Running the long race:

meet the 2026 Bikila Award recipients

A legendary artist, a lifetime of philanthropy, a utility pioneer, a youth champion and five of the community’s brightest students. This year’s Bikila Awards honour the people carrying Ethiopian-Canadian excellence forward.

Habesha GTA | September 27, 2026 | 5 min read

Named for Abebe Bikila, who ran barefoot through the streets of Rome in 1960 and became the first Black African to win Olympic gold.

Every September, as the Ethiopian New Year settles in and Meskel fires are lit, Toronto’s Ethiopian community pauses to celebrate its own. On Saturday, September 26, the 2026 Bikila Awards Ceremony and Gala Dinner gathered the community at the Daniels Spectrum in Regent Park to honour this year’s recipients, with live jazz from the Abyssinia Band setting the tone for the evening.

It came a year after the 11th Bikila Awards, an edition the organizers remember as a night of triumph. The 2026 class continues that tradition, recognizing individuals and organizations whose achievements have left a lasting mark, from Addis Ababa to the Danforth.

Why Bikila?

Bikila Award Inc. is a registered non-profit, non-political and non-religious organization founded to foster academic, professional and business excellence and to promote volunteerism among people of Ethiopian origin living in Canada. Its founders started from a simple observation: after more than four decades of settlement, with more than 75,000 Canadians of Ethiopian descent and the largest share in Toronto, the community had built a great deal worth celebrating. Recognizing those successes, big and small, gives young people examples to follow.

The organization’s work reaches beyond a single night. Its board of directors received a University of Toronto Arbor Award for helping the community raise more than $500,000 to establish Ethiopic Studies at the university.

“Empower young people to reach their highest potential.”

From the Bikila Award mission statement

A master of Ethiopian art

Order of the Shining Star of Ethiopia

The evening’s most historic honour goes to Laureate Artist Afewerk Tekle, recognized for his unparalleled contribution to African art, culture and national identity. Few artists have shaped how Ethiopia sees itself as profoundly as the Maître Artiste, whose paintings, murals and monumental stained glass drew on Ethiopian history, faith and daily life. Though he passed away in 2012, his work continues to define the visual language of a nation, and this tribute places his legacy before a new generation of Ethiopian Canadians.

A lifetime of giving

Lifetime Achievement Samuel Tafese receives the Lifetime Achievement Award for extraordinary achievement, leadership and enduring philanthropic impact. It is the kind of recognition earned over decades rather than a single season, and it honours the sort of steady generosity that quietly holds communities together.

Excellence at work

Professional Excellence Two recipients share this year’s Professional Excellence honours. Anna Getaneh is recognized for her work in youth empowerment, creating opportunity and hope with a vision of uplifting young people. Her award speaks directly to the heart of the Bikila mission: investing in the next generation.

Dr. Miheret Debebe is honoured for leading one of the most ambitious utility expansion programs on the African continent. Infrastructure at that scale changes lives in ways that are easy to overlook: light for students studying after dark, power for clinics and small businesses, and the foundation for a growing economy.

Business Excellence Gezawu Bekele receives the Business Excellence Award for promoting value-added manufacturing and elevating Ethiopian holistic natural medicine. His work turns traditional knowledge into enterprise, showing that heritage can also be a source of innovation.

Serving the community

Community Service Excellence Abenet Tadele is recognized for sparking sustainable change through community development, environmental restoration and holistic well-being. It is service that looks at the whole picture: people, the land they live on, and their health.

The second Community Service Excellence Award goes to an institution many readers know well. The Ethiopian Association in the GTA is honoured for decades of service and support to Ethiopian Canadians through social, cultural and educational initiatives. For countless newcomers, the Association has been a first point of contact, a place to find help and a place to find each other. The recognition arrives fittingly in the same month Ontario marked its first Ethiopian Heritage Month.

The scholars

Academic Excellence No Bikila Awards would be complete without the students. This year, five young people are recognized for their outstanding commitment to academic achievement: Beemnet Asfaw, Eden Belay, Oliad Rundassa, Yomni Makonnen and Nathnael Teshome.

These awards may be the most important of the night. They tell young Ethiopian Canadians that their hard work is seen, and they tell the wider community that the story of Ethiopian excellence in Canada is still being written, one graduation and one ambition at a time.

Voices of the evening

The keynote address was set to be delivered by the Honourable Doly Begum, Member of Parliament, a prominent leader and lifelong advocate for her communities. Hosting the program as Master of Ceremonies was Samson Demissie Teffera, a technology leader, educator and humanitarian advocate for more than 25 years.

Carrying the torch

Abebe Bikila did not win in Rome because the conditions were easy. He won because he was prepared, disciplined and unafraid to run his own race. The 2026 recipients reflect the same spirit across very different paths: in art, in public service, in business, in community work and in the classroom.

Congratulations to every recipient. The race continues, and the community is proud to run it with you.

Learn more about the Bikila Award, its scholarship funds and past winners at bikilaaward.org. Have a story from the Habesha community? Share it with us.

Recipient details drawn from the official 2026 Bikila Award poster and the Bikila Award Inc. website.

Habesha GTA News

Ethiopian and Eritrean Meskel Celebration Brings Faith, Culture and Community Together Across the GTA

Toronto, Ontario — September 27, 2026 — Members of the Ethiopian and Eritrean community across the Greater Toronto Area came together this September to celebrate Meskel, one of Ethiopia’s most significant religious and cultural holidays. The annual celebration brought together families, church members, youth and community elders for a colourful expression of faith, heritage and community spirit.

Meskel, meaning “cross” in Ge’ez, commemorates the finding of the True Cross according to Ethiopian Orthodox Christian tradition. Celebrated annually in Ethiopia and Eritrea and by Ethiopian and Eritrean communities around the world, the holiday is particularly known for the lighting of the Demera, a large ceremonial bonfire.

A Celebration of Faith in the GTA

For Ethiopian Orthodox Christians in the GTA, Meskel is first and foremost a religious observance. Community members attend church services and prayers before gathering for the traditional outdoor ceremonies associated with the holiday.

One of the most recognizable parts of Meskel is the Demera ceremony. Branches and greenery are arranged into a tall structure before being lit as worshippers gather around it. The burning Demera symbolizes the tradition surrounding the discovery of the True Cross and creates one of the most memorable scenes of the celebration.

As flames rise, the gathering becomes filled with prayer, singing, drumming and celebration. Many participants wear traditional Ethiopian white clothing, while colourful embroidered garments and shawls bring the familiar sights of Meskel in Ethiopia to the streets of the GTA.

Keeping Traditions Alive in Canada

For the Habesha community, celebrations such as Meskel also provide an important connection between generations.

Many Ethiopian and Eritrean families in Toronto, Scarborough, Etobicoke, North York, Mississauga, Brampton and surrounding GTA communities are raising children who were born or grew up in Canada. Community celebrations give those younger generations an opportunity to experience Ethiopian traditions directly rather than knowing them only through stories, photographs or social media.

Children can see the traditional clothing, hear religious songs, watch the Demera ceremony and celebrate alongside parents, grandparents and community elders.

For adults who grew up celebrating Meskel in Ethiopia, the gathering can also bring back memories of celebrations at home while creating new traditions in Canada.

More Than a Religious Gathering

Although Meskel has deep religious meaning within the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, its cultural significance reaches beyond the church ceremony itself.

The holiday has long been associated with family gatherings, hospitality, traditional clothing, music and community participation. In the GTA, these celebrations provide another opportunity for members of the Ethiopian diaspora to reconnect with friends and neighbours while introducing younger generations and the wider Canadian community to Ethiopian heritage.

The celebration also reflects the growing visibility of Ethiopian culture in Ontario. In 2026, Ontario marked September as Ethiopian Heritage Month for the first time, creating an especially meaningful backdrop for this year’s September cultural and religious celebrations.

Celebrating Ethiopia While Building Community in Canada

The sight of traditional Ethiopian clothing, the sound of singing and drums, and the flames of the Demera create an atmosphere that connects Toronto with a tradition celebrated thousands of kilometres away.

At the same time, the presence of families who have built their lives in Canada gives the celebration a distinctly Canadian story.

Meskel in the GTA is therefore more than an annual holiday. It is an opportunity for a community to practise its faith, preserve its heritage, teach the next generation and share an important Ethiopian tradition with the diverse communities that now call the Greater Toronto Area home.

For the GTA's Habesha community, the flames of the Demera continue to carry a tradition that has travelled across generations and across continents — from Ethiopia and Eritrea to Canada, and from one generation to the next.

Running the long race: meet the 2026 Bikila Award recipients

Recognition Is Only the Beginning: Ontario Marks Its First Ethiopian Heritage Month

For the first time, September is officially Ethiopian Heritage Month in Ontario. At the 26th Annual Ethiopian Canadian Day, community leaders looked back on how it happened, and ahead to what comes next.

Habesha GTA | September 26, 2026 | 4 min read

"He has made everything beautiful in its time." (Ecclesiastes 3:11)

This September carried a weight it never had before. Ethiopian Canadians across Ontario gathered for the 26th Annual Ethiopian Canadian Day, hosted by the Ethiopian Association in the Greater Toronto Area and Surrounding Regions. For the first time, they did so during an officially recognized Ethiopian Heritage Month.

The recognition came through Bill 38, the Ethiopian Heritage Month Act, 2025, passed by the Ontario Legislature. The community has been building homes, businesses and institutions in this province for decades, and the Act is a milestone. For those who carried the idea from the start, it is also a responsibility.

From a question to a law

The idea began with a simple question. Eskender Mekonnen was working at Canadian Heritage in 2017 and 2018 when he noticed how other communities marked and celebrated their histories. "I started asking myself: What about us?" he recalls. "We have an extraordinary history and heritage stretching back thousands of years."

Then it became personal. His daughter came home from school having learned about other cultures, and he wondered why she wasn't experiencing her own heritage the same way.

Mekonnen says the key was making sure the effort belonged to the whole community rather than to any one person. Elders, youth, business owners, community organizations, advocates, volunteers and elected representatives all played a part. A draft was ready by 2024, and the initiative eventually reached Queen's Park as Bill 38.

He describes the moment it became law as "incredibly emotional and surreal." His first thought was of the children who will now grow up in a province that officially recognizes their Ethiopian heritage.

"Recognition was never meant to be the destination. It was meant to be the beginning." (Eskender Mekonnen)

A September already full of meaning

The timing is fitting. September is already a season of deep cultural and spiritual significance for Ethiopians. Enkutatash, the Ethiopian New Year, is a celebration of renewal and gratitude, and this year it welcomed 2019 E.C. Meskel carries profound religious and cultural importance. Irreechaa is a celebration of thanksgiving and community.

Heritage Month now brings those celebrations together under one public recognition, with Ethiopian Canadian Day at its heart. The festival also drew greetings from Prime Minister Mark Carney and Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow. Mayor Chow's message recognized the Ethiopian community's contributions to the civic, cultural and economic life of the city.

"We hold it for a time"

For Rahel Gettu, President of the Association, the moment is personal. She first came to the Association as a newcomer looking for support and community. Today she leads it, alongside a newly elected nine-member Board of Directors for 2026 to 2028.

"No President owns a community institution. No Board owns it. No generation owns it. We hold it for a time," she wrote in her message to the community. She pointed out that Heritage Month did not create Ethiopian Canadian history. It recognizes the history that generations were already building. Her challenge to the community is a single question: what will we leave behind?

Editor-in-Chief Gezahegn Mekonnen Demissie echoed that spirit. He credited the Association with keeping a shared space open for nearly half a century despite political and ideological differences. A healthy community, he argued, does not require everyone to think alike. It requires mutual respect, dialogue and a willingness to listen.

Stories of building

Those contributions are visible on the ground. Banchi opened Rendezvous Ethiopian and Eritrean Restaurant on the Danforth in 2001 with limited capital, and she did nearly everything herself, from cooking to serving to tending the bar. Twenty-five years later, her restaurant is part of a larger push to make Little Ethiopia a visible destination. Her philosophy is generous: if her place seats 50 but the neighbourhood draws 300, there is enough for everyone.

Other journeys look different. Teklemichael Abebe Sahlemariam, known as Tekle, arrived in British Columbia in 2005 with no Canadian work experience and no professional network. He worked as a security officer while going back to school, earned a law degree and then a master's in law, and became a lawyer in 2014. As Gettu put it, there is no single Ethiopian Canadian story.

The next generation

Young voices were part of the celebration too. Birhanu Fentaw named Adwa Victory Day as his favorite moment in Ethiopian history. He urged other children of Ethiopian origin to learn their history and their parents' language. His brother Yared encouraged parents to teach their children their mother tongue. He said it lets children connect with family back home, and that they will thank their parents for it later.

That is the message Mekonnen hopes Heritage Month sends: "Your heritage is valued. Your history matters. You belong." Young people, he says, don't have to choose between being Ethiopian and being Canadian. They can proudly be both.

What comes next

Mekonnen already has his next dream: a permanent, community-led Ethiopian Heritage Centre, where heritage, education, arts and civic engagement come together. He pictures a young Ethiopian Canadian walking through its doors, seeing their history represented, hearing their language, and simply feeling that they belong.

The first Ethiopian Heritage Month is coming to a close, but the work it has opened up is only starting. Happy New Year.

Quotes and details are from the 26th Annual Ethiopian Canadian Day program published by the Ethiopian Association in the Greater Toronto Area and Surrounding Regions.

Recognition Is Only the Beginning: Ontario Marks Its First Ethiopian Heritage Month

Ethiopian and Eritrean Meskel Celebration Brings Faith, Culture and Community Together Across the GTA