Celebrating 50 years of entrepreneurship

The President's Ball in Woodbridge honoured half a century of Italian-Canadian professionals

A show of pride, looking to the past for the strength and energy needed to grow in future. The President's Ball, organized to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Canadian Italian Business and Professional Association (CIBPA) of Toronto, represents the cornerstone of the Italian-Canadian business community.
The dinner held on Saturday, November 9, at Primavera Banquet Hall in Woodbridge, was evidence of this. The almost 1,000 participants included many successful entrepreneurs as well as Federal Under-secretary Maurizio Bevilacqua and Provincial Assistant Minister Tina Molinari; Senator Consiglio Di Nino; Vaughan Mayor Michael Di Biase; many city councillors from Vaughan and Toronto; and Italy's Consul General in Toronto, Luca Brofferio.
The awards presented during the event are therefore very significant. The motivation for the Business Excellence Award, posthumously given to Sam Sorbara, founder of the Sorbara Group and founding member and former president of CIBPA, reads: "In his climb to success, he never forgot his roots; he was a volunteer who played a fundamental role and supported many social services within the Italian-Canadian community." The award was presented to his son Greg, MPP for the Liberal Party.
For contributions in the fields of Art, Science and Community Service, the 2002 Award went to Anthony Fusco, president of Canadian Global Food and Commercial Bakeries Corporation. "Not much can be said of his contribution to art or science," joked Domenic Alfieri, chair of Villa Charities, while presenting the award, "but surely Anthony Fusco's involvement in community service is of primary importance: president and founder of the Termini Imerese Club, former member of the Board of Directors of the National Congress of Italian Canadians, of Ryerson University and of many hospitals, he was one of the founders of Villa Colombo and the Columbus Centre, devoting over one year of his talent full-time to these projects, and he still is a member of the Board of Directors of the Italian Canadian Charitable Foundation."
Fusco's deep Catholic spirit, which in 1980 gained him the Papal Order of St. Gregory, was also mentioned.
Support for CIBPA brought Jackie and Elio Rosati two separate awards. Despite being husband and wife, both of them gave an important contribution to the activities of the association. Jackie has been a spokesperson for women within many organizations of the Italian-Canadian community; after all, she was one of the founders of the Ladies' Auxiliary both for CIBPA and for Villa Colombo, and to date her involvement in these two groups is constant and effective.
For her husband Elio, the list of posts he's manned is very long, including his involvement in CIBPA and Villa Charities and his contribution to the world of art through numerous donations and direct involvement in the activities of the Joseph D. Carrier Art Gallery. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Toronto's CIBPA he held the post of vice Chairman of the President's Ball Historical Committee.
The final recognition, the President's Award, this year was presented to several individuals considered as a group: all the former presidents of CIBPA of Toronto. According to the motivation, "they managed to pass on the values and the spirit year after year, achievement after achievement."
As we said, a good look back to the past, but with clarity of intent for the present and future of the association. This is the reason why, considering what remains to be done and the new generations that will turn today's dreams into reality, CIBPA is using many resources to strengthen and increase the annual bursaries to students of Italian heritage.
"In order to celebrate our 50th anniversary," explains senator Consiglio Di Nino, former CIBPA president, "we asked the provincial and federal governments for a contribution of $50,000 each for our bursaries. Assistant Minister Tina Molinari came here with a cheque in her hands; we're still waiting for Ottawa's response and we hope it will be positive, so that, with the many private contributions we got - first of all from RBC Financial Group - the bursaries we shall hand out on November 26 will amount to much more than our initial target of $100,000."

Publication Date: 2002-11-17
Story Location: http://tandemnews.com/viewstory.php?storyid=2005