THE province of Ontario is honouring college leaders for making significant social and economic contributions to the province.

Each year, Ontario presents Premier’s Awards in six categories to acknowledge the social and economic contribution college graduates make to their communities, the province and throughout the world.

And one of the recipients of the 2013 Premier’s Awards is Ramesh Ferris, Confederation College, who graduated in 2001, for Community Services.

A polio survivor, Ramesh Ferris has become one of the most influential polio activists in the world. After graduating from Confederation College, he visited his country of birth, India, where he saw the ravages of the disease and vowed to fight it.

In 2008, Ferris organized Cycle to Walk Canada, a polio awareness campaign, and he helped to lobby the Canadian government to commit $250 million to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative.