One of Canada's premier athletes and multiple Olympic medalist in freestyle mogul skiing, Jenn Heil is a woman whose approach to life consists of a dedication to hard work and a vibrant spirit. At the 2006 Turin Olympics Jenn won Canada's first medal of the games: gold. Four years later, she again delivered Canada’s first medal of the games: this time, silver. She is a four time World Champion and five time World Cup Champion.

 

Jenn's approach to life is illustrated through her charitable endeavours. She is the co-founder of B2ten, a group that is reshaping how Canadian Olympic athletes can attain their full potential and runs a girls only mogul ski camp. Jenn traveled to Burkina Faso with Plan in March of 2008 and was inspired by the potential message of the Because I am a Girl initiative, specifically women and girls’ empowerment and leadership. Following this experience, Jenn expressed her keen interest to join Plan in the mission to empower youth (especially girls) to become full global citizens. On February 25th, 2010, Jenn Heil publicly announced that she would be donating $25,000 of her own personal funds to Plan’s Because I am a Girlinitiative and launched her fundraising challenge to raise $1,000,000 for Plan Canada, challenging her own corporate sponsors and the Canadian public to join the movement.

 

Jenn volunteered her time tirelessly to support the Because I am a Girlinitiative, making it her signature cause of choice. Living in Montreal, Jenn continues to work on her business degree at McGill University with a diploma in mind for 2013.

 

Donate to my Fundraising Challenge

 

This year, CTV National Affairs Correspondent Lisa LaFlamme will succeed Lloyd Robertson as chief anchor and senior editor of CTV NATIONAL NEWS.

 

For the last decade, LaFlamme has been on the road, covering everything from wars and elections, to natural disasters, from some of the world’s most dangerous locations.

 

Since 9/11, she has covered every angle of its aftermath - from New York to Afghanistan, Iraq to Guantanamo Bay. LaFlamme was on the ground in New York City covering the immediate after effects of the 9/11 attacks on World Trade Centre. Since then she has been in and out of Iraq several times covering the American invasion, elections, the Saddam Hussein trial and the region's ongoing civil unrest. Over the years, LaFlamme has reported extensively on the Canadian mission in Afghanistan as well as the humanitarian crisis facing the Afghan people.

 

Never far from the heart of the story, LaFlamme was in Rome to report on the death of Pope John Paul II; has reported from Sri Lanka on the devastation from the Tsunami that hit South Asia; was in New Orleans to cover the impact Hurricane Katrina had on New Orleans; and was one of the first reporters on the ground in Haiti after the devastating floods and has returned several times over the years to cover the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake and political turmoil gripping the country. From the heart of the G20 riots that shook Toronto, the environmental disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, the World Cup in South Africa, the miracle of the Chilean miners, LaFlamme has had a front row seat to some of the most compelling stories of a generation.

 

LaFlamme is a trailblazer for women in Canadian news broadcasting. As one of Canada’s top journalists, she has been a familiar face on the anchor desk for Canada’s #1 national newscast since 2000. She played an integral part of CTV’s national broadcast team at Vancouver 2010 as co-host of OLYMPIC DAYTIME. A graduate of the University of Ottawa, LaFlamme began her broadcasting career in 1988 at CTV’s CKCO affiliate in Kitchener-Waterloo, her hometown.

 

LaFlamme has received five Gemini nominations in the Best News Anchor category and has won several RTNDA awards. She received an honourary Doctor of Laws degree from Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario and was awarded the Distinguished Canadian Award from the University of Ottawa, along with Julie Payette, Rick Mercer and Michael Burgess.

 

LaFlamme is an avid supporter of Plan International traveling to remote areas to highlight child poverty around the world.

 

Career Summary:

 

• 2010 - Appointed successor to Lloyd Robertson as full-time anchor of CTV NATIONAL NEWS
• 2003-2010: National Affairs Correspondent, CTV NATIONAL NEWS WITH LLOYD ROBERTSON
• 2001-2003: Co-Host of CANADA AM
• 2000-2001: Parliamentary correspondent, CTV News
• 1998-2000: Prime News Anchor for CTV Newsnet (now CTV News Channel)
• 1997-1998: Consumer Reporter, CTV News
• 1997-1998: Weekend Anchor/Reporter for CTV Newsnet
• 1991-1997:Reporter and News Anchor for CKCO
• 1989-199: Radio News Reporter for CFCA/AM109
• 1988: Joined CKCO as copy writer and script assistant.

 

Canadians are still feeling the ripple effect in the enormous wake of Marnie McBean and Kathleen Heddle's success. These two scullers dominated the world rowing scene in the 1990's, becoming the first Canadians to win three Summer Olympic gold medals. At the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, McBean and Heddle claimed gold in both the eights and the pairs. Proving to be a truly unstoppable team, they rowed their way to gold once again in the double scull event at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. To top off their medal collections, McBean and Heddle claimed bronze in the quadruple scull event, making them the nation's most successful Olympians. In addition to her Olympic triumphs, McBean also held three World Cup, eight U.S., and three Canadian titles.

 

An extremely versatile oarswoman, McBean was the first woman to claim a medal in every boat class at World and Olympic events. She hoped to win a fourth gold medal at the 2000 Olympics but was forced to withdraw because of a back injury. McBean, however, put sportsmanship, national pride, and the love for her sport above her disappointment, and lent enormous support to the Canadian team during those games. McBean continues to support Olympic Athletes as a Specialist in Athlete Preparation and Mentoring the Canadian Olympic Committee. In 2009 she used her mentoring skills to support Girl Impact as she worked with and accompanied a group of girls from Scarborough, Ontario as they discovered the power of education and girls championing and support other girls in Kenya and Tanzania. Marnie believes in the power of girls and is delighted to be a Celebrity Supporter for the Because I am a Girlinitiative. Marnie most recently showed her support for the cause by hosting one of our inaugural Pink LemonAid stands on September 22.

 

In many ways Alyssa Reid is like any red blooded 20-year-old Canadian teenager. She recently graduated from her Brampton Ontario high school where she was a dedicated player on the girl's rugby team (much to her music label's chagrin) and until recently she poured coffee part time at a local Tim Hortons to scrape together enough cash to buy her first car. The Edmonton Alberta native's life however has been anything but conventional. With her family frequently picking up and moving around Alberta and ultimately migrating to Ontario, Alyssa has found herself having to repeatedly adapt to her new surroundings. Being frequently uprooted and forced to regularly make new friends, adapt to new schools and adjust to new teachers, finding a sense of stability was difficult for Alyssa growing up. Through it all, her music has been a constant source that she could rely on to see her through the rough patches.

 

The thing that sets Alyssa Reid apart is her relentless pursuit of her muse. "Music is my entire world" she admits, it's all I've ever wanted to do with my life". From as far back as her memory serves, Alyssa has been writing and singing, she wrote her first song at the age of 7 and at the age of 9 started taking vocal lessons. From this early age she has continued to work long and hard to develop her incredibly powerful voice into what has today become a singular vocal style. The self-­‐taught musician writes on the guitar and piano both of which she's skillfully mastered over the past few years. This pursuit of her craft has taken her down a long and winding path from winning scholarships at Performing Arts schools in LA and NY, to an eclectic list of gigs that include everything from a performance at the Miss Drag Queen International pageant, to a boxing match, to a performance on a cruise ship, a stint on a nationally televised talent competition, a half time performance at the Mississauga Ice Dogs and hundreds of other various and sundry performances, all of which were grist for the mill in her quest to perfect her talent. From the very beginning Alyssa's drive to take every possible opportunity to hone her writing, playing and singing chops has seasoned this 20-year-old songstress well beyond her years and prepared her to step out onto the main stage.

 

In the fall of 2009, in a somewhat ironic twist of fate Alyssa was discovered by her record label through a YouTube performance that she posted of her own interpretation of the Justin Bieber hit "One Less Lonely Girl", written from a girls perspective and re-titled "One More Lonely Boy". This cleverly reworked song had already attracted over 200,000 YouTube hits and resulted in her signing with Wax Records. As has been highly touted in the media, Justin Bieber himself was also discovered via Youtube.

 

Alyssa worked with a varied collection of producers; Dave Thomson (Lights), Da Heala (Massari, Belly, Danny Fernandes), Jeff "Diesel" Dalziel (Edwin, Melissa O'Neil) and Jamie Appleby (Jesse Labelle), for the release of her debut album entitled “The Game”. The songs on the album run the gambit from club raves to R&B inflected joints and soulful ballads each of which stand on their own as bold individual statements and together, as a testimony of who Alyssa Reid is as an artist.

 

The lead off single "Alone Again" co-written by Alyssa, is a fresh take on the 1987 #1 hit single "Alone" by female rockers Heart. The newly interpreted song has instantly connected with listeners across the world as witnessed by the meteoric rise up the international airplay and singles sales charts. The song shot to the top of the pop radio charts in Canada and produced a #1 video on MuchMusic, making Alyssa Reid the top spun Canadian artist in the country.

 

Over the past year, the double platinum selling single has catapulted Alyssa Reid into the musical spotlight, placing her at the top of Billboard's "Emerging Artists" chart for an astounding 26 consecutive weeks, garnered a "MuchMusic Video Award" nomination for "Best Pop Video" and a 2012 Juno Award nomination for Best New Artist.

 

Alyssa's meteoric rise to the top of the charts in her home country has quickly led to international praise and opportunity. On January 29th 2012, Alone Again debuted at #1 on iTunes UK and #1 on the BBC Radio 1 singles chart, further propelling Alyssa to center stage for an international audience.

 

As of June 2012, Alyssa is poised to further build upon her world-wide success with her anthemic international follow-up single - The Game featuring Snoop Dogg.

Human rights activist, journalist and award-winning author Sally Armstrong has covered stories about women and girls in conflict zones around the world.

 

Sally served recently on the International Women’s Commission, a UN body that consists of 20 Palestinian women, 20 Israeli women and 12 internationals whose mandate was assisting with the path to peace in the Middle East. She was editor-in-chief of Homemaker's magazine from 1988 to 1999, is the co-producer and host of several documentaries and the author of several books. In 1998 she was made a Member of the Order of Canada.

 

From Bosnia and Somalia to Rwanda and Afghanistan, her eye-witness reports have earned her many awards, including the Gold Award from the National Magazine Awards Foundation and the Author's Award from the Foundation for the Advancement of Canadian Letters. She’s a three-time winner of the Amnesty International Media Award in 2000, 2002 and 2011.

 

Sally’s many honours include the prestigious Women of Distinction Award in Communications from the YWCA of Toronto, and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Canadian Journalism Foundation. She has received seven honorary doctorate degrees from Canadian universities.

 

Her books include Veiled Threat: The Hidden Power of the Women of Afghanistan, The Nine Lives of Charlotte Taylor and Bitter Roots, Tender Shoots: the Uncertain Fate of Afghanistan’s Women. She has co-produced and hosted several documentaries, including They Fell From the Sky and The Daughters of Afghanistan. Her new book – The Ascent of Women will be published March 1, 2012.

 

Canada’s women’s soccer team is currently ranked 7th in the world, with their sights set on climbing higher in the rankings. The team has qualified for every FIFA Women’s World Cup since the tournament began in 1995, and achieved it's highest ever finish in 2003 when the team finished 4th in the world. In 2008 the team qualified for the first Olympic Games in the history of Canada soccer and participated in the 2008 Beijing games. The team lost to the US, the eventual gold medalists, in overtime of the quarterfinal game.

 

The team is currently coached by John Herdman, former head coach for the New Zealand women's national football team. In 2010 Canada won the CONCACAF Women’s World Cup Qualifying tournament in Cancun, Mexico. The win marked the first time that Canada has won the tournament since 1998, and saw the team qualify for their 5th straight World Cup. Canada will take part in the World Cup in 2011 that will take place in Germany, and looks to secure its best ever results.

 

Canada is led on and off the field by captain, Christine Sinclair. Christine has played more games for Canada than any other player, and she has also scored more goals, over 110 and counting, than any other player in Canadian soccer history. She was only the 10th player ever in international women’s soccer to reach the 100-goal mark.

 

The players of Canada’s national soccer team are pleased to be with affiliated with this wonderful initiative, Because I am a Girl. Soccer in Canada is the most participated in sport and 43% of those participants are women and girls. For real change to be possible in this world we need women supporting women worldwide; together we can achieve anything.

Synchro Canada’s Senior National Team is preparing for the 2012 Olympic Games with a goal to bring home medals and continue the pursuit of its rich tradition of excellence.

 

Since 2008, Synchro Canada has worked tirelessly to ensure that its team achieves this goal. After the 2008 Olympic Games, the 24 best senior athletes in the country were sent to train at the Québec Aquatic Training Centre (C.E.S.A.Q.), using the pool at Montréal’s Olympic Park Sports Center.

 

The national federation has also assembled a multidisciplinary team of coaches and other experts, currently comprised of Julie Sauvé, best known for the successes of Sylvie Fréchette and Penny and Vicky Vilagos, as well as Meng Chen, Anastassia Goutseva, Lyne Piché and Kasia Kulesza, winner of a silver medal at the 1996 Olympic Games.

 

Synchro Canada’s Senior National team continues to make Canada proud. At the 2010 FINA World Cup, the team took home four medals in four events, something the team had never achieved before at a major FINA competition. At the 2009 FINA World Aquatic Championships, Canada earned two bronze medals, the first Canadian medals won at this event since 2001. Aside from the free combo team, Marie-Pier Boudreau-Gagnon won the bronze medal in the solo tech event, the first Canadian medal to be won in a solo event at a major international competition since the 1994 World Aquatic Championships.

 

The Canadian team also triumphed at the 2009 FINA World Trophy, beating the Russians for the first time in over a decade. During this competition, the Canadian team won three events, including the thematic routine event, which earned the team its first perfect 10 since 1997.

 

In London, Canada will continue to pursue its tradition of excellence. Between 1979 and 1996, Canadian synchronized swimming athletes and teams won 28 medals out of 28 possible events at the Olympic Games and FINA World Championships, including Carolyn Waldo (who won three Olympic medals, including gold in the solo event in 1988), Sylvie Fréchette (who won two Olympic medals, including gold in the solo event in 1992), as well as twins Penny and Vicky Vilagos (who won silver in the duet event in 1992).

 

Synchro Canada partnered with Plan Canada in April 2011 to promote Plan Canada‘s Because I am a Girlinitiative as the goal of this initiative is a natural fit for Synchro Canada’s programs because of their roots, historical influence at the international level and the role of women in the sport at all levels. Synchronized swimming develops leaders in every community not only in Canada but around the world. Synchro Canada is glad to be a partner of Plan Canada and help continue building leaders in developing countries around the world.

 

See the press release here.