder, Trudeau tirelessly shares her personal stories to remind others of the importance of nurturing the body, mind, and spirit.
Trudeau recently took her story to the stage, co-writing and starring in her own one-woman-show, A Woman of a Certain Age. Part exploration of mental illness and part tell-all, Trudeau shares her compelling story as one of the world’s most fascinating figures, chronicling her courageous public and private journeys.
The show premiered on the renowned Second City stage in Chicago, and has since traveled to Montreal and Toronto as part of the Just for Laughs festival. It also made its New York off-Broadway debut with Audible Inc., the audio content division of Amazon, at the Minetta Lane Theatre. The live recording of this performance will be available via audible.ca in 2020.
Trudeau sits on the Executive Advisory Board of the UBC Mental Health Institute as a community advocate, and is an active WE Charity ambassador who has presented to crowds of 20,000+ people at WE Day events across the world. She is also the former honorary president of WaterAid, a charitable Canadian non-governmental agency that helps communities in developing countries build sustainable water-supply and sanitation services.
Female Champions of Cancer Education, Research, and Care
This award is to honour these distinguished women for their body of work and lifetime achievements which epitomize what McGill Oncology strives for in the Oncology community:
Dr. Nicole Beauchemin
For her enduring legacy as scientist, mentor and teacher of the fundamentals of cancer research.
Dr. Carolyn Freeman
For her decades-long, vigorous leadership in improving the quality of cancer care in Quebec.
Dr. Anna Towers
For her international leadership developing lymphedema treatment services for cancer patients.
Female Champion of Volunteer Excellence
The Mother Teresa of Montreal. Warming your heart through hundreds of meals and food preparation for the destitute and needy.
Sister Sabria (Sabariah Binti Hussein)
Known as “the Mother Teresa of Montréal,” Sabariah Binti Hussein works tirelessly to feed the hungry in Montréal. Over the past 30 years, she has prepared more than 700,000 meals, most of the time in her own kitchen. She founded a shelter for women and has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for humanitarian causes.
Known as Sister Sabria, Sabariah Binti Hussein left Malaysia to settle in Montréal in the 1980s. She originally came to work as a specialized educator but found her true calling in volunteerism.
Each week, she prepares hundreds of meals with the help of a legion of volunteers. The meals are distributed through various local agencies, including Al Rawda Mosque and River’s Edge Community Church. Her operating costs are covered by community organizations, donations and the sale of homemade snacks.
A fervent Muslim, Sabariah Binti Hussein cooks for members of her community during Ramadan: five days a week, she provides a free supper to those who looking for a meal, mainly in Montréal universities. Hundreds of volunteers, including many students, lend her a hand throughout the holy month.
In 2002, she founded a shelter for Muslim women called Our Second Home, which welcomes foreign students who have problems finding lodging as well as women who are victims of conjugal violence. The shelter can house eight adults and six children for up to a year.
Over time, various populations affected by natural disasters or other calamities have also benefited from Sabariah Binti Hussein’s altruism. In collaboration with the charitable organization Human Concern International, for example, she has helped raise hundreds of thousands of dollars to support humanitarian aid after the 2004 tsunami in the Indian Ocean and to erect an orphanage for the Rohingya refugees in Malaysia in 2017.
In 2017, as her 70th birthday approached, she created the Sister Sabria Foundation aimed at implementing long-term solutions to eliminate hunger and support women in difficulty.
In 2017, Sabariah Binti Hussein received the Lifetime of Service to Humanity Award from the RS Foundation, a Canadian organization dedicated to improving living conditions for people living in South Asia. In 2005, she received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations and the Community Service Award from the Muslim Council of Montreal. In 2015, the Canadian Council of Muslim Women also presented her with the Women Who Inspire Award.
Female Champion of Community Engagement
Her focus on community issues to give them a voice through various platforms is an integral part of her efforts to unite the community
Rhonda Massad
Community Activist | Blogger | Writer
Rhonda focuses on community issues that touch the heart of many on the West Island. She lends her social media force to local charities to give them a voice. Through her viral West Island Blog, she can help those in need reach out and get much-needed resources that they may otherwise not know about. This match making has become an integral part of her efforts to unite the community.
She sat on the board of Big Brothers Big Sisters of the West Island and continues to volunteer for the cause today. During her youngest child’s term at West Island College Rhonda sat on their board as well.
In 2016, Rhonda and her friend Stephanie started the Neighbours 4 Neighbours food drive, a one-day event, which raised more than 750 cases of food for those in need on the West Island. The food and monies raised that day were donated to local food banks such as On Rock, West Island Assistance Fund, John Abbott Food Bank, Sainte Anne’s Food Bank and West Island Mission. This year event will take place on November 4, 2017.
During the spring 2017 flooding on the West Island, Rhonda spearheaded the Food Drive Depot at Fairview and Pointe Claire Plaza which raised more than 6,000 cases of food a day for six days which benefitted the flood victims by way of West Island Mission and On Rock Community Services. Hundreds of volunteers came to join her in her quest to lessen the suffering of those in need. Her blog joined forces with other West Island social media groups to inform those impacted throughout the crisis. West Island Community Shares partnered with Rhonda mid way to provide infrastructure for fundraising. The special fund has raised close to $75,000 to date.
Rhonda is currently a member of the Canadian Women’s Congress and volunteers for the West Island Women’s Shelter. Rhonda can often be found trumpeting praise for charitable groups such as the West Island Wellness Centre, West Island Community Shares, Lakeshore General Hospital Foundation and West Island Palliative Care to name only a few.
Female Champion of Cancer Survival
Sonia Masand
Cancer Thriver | Diversity Advocate
Born and raised in Montreal, Sonia Masand has always sought ways to give back to the community. After completing her Bachelor of Arts in 2014 in World Religions, Communication Studies and Education, she has been serving students at McGill University as a Student Affairs Coordinator in the Faculty of Arts. After being diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma in December 2017 she was required to put her life on hold to quite literally fight for it. She took some time off from both work and school underwent multiple rounds of chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Today she finds herself in good health and happily married. She credits her recovery to vast network of supporters who stayed by her side throughout this period: Her family, friends and the exceptional team of medical professionals at the MUHC's Cedars Cancer Center.
Since returning to work she was promoted to Program Advisor for the Faculty of Arts Interdisciplinary Studies Programs and returned to school to complete her Certificate in Business Administration from the John Molson School of Business. She is currently applying to various universities to pursue a Masters degree.
Sonia is also an integral part of the Montreal Shaadi Show's Coordination team. She began as one of their models in 2013 and has since been coordinating their fashion show. She uses the platform to coach and mentor teenagers and young adults into building their identities, confidence and sense of self worth. She is currently busy with the 8th edition of the show is taking place Sunday April 12, 2020 at Plaza Volare.