Mayor Watson announces 2014 Order of Ottawa inductees

Mayor Jim Watson today announced the 15 residents who will be inducted into the Order of Ottawa this year, as well as the 2014 recipient of the Brian Kilrea Award for Excellence in Coaching.

This year’s Order of Ottawa ceremony will take place at City Hall on November 20.

“Inductees into the Order of Ottawa are remarkable residents who are being honoured for their service to our city through a variety of professional and civic-oriented endeavours,” said Mayor Watson. “I am pleased to celebrate the contributions of these wonderful people who have made a real difference in the lives of others in our community.”

Those who will be invested by Mayor Watson into the Order of Ottawa for 2014 are: Dr. Angel Arnaout,  Dr. Tim Aubry, Mariette Carrier-Fraser, Barbara Crook, Nicole Fortier, Dr. Qais Ghanem, David Gourlay, Greg Kane, Q.C., Gilles LeVasseur, Glenn McInnes, Peter Morel, Tom Schonberg, Gary Sealey, Jesse Stewart, PhD, and Mary Wiggin.

Mr. Greg Patacairk will be presented with the Brian Kilrea Award for Excellence in Coaching, a City award that recognizes the contribution of an amateur coach who best exemplifies the qualities of leadership and commitment.

This prestigious civic award was established in 2012 by the Mayor and members of City Council. Recipients of the Order of Ottawa are chosen by a Selection Committee comprised of the Mayor, City Clerk and Solicitor, Chief of Police, Chief of Protocol, City Archivist, and the Chief Executive Officer of Library Services.

The Order of Ottawa recognizes exceptional residents who have made a significant contribution in a professional capacity in many areas of city life, including arts and culture, business, community service, education, public service, labour, communications and media, science, medicine, sports and entertainment, or other fields of endeavour that benefit the residents of Ottawa.

** Dr. Angel Arnaout ** Dr. Arnaout is one of Canada’s leading breast surgical oncologists. With knowledge, skill, dedication and compassion, she continues to improve the care of cancer patients while reducing the need for chemotherapy in breast cancer patients. Dr. Arnaout is a scientist with the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, and the Women’s Breast Health Centre at The Ottawa Hospital.

She led multiple clinical trials aimed at discovering new treatments for breast cancer and she is the creator of the Rapid Access Diagnostic and Support (RADS) Clinic, a patient-centred program aimed at expediting diagnosis and treatment for patients whose mammograms indicate they are most at risk. The process has helped countless women in Ottawa and is now being implemented across Canada as the new standard of care for breast cancer patients. Dr. Arnaout was awarded the Ontario Ministry of Health Award for “Best Innovation in Cancer Care Delivery” for her contributions to enhanced patient care. ** ** ** Dr. Tim Aubry ** Professor in the School of Psychology, Senior Researcher at the Centre for Research on Educational and Community Services, and Faculty of Social Sciences Research Chair in Community Health and Homelessness at the University of Ottawa, Dr. Aubry has dedicated more than two decades of his professional life to education and community improvement in the areas of mental health, homelessness, and social services.

Dr. Aubry has focused his expertise and research on further understanding the relationship between mental health and homelessness, with the ultimate goal of developing solutions to help individuals leave homelessness and achieve social inclusion. He has worked with the Alliance to End Homelessness in Ottawa and on numerous research projects and has inspired students to become community leaders and engaged citizens. ** ** ** Mariette Carrier-Fraser ** For 36 years Mariette Carrier-Fraser has worked in provincial education, beginning as an elementary school teacher and finally serving as Assistant Deputy Minister responsible for French-language education at the Ministry of Education where she participated in the bill that led to the creation of the twelve French-language school boards in January 1998. She was a member of the Post-secondary Education Quality Assessment Board and a group of experts advising Mordechai Rozanski, chair of the Education Equality Task Force during the Government of Ontario’s revisions to funding models for primary and secondary education.

Ms. Carrier-Fraser is very involved in the Francophone community and served as president of the Assemblée de la francophonie de l’Ontario, and as president of the Centre canadien de leadership en evaluation. She is also a board member of the Canadian Foundation for Cross-Cultural Dialogue, the French Language Health Services Network of Eastern Ontario, the Hôpital Montfort board of trustees, and the Société Santé en français. ** ** ** ** ** Barbara Crook ** Writer and philanthropist, Barbara Crook devotes her time and energy to improving the Ottawa community.  Ms. Crook spent most of her journalism career as a full-time writer and editor at daily newspapers in Ottawa and Vancouver, and later lectured in the School of Journalism and Communications at Carleton University. She is a columnist for the Ottawa Jewish Bulletin, and a leading Ottawa-area philanthropist, who has participated as a donor and volunteer in numerous community events, activities and fundraising campaigns.

She is the Chair of the Ottawa component of the Partnership 2Gether Project, sits on the board of the Ottawa Senators Foundation and the TELUS Ottawa Community Board, and serves on the cabinet for the Royal Ottawa Hospital Foundation’s Campaign for Mental Health. As part of her mental health advocacy, she has been featured in the Royal’s “You Know Who I Am” campaign, and delivered the 2014 Queen’s-Bell Canada “Breaking the Silence” lecture on mental health and anti-stigma research. ** Nicole Fortier ** Nicole Fortier has shown a tireless commitment to her community and to La Francophonie. Early on Ms. Fortier was a French teacher with the federal government and later managed the coordination of the application of the Official Languages Act. In 1979, she founded and chaired the Mouvement d’implication francophone d’Orléans to support French language culture and arts. Ms. Fortier has been a member of numerous committees at the municipal, provincial and federal levels and has led the production of several publications on Orléans.

She is the founding chair of the Société franco-ontarienne du patrimoine et de l’histoire d’Orléans, to promote the history and heritage of Orléans. In addition to installing historical plaques in Orléans and coordinating celebrations for the 400th anniversary of Champlain’s arrival in the region, the  Société was able to save the Vinette silo through a heritage designation that celebrates the community’s agricultural and Franco-Ontarian roots. ** Dr. Qais Ghanem ** Dr. Qais Ghanem has worked as a medical practitioner, neurologist and educator in Ottawa for over twenty years. He is a former Clinical Professor at the University of Ottawa, a former President of the Canadian Society of Clinical Neurophysiologists, and former Director of Neurology and Sleep Lab at the Military Hospital in Ottawa as well as the sleep labs at the Ottawa and Montfort hospitals.

Dr. Ghanem has also authored three novels primarily focused on gender inequality in the Arab world, co-authored “My Arab Spring My Canada” and published a book of Arabic and English poetry. He is the founder of CHIN Radio’s four-time award-winning show “Dialogue with Diversity” garnering awards from the Canadian Ethnic Media Association, the Ottawa Community Immigrant Services Organization and the United Way. He is the President of the Canadian Authors Association of the National Capital Region and continues to promote interfaith understanding and gender equality. ** ** ** David Gourlay ** For the past three years, David Gourlay led efforts for the return of a CAN-AM professional baseball team in Ottawa. As the founder of the “Champions for Ottawa Baseball,” he sold over 3,000 season-ticket deposits to business investors and fans. With his leadership the City of Ottawa will welcome the Ottawa Champions Baseball Club to the Ottawa Stadium in 2015 where Mr. Gourlay will act as President. He serves as a trustee on the Ottawa Public Library Board and is a former Director on the Ottawa Community Housing Foundation that supports vulnerable youth in their pursuit of higher education.

He is the President of the Miracle League of Ottawa, a not-for-profit group whose goal is to build the first ever in Canada purpose-built baseball field, playground and recreation hub for children with special needs in Ottawa. He has secured close to $1M in funding from the City of Ottawa, community organizations and corporate and foundation sponsors, with construction planned to begin in Orléans in the spring of 2015. ** Greg Kane, Q.C. ** Greg Kane is a respected member of Ottawa’s legal community where he has practiced law since 1973.  He is counsel to the international law firm Dentons LLP and was a founding partner with Stikeman Elliott LLP Ottawa for 31 years. Mr. Kane is a former Adjunct Professor at the University of Ottawa and the former Counsel to the General Legal Council in Ghana. He also served as Associate General Counsel to the CRTC.

Mr. Kane is the recipient of Best Lawyers 2014 Ottawa Communications Law “Lawyer of the Year”, Who’s Who Legal: Canada 2014, The Legal 500 Canada 2014, and Chambers Global 2014: The World’s Leading Lawyers for Business, to list a few of his most recent professional recognitions.

. Mr. Kane volunteers with the Ottawa Hospital Foundation as immediate Past Chair and current board member, as a Past Chair of the National Arts Centre Gala, a member of the Governor General’s Performing Arts Awards Foundation Gala Committee, Past Chair of the Ottawa Ballet, and fundraiser for the United Way of Ottawa. ** Gilles LeVasseur ** As a lawyer and university professor of law in management and economics, Gilles LeVasseur is active in constitutional language rights in Canada. He is a member of both the Ontario and Quebec Bar Associations, a member of business and health professional corporations, and has numerous undergraduate and graduate degrees. Mr. LeVasseur has been president of several associations and professional corporations including the Conseil de la Coopération de l’Ontario, the Regroupement des organismes du patrimoine franco-ontarien. He has published eight books, of which three directly address the situation of francophones in Ontario and Canada.

For over 25 years, Mr. LeVasseur has been an active member of key organizations working to promote the French language in Ontario and Canada. He is a committee member and leader on numerous community organizations supporting socio-culture, arts, health, heritage and French Ontario committees, including the Association des auteurs et auteurs de l’Ontario français, the  constitutional expert on Language Rights Program and Opera Lyra of Ottawa. ** ** ** Glenn McInnes ** For more than 20 years, Glenn McInnes has been an arts advocate for Ottawa artists and arts organizations serving as a board member, arts patron, mentor, fundraiser and policy advisor. One of his most significant contributions to the Ottawa art scene was the incorporation of the Ottawa Art Gallery in 1992 and his role as the founding chair, an initiative aimed at keeping the best Ottawa artists in Ottawa and to showcase them outside the city.

Mr. McInnes is an active fundraiser for the arts, focusing his early efforts on membership development and the establishment of the Ontario Lottery Corporation’s “Nevadaman Lotteries” in support of the Ottawa Art Gallery, SAW Gallery, Gallery 101, and more recently to PAL Ottawa, an organization dedicated to providing services to Ottawa’s senior artists and various other small Ottawa art organizations. His efforts have resulted in many tens of thousands of dollars being raised to support the Ottawa arts community. ** Peter Morel ** Peter Morel is the Owner and Managing Partner of TopShape Inc., the parent company of the TopShape Fitness studio a fully accessible fitness facility in Ottawa. Born with Spina Bifida, he has devoted his life to helping people with disabilities reap the benefits of health and fitness. Mr. Morel exhibited outstanding athletic ability by representing Canada at the Adaptive World Rowing Championships in Germany and qualified for the Beijing Paralympics.

Mr. Morel developed and copyrighted a unique “Adaptive Fitness Certification Course” designed to educate fitness professionals to work with clients with mobility impairments, accepted by many different governing bodies. He works with the “Solider On” program to help injured military personnel return to fitness programs and adaptive sports. He is a former volunteer Director of Health and Safety with Sledge Hockey Canada, a past member of the City of Ottawa’s Accessibility Advisory Committee and former marketing committee member for the newly revamped ParticipACTION initiative. ** Tom Schonberg ** Tom Schonberg is the President and CEO of the Queensway Carleton Hospital. Since moving to Ottawa in 1998 to accept this challenging position, Mr. Schonberg has led the hospital through many phases of expansion and redevelopment that have more than tripled the size of the hospital footprint. Development projects have included two MRI units, two CT scanners, state-of-the-art surgical suites with 10 operating rooms, a 12-bed ICU, a 15 bed dialysis unit, acute rehabilitation unit, and a new Emergency Department and Ambulatory Care complex. In addition, the Irving Greenberg Family Cancer Centre was opened, as well as the James Beach Health Care Centre.Growth and development efforts continue, with the current construction of an Acute Care for the Elderly Unit, the second of its kind in Ontario.

Under Mr. Schonberg’s strong leadership, the Queensway Carleton Hospital now has a long track record of balanced budgets, and is recognized province-wide as a leading health care facility. ** ** ** Gary Sealey ** In 1984 Mr. Sealey established Ottawa’s Club Moustache, renamed Time Out, serving as first President of this bilingual, recreational and social club, building bridges of understanding between gay, lesbian and other populations through sports and recreation. He founded Lambda Foundation, a national charity endowing annual scholarships at the University of Ottawa, Carleton University, and other universities and high schools in human rights studies related to gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and intersex conditions and achievements. From 1991 to 2006, Mr. Sealey created and produced Wilde About Sappho, a community-based gay and lesbian literature festival.

From his international work with the Global Network on Food Security, Servas President and International Peace representative to the UN, as well as serving four terms as President of the Kanata Beaverbrook Community Association (KBCA) up to 2014, and a total of seven years with the Board, Gary Sealey offers a strong local community voice with international insights on many municipally-based issues. ** Jesse Stewart, PhD ** Jesse Stewart is an award-winning percussionist, composer, improviser, artist, instrument builder, educator, and writer dedicated to re-imagining the spaces between artistic disciplines. Dr. Stewart is an Associate Professor of music in Carleton University’s School for Studies in Art and Culture and an adjunct professor in the Visual Arts program at the University of Ottawa.

He has performed and recorded with many musical luminaries in addition to leading several groups and performing regularly as a soloist. In 2012, he was honored with the “Instrumental Album of the Year” Juno award for his work with Stretch Orchestra. He has been widely commissioned as a composer and his music has been featured at festivals throughout Canada, the United States, and Europe. He is a past recipient of the Terry Fox Humanitarian Award and is dedicated to building and strengthening communities through arts education and outreach. ** Mary Wiggin ** A “pioneer” of the literacy movement for over 30 years, Mary Wiggin is the Executive Director of the Ottawa Community Coalition for Literacy, established in 1984. Ms. Wiggin developed three community-based literacy programs in the city including the one at the John Howard Society of Ottawa; Access to Literacy, a program for adults with physical disabilities at the Neil Squire Society; and English Language Tutoring of the Ottawa Community which teaches ESL learners in their homes.

In 1987, Ms. Wiggin organized the first conference for literacy educators in Eastern Ontario which was attended by 150 enthusiastic participants. She spearheaded the development of tutor training materials which have been purchased by literacy organizations across North America. Over the years, she has encouraged the Ottawa Public Library to develop a variety of services to support adult literacy and second language learners. She was a founding member of the Ontario Literacy Coalition in 1988 and represented Ottawa for over a decade. For 21 years, she sat on the Ottawa Peter Gzowski Invitational Golf Tournament for Literacy Organizing Committee in support of literacy organizations across the country. ** ** ** Greg Patacairk ** (2014 recipient of the Brian Kilrea Award for Excellence in Coaching)

Greg Patacairk is the founder, organizer and head coach of the Dunrobin Sports for Children with Special Needs Program. Now in its fourth year, the program provides the opportunity for children with special needs to play soccer and hockey in an organized league. His dedication and unique coaching ability to connect and work with each child ensures individual and team success and progression within the program.

The program presents a unique opportunity for children who do not normally have the chance to participate in and benefit from organized sport to do just that. Through Mr. Patacairk’s leadership, the children benefit through improved physical fitness, strength, balance, coordination and enhanced self-confidence. The children learn new social and athletic skills, and develop a sense of belonging to a team, while having fun and making friends.

Mr. Patacairk’s contributions to the program extend beyond coaching the children on the hockey rink and the soccer field. He is also the driving force behind program logistics including facility scheduling, access to equipment, organizing end of season celebrations, and recruiting much needed volunteers.