nyuuzyou/wikis huggingface dataset:
Queen Gallery

Queen Gallery presents the work of contemporary artists from Toronto and around the world. We have recently celebrated our 2nd anniversary in the Queen East community. Our exhibitions are driven by a comparative exploration of art and culture in an interdisciplinary setting. Housed in a refurbished brownstone, this distinctive space is a forum where the boundaries of media are greeted, embraced and even challenged.
We look to showcase a variety of talent of diverse heritage, aiming to provide the most original, contemporary voices to our collection. You are invited to apply to our gallery roster to grow with us as we navigate contemporary art from a novel perspective.
Submissions may be made directly to us at info@queengallery.ca for our jury’s appraisal. Please contact us for details on the submission process.
We are looking forward to having you join our gallery, no matter from where you are coming, or where you hope to be going. Come visit us!
RJ Aquino

RJ Aquino is the Co-Founder of Tulayan, an organization that builds bridges between the Filipino community here and abroad with other communities in Vancouver. Aquino also serves on the Board of Vancouver’s Asian Heritage Month.
Originally from San Francisco, he moved to Vancouver while in high school. Spending his formative years here made him interested in community building and activism. 
With a strong business background, RJ believes the key to Vancouver’s future is to tackle the affordability crisis. “We need a city that is affordable at every level,” says Aquino.
“From new immigrants who want to bring their ideas and skills to our city, to our seniors who have spent their lives contributing to the city we all enjoy today. That’s how we can build a Vancouver for everyone.”
A proud father, Aquino lives with his new daughter and wife in East Vancouver’s Collingwood.
Rachna Vohra

Rachna Vohra is a poet and spoken word artist living in Montreal, Canada. Her published works include The Distance Within, a book of poetry, and The Acorn and the Caterpillar, a fable about understanding and coping with death. She has been published in magazines, zines, and anthologies; been recorded on CD; and she has participated and performed in a variety of literary festivals, interdisciplinary art events, reading series, fundraisers, and other shows and competitions across North America. Most recently, she participated in the 2010 Banff Spoken Word Residency, performed at the 2010 Calgary International Spoken Word Festival, and celebrated a countrywide third-place victory with Team Montréal at the 2009 Canadian Festival of Spoken Word.
Raffi

Raffi is an Armenian-Canadian singer-songwriter, author, essayist and lecturer. He has developed his career as a "global troubadour", to become a music producer, author, entrepreneur, and founder of the Centre for Child Honouring, a vision for global restoration.
Born in Cairo, Egypt, to Armenian parents, he spent his early years in Egypt before emigrating with his family to Canada in 1958, eventually settling in Toronto, Ontario. His mother named him after the Armenian poet Raffi. His father Arto Cavoukian was a well-known portrait photographer with a studio on Bloor Street in Toronto. His older brother Onnig Cavoukian, known as "Cavouk," is also a famous portrait photographer. His younger sister is Ann Cavoukian, Ontario's Information and Privacy Commissioner.
In the early 1970s, Raffi frequented a guitar store near Yonge and Wellesley called Millwheel, where he met other developing Canadian musicians such as David Wilcox and John Lacey. Raffi ran a coffee house at the University of Toronto up until 1980. He befriended John Lacey, a folk guitarist from Oakville, Ontario, who helped Raffi improve his finger picking (John went on to become a steel guitar player). Raffi continued playing folk guitar in various coffee houses in Toronto and Montreal before hitchhiking to Vancouver in 1972 to find "fame and fortune." He returned to Toronto after a few years and was invited to sing for a Toronto public school. Despite his own hesitations about singing for kids, he was an immediate success and thus began his career entertaining children.
He moved to Mayne Island near Victoria, British Columbia, in 1989.
Raffi started his own fund, and now is an environmentalist as well as a musician.
Raffi is well loved by the children of the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s for his popular children's songs. His autobiography, The Life of a Children's Troubadour, documents the first part of his award-winning career.
Some of Raffi's best-known children's songs are "Bananaphone", "Baby Beluga", and "Down by the Bay."
Most of Raffi's children's albums include small, simple, folk instrumentations, prominently featuring Raffi's vocal and guitar work. Early works included contributions from Toronto-area folk musicians, including Ken Whiteley and Bruce Cockburn. Raffi also incorporated many world music sounds into his records.
Raffi preferred to play in small intimate settings. In his autobiography, he notes that he turned down a very lucrative offer to perform a concert at Madison Square Garden, because he thought the venue was too large for him to connect to children.
He also wrote that early in his career, he found it difficult to perform for younger kids (under 3 years old) because their short attention span was distracting to him and to the rest of the audience. This led to a hiatus from children's performing in the mid 1980s.
Raffi is currently the president of Troubadour Music Inc., a triple-bottom-line company he founded to produce and promote his work according to his ethical standards.
Raffi Armenian

Raffi Armenian, (born June 4, 1942) is an Armenian-Canadian conductor, pianist, composer, and teacher. Since 2008 he has been the director of the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal.
Armenian was born in Cairo and had his first music lessons there, moving in 1959 to Vienna to study piano with Bruno Seidlhofer. After graduating, he put his musical studies aside and attended the University of London from 1962 to 1965, where he majored in metallurgy. He returned to the Vienna Academy of Music and studied from 1965 to 1969. In 1968, Armenian was one of two finalists at the International Competition for Young Conductors in Besançon, France.
Armenian emigrated to Canada in 1969 to become the assistant conductor of the Atlantic Symphony Orchestra, located in Halifax, Nova Scotia .From 1971 to 1993, he was the Artistic Director and conductor of the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony. Under Armenian's guidance, the K-W Symphony emerged by the mid-1970s as one of the most vital in Canada.
Armenian acted as the musical director of the Stratford Festival from 1973 to 1976, and founded the Stratford Festival Ensemble (later renamed the Canadian Chamber Ensemble) in 1974.
Armenian made guest-conducting appearances with the Orchestre Symphonique de Québec in 1974, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and the National Arts Centre Orchestra in 1975, and conducted Wozzeck for the Canadian Opera Company in 1977.
In 1986, he was made a Member of the Order of Canada.
Raghav

Raghav Mathur (born April 2, 1981), known professionally as Raghav, is a Canadian singer, currently signed to Cordova Bay Records. He is best known for his single "Angel Eyes" which peaked at number 7 in the UK in 2005. His singles "So Confused", "Can't Get Enough" and "It Can't Be Right" reached the UK top ten in 2004 making him the only artist that year to have three top ten hits in the UK chart.
Rahim Jaffer

Rahim Nizar Jaffer (; born December 15, 1971) is a former Canadian politician and a former Member of Parliament. He served in the Canadian House of Commons from 1997 to 2008, representing the Alberta riding of Edmonton—Strathcona as a member of the Conservative Party. He was the first Muslim elected to the Canadian Parliament. Jaffer became embroiled in a national controversy in 2010 after he appeared to receive special treatment, "a break," from the justice system after being charged with drunk driving and possession of cocaine."Special treatment? Jaffer's drunk driving charges dropped", CBC, March 10, 2010.
Rahim Jaffer/fr

Rahim Jaffer (ourdou : رحيم جعفر), né le 15 décembre 1971, est un homme politique canadien, député à la Chambre des communes du Canada où il représente la circonscription albertaine de Edmonton—Strathcona sous la bannière du Parti conservateur du Canada. Né à Kampala, en Ouganda, et d'origine pakistanaise, il fut d'abord élu en tant que député du Parti réformiste, siégant subséquemment comme membre de l'Alliance canadienne, puis du Parti conservateur lorsque celui-ci fut formé par la fusion de l'Alliance avec le Parti progressiste-conservateur du Canada. Jaffer est un musulman ismaélien et était le seul député fédéral musulman de 2000 à 2004. Il est diplômé de l'Université d'Ottawa et est couramment bilingue.
Raj Chouhan

"Raj Chouhan was elected as the MLA for Burnaby-Edmonds on May 17, 2005 and re-elected on May 12, 2009. Raj serves as the Official Opposition Critic for Labour. Previously Raj served as critic for Human Rights, Multiculturalism and Immigration. Raj also serves as the Opposition Deputy-Whip since 2007.
Before immigrating to Canada in 1973, Raj was involved in student union activities in India. On his arrival in Canada, Raj was impacted by the plight of immigrant workers and developed a passion for community and social justice work.
Raj is the founding president of the Canadian Farmworkers' Union, and he served as the Director of Bargaining at the Hospital Employees Union for 18 years. Raj has also served as a member of the Labour Relations Board of B.C. and the Arbitration Bureau of B.C.
A founding member of the B.C. Organization to Fight Racism, Raj has worked in promoting human rights and racial equality. He has served as the Vice President of B.C. Human Rights Defenders since 2003. Raj has taught courses on Human Rights, the B.C. Labour Code and collective bargaining since 1987. He has traveled across Canada to give seminars and attend conferences that raise awareness of issues regarding racism, poverty, worker rights, and discrimination.
In addition, Raj supports many programs offered through community organizations including neighbourhood safety, refugee assistance, and health and wellness programs for seniors."
Raj Pannu

Rajinder Singh "Raj" Pannu (born January 12, 1934) is a Canadian educator and politician, who led the Alberta New Democratic Party from 2000 to 2004.
Pannu was born in Punjab, India completing an undergraduate degree before immigrating to Canada in 1962. He settled in Whitecourt, Alberta, where he worked as a high school teacher until 1964.
In 1964 he moved to Edmonton to work on a graduate program, completing a Ph.D. in sociology in 1973. He taught at York University for one year (1968–69) before returning to the University of Alberta, where he taught for 27 years until his retirement in 1996. He is Professor Emeritus at the University of Alberta.
He entered provincial politics in 1997 when he was first elected to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta representing the riding of Edmonton-Strathcona. Raj became leader in February 2000 after the previous leader, Pam Barrett, retired from politics.
Pannu ran a high-profile campaign in the 2001 Alberta election. T-shirts emblazoned with the slogan "Raj Against the Machine", as well as a reputation as a "likeable and honest politician" contributed to his popularity and made him a leader well respected by supporters and non-supporters alike.
He announced on July 13, 2004 that he was resigning as party leader. Fellow MLA Brian Mason, the deputy leader, became interim leader. Mason was formally elected leader in a leadership convention held on September 18. However, he sought re-election as an MLA in the 26th Alberta general election, and was re-elected by a wide margin.
On June 14, 2006, he announced his retirement from Alberta politics at the dissolution of the legislature, which took place in February 2008.
Rajiv Surendra

Rajiv Surendra (born in Toronto in 1989) is a Canadian film and television actor and son of Tamil immigrants to Canada. He attended a special arts high school, Wexford School for the Arts, specializing in painting, sculpting and pottery and continued his studies in University of Toronto.Article by Carrie Brunet in Simcoe.com: Stone chapel inspires Christmas Concert
He appeared as Barney Oscarson in Radio Free Roscoe television series in 2003. But he is best known for playing Kevin Gnapoor in the film Mean Girls. Rajiv Surendra also performs "The Mathlete Rap" on the soundtrack of the film.Soundtrack of Mean Girls on Discogs.com
Ramin Jahanbegloo

Ramin Jahanbegloo is an Iranian philosopher and academic who is currently based in Canada. He teaches at the University of Toronto as a professor of political science.
Jahanbegloo was born in Tehran, Iran. He has a doctorate in philosophy from Sorbonne University in Paris, France where he lived for twenty years. He was a post-doctorate fellow in Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard University. He is married to Azin Moalej, the cousin of renowned Persian philosopher and scholar, Seyyed Hossein Nasr.
Jahanbegloo's intellectual activity focuses on fostering constructive dialogue between divergent cultures. He has written numerous books and articles in Persian, English and French on the subject of Western philosophy and modernity.
In 1997-2001, he was an adjunct professor of Political Science at the University of Toronto in Canada. During this period, he published his book for the first time in English, Conversations with Isaiah Berlin (which had previously been translated into French. The book records a series of interviews with the famous philosopher Isaiah Berlin, which cover intellectual questions ranging from the moral philosophy of Tolstoy to the meaning of liberalism.
In 2001, he served at the National Endowment for Democracy as a fellow at the a federally funded program, known as the Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellows Program.
Upon returning to Tehran, he was appointed head of the Contemporary Philosophy Department of the Cultural Research Center. In his efforts to promote dialogue, he has interviewed scholars and intellectuals from all over the world, among them George Steiner, Noam Chomsky, Ashis Nandy and the Dalai Lama. In recent years, he invited Richard Rorty, Timothy Garton Ash, Antonio Negri, and Michael Ignatieff and other Western intellectuals to Iran.
In October 2009 Jahanbegloo became the winner of the Peace Prize from the United Nations Association in Spain for his extensive academic works in promoting dialogue between cultures and his advocacy for non-violence.
Ramin Karimloo

Ramin Karimloo (born September 19, 1978) is an Iranian-born Canadian actor and singer, recognised chiefly for his work in London's West End. He has played leading male roles in both of the West End's longest running musicals; the Phantom and Raoul in The Phantom of the Opera; and Jean Valjean, Enjolras and Marius in Les Misérables. He also originated the role of the Phantom in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Love Never Dies, which continues the story of The Phantom of the Opera. Ramin toured the UK during 2012 promoting his debut album "RAMIN".
Raminder Gill

Raminder Singh Gill is a Canadian politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1999 to 2003, and has unsuccessfully sought election to the Canadian House of Commons on three separate occasions. He currently serves as a citizenship judge.Department of Citizenship and Immigration Canada. Profiles of citizenship judges. 2011-05-16. Retrieved 2011-10-08
Gill was born to a Sikh family in Punjab, India.
 He was educated at Parkdale Collegiate and later attended the University of Toronto where he graduated with a Master's Degree in Engineering. He works as a Chemical Engineer in private life, and has invented environmentally friendly products such as "The Alternative Bleach", offered by the President's Choice company. He started a private firm called Genpro Canada Ltd in 1990. Gill has been a director of the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers of Canada, and is a member of the Association of Professional Engineers of Ontario. He was also a founding member of the Malton Cougars Soccer Club.
In 1982, he ran for a seat on Peel District School Board, but lost.
In 1993 he sought the federal Liberal nomination for Bramalea—Gore—Malton—Springdale, but lost to Gurbax Malhi.
Gill first ran for the Canadian House of Commons in the 1997 federal election, as a Progressive Conservative in the riding of Mississauga West. He finished third, well behind Liberal Steve Mahoney.
In the 1999 provincial election, Gill ran for the Ontario Progressive Conservatives in the riding of Bramalea--Gore--Malton--Springdale, which has a large Indian-Canadian community. The riding is located in the "905 region", which at the time was a primary base of support for the Ontario Tories. Gill was elected, defeating Liberal Dave Toor by about 4,000 votes.
He was not appointed to cabinet by either Mike Harris and Ernie Eves. In 2002, he supported Tony Clement for the leadership of the Ontario Tories.
The Liberal Party made strong gains in the 905 area in the 2003 provincial election, and Gill lost his seat to Liberal candidate Kuldip Singh Kular by almost 4,000 votes, following a bitter and divisive campaign.
In the Canadian general election of 2004, Gill ran as a candidate of the Conservative Party in the redistributed riding of Bramalea--Gore--Malton. Although this seat was actively targeted by the Conservatives, Gill lost to incumbent Liberal Gurbax Singh Malhi by 7,800 votes. 
Gill announced his decision to quit politics after the election. He later reconsidered, and ran in the 2006 federal election in the riding of Mississauga—Streetsville, against Liberal incumbent Wajid Khan. He lost that contest as well, losing by about 5800 votes to Khan.
 That fall, Gill was appointed as a citizenship judge, a move that was considered a patronage appointment by some. Gill had been "fasttracked" into the post, bypassing the usual screening process.
 In 2009, he was reappointed to this position.
Ramona Amiri

Ramona Rina Amiri (Persian: رامونا امیری, born April 16, 1980 in Montreal, Quebec) is an Iranian Canadian woman of Aramäer and Persian heritage Ethnicity info from official biographyWashington Prism who won the Miss World Canada contest in 2005. 
She attended the contest from Vancouver. Ramona attended College Charlemagne, a private high school in Montreal, where she graduated at the age of 17. That same year' she moved to Vancouver, British Columbia with her family and began studies at the University of British Columbia in sciences. She has graduated from the University of British Columbia with a major in Biology. Amiri's father, of Assyrian ethnicity, was born in Urmia, Iran, and her mother is Persian. She has one sister named Rebecca Venus. 
Her favourite motto is: "Work like you don’t need money, love like you’ve never been hurt, and dance like no one's watching" which was borrowed from the famous Persian poet Rumi. 
Since winning the title of Miss World Canada, Ramona has travelled all across Canada to raise awareness for special causes. Ramona is an avid fundraiser, and at the Miss World Canada pageant, she was one of the top fundraisers.Miss World Canada official site
Ramona represented Canada at the Miss World Pageant, in Sanya, China. She was the only contestant to rank top 5 in both the swimsuit competition and the talent competition. Ramona also placed in the top 12 semi-finals of the Miss World 2005 pageant.
In 2007, Amiri competed in the Miss Universe Canada 2007 pageant, and placed first runner-up to Inga Skaya of Toronto, Ontario.
Rana Bose

Playwright and engineer, Rana Bose lives in Montreal. His plays have been staged in Canada, the United States, and India.
Multilingual Writer, Playwright, Poet, and Dramaturge, with over twenty years of involvement in writing, theatre and production work on stage. Rana Bose was born in Kolkata, India and has lived in North America for over thirty five years His first novel, with the assistance of a Canada Council Writers Grant, was published by Vehicule Press, Montreal, (Recovering Rude).
Ten of his plays, all of which have been published, have been performed in Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, Guelph and in India. He has written over 100 articles, reviews, short stories and critical essays, that have been published in various publications and his works have been broadcast and reviewed on CBC, as well as in the Montreal Gazette, the Montreal Mirror, The Montreal Hour, the Globe and Mail, the Ottawa Citizen as well as in several digital Magazines. The Fourth Canvas is his second novel, was published by TSAR, Toronto in the fall of 2008. His third novel, Fog, is due for publication in 2013. Rana is currently writing a graphic novel and a short one-hour performance piece called Tribes. Rana frequently performs at the Yellow Door and the Fairmont Arts Cafe in Montreal.
He is also an editor with theatre troupe and webzine, Serai.
Rasik Art

“Rasik” (Hindi)—(adj.) full of feeling; passionate; witty; elegant; (noun) a connoisseur.
At Rasik Arts we produce South Asian theatre from whatever part of the world it may exist. From home countries across the expanse of the Diaspora, South Asian culture and its expression is as varied and diverse as the globe that it inhabits. Presenting our plays in English we hope to cross linguistic boundaries, build bridges between cultures, and touch our audiences in a meaningful way. We challenge you to become engaged. Be surprised. See the difference. And experience the commonalities.
== MISSION ==
Rasik Arts is devoted to diversifying the landscape of Canadian theatre, creating a space for South Asian expression on the professional stage, and to opening up avenues of communication between cultures through entertainment and education.
== MANDATE ==
Rasik Arts is devoted to South Asian theatre, especially contemporary works from that region, and to South Asian theatre practitioners and writers around the world.
Rasik Arts aims to:
Educate and foster the public’s understanding and appreciation of South Asian culture
Break down racial and cultural stereotypes
Increase the visibility of Canadian artists of South Asian ancestry
== HISTORY ==
Rasik Arts had its birth in July 2000 with the remount of Sally Jones' 1997 production of Nagamandala at the Canadian Museum of Civilization, and was officially incorporated in November 2000. Our inaugural production was Umrao in September 2001. Since then, Rasik Arts has received four Dora nominations and won two Dora awards --the first such awards to be won by South Asians. We pick plays for production that illuminate a facet of the culture from which they spring but also address themes beyond their cultural specificity. Another criterion is that they either challenge Western-held assumptions or confront contemporary preoccupations.
Ravi Baichwal

Ravi Baichwal is a news anchor and reporter at WLS-TV in Chicago. In 2008 he won the Chicago Emmy Award for best anchor (Chicago/Midwest) from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. He was a CTV News Channel Morning anchor weekdays from 6 AM to 10 AM from 2002 to 2006. He was also a correspondent for CTV National News and sat as substitute anchor as well substitute hosting on Canada AM, Report on Business Television and contributed to radio. He was previously an anchor and reporter for CTV British Columbia. He began his journalism career in Calgary as a researcher for the CBC. He then worked as an associate producer, reporter and anchor with CBC Newsworld. Baichwal also worked in public affairs in Ontario. He graduated from the University of Western Ontario with a Bachelor of Arts Honours in political science with a certificate in French language studies.
He is married to journalist Sonja Nordahl.