Toronto, May 27, 2010:  The Canadian Race Relations Foundation (CRRF) is pleased to announce the winners in its sixth biennial Award of Excellence program (AoE). The winners represent five sectors-education, community, corporate, government, and public. The Awards program, which began in 1999, recognizes organizations that have excelled in the development of best practices in the elimination of racism and racial discrimination in Canada.

The Awards Jury, which was chaired by Madeline Ziniak, VP, OMNI, deliberated thoroughly on the selection of this year's winners. The Jury's decision was based on a number of criteria including impact, education, anti-racism principles, tangible outcomes, innovation and creativity, leadership and empowerment, partnerships, sustainability and commitment. The Awards were announced at the Award of Excellence ceremony on May 18, 2010, at the University of Quebec in Montreal.

"It was not an easy challenge to select the winners, as many submissions reflected the high calibre and accomplishments of these organizations," said Madeline Ziniak, Chair of the Jury. In commenting about the AoE and the high calibre of the submissions, Ayman Al-Yassini, Executive Director of the CRRF, noted that "Canada is recognized in the world over as a leader in diversity and multiculturalism. The AoE winners showcase the best of our practices in the elimination of racism."

The 2010 AoE winners are: The Ontario Ministry of Education , Inclusive Education Branch (government sector); Fighting Anti-Semitism Together (FAST) (community sector); The Association for Canadian Studies (ACS) (education sector); ANIMA Leadership (corporate sector); York Regional Police (YRP) (public sector).

The Canadian Race Relations Foundation's mission is to shed light on the causes and manifestations of racism, provide independent, outspoken national leadership, and act as a resource and facilitator in the pursuit of equity, fairness and social justice for all Canadians. Founded as part of the Japanese Canadian Redress Agreement, the CRRF is a crown corporation, a registered charitable organization with a Special NGO Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.