Pamela Tourigny receives Mayor’s City Builder Award

_ (via City of Ottawa) _ Mayor Jim Watson and Capital Ward Councillor David Chernushenko presented a Mayor’s City Builder Award to Pamela Tourigny at today’s City Council meeting, recognizing her contributions to animal welfare and to the vegan and vegetarian communities in Ottawa.

On her Huffington Post blog, Pamela describes herself as a “community builder, writer, vegan, mindful consumer, wannabe athlete, feminist, dog foster mom, seeker of truth and promoter of kindness.”

Pamela is passionate about animal welfare and animal rights, and her dedication to this cause translates into volunteering, advocacy, community-building and blogging.

She fosters dogs for Sit With Me and cares for orphaned baby squirrels for the Rideau Valley Sanctuary.

A gifted and skilled connector, Pamela builds and leverages relationships to benefit the health, wellness and sustainability of the community, with particular focus on vegan and vegetarian lifestyles. She has volunteered thousands of hours to support vegetarian and wellness advocates and organizations, building relationships with and between seasoned volunteers and mentoring new ones.

She was the founding president, in 2007, of the National Capital Vegetarian Association and served on that organization’s board up to last year. She co-founded Ottawa VegFest in 2009 and continues to volunteer to support the annual event.

She blogs about vegetarian, vegan, health, wellness, fitness and sustainability issues at pamelatourigny.com and at huffingtonpost.ca/pamela-tourigny .

The Mayor’s City Builder Award is a civic honour created to recognize an individual, group or organization that has, through outstanding volunteerism or exemplary action, demonstrated an extraordinary commitment to making our city a better place today and for the future. This may include lifelong service, outstanding acts of kindness, inspiring charitable work, community building or other exemplary achievements. Individuals, groups or organizations may be nominated by members of City Council or the public. The award is presented at the beginning of each City Council meeting.