The 2015 Access, Equity & Human Rights Awards took place at Toronto’s City Hall on Wednesday, December 2. The Access Award for Disability Issues, established in 1983 to recognize the International Year of the Disabled, is always part of the ceremony. The 2015 Access Award was presented to Farah Mawani.
Farah Mawani, 2015 Access Award winner
Mawani, a long-time human rights advocate, is the founder of Building Roads Together. This peer support group program is an integrated group designed to empower people faced with unique health challenges. Building Roads Together aims to maximize accessibility to programs such as exercise.
Mawani, who is recovering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), said her experience with mental illness is what led to the creation of Building Roads Together. Mawani’s program is part of an organization she founded called Farahway Global, based at the Centre for Social Innovation (CSI) Regent Park.
“I’m beyond moved that a growing number of people and organizations across the city and country want to be part of Building Roads,” Mawani said during her acceptance speech.
Here is a list of the other award recipients for 2015:
Aboriginal Affairs Award: Joanne Dallaire
Constance E. Hamilton Award on the Status of Women: Andrea Sesum
Pride Award for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Transsexual and Two-Spirit Issues: Mark Smith
William P. Hubbard Award for Race Relations: Kamala-Jean Gopie
On October 30, 2015, the 22nd annual Canadian Disability Hall of Fame induction ceremony took place at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel in Toronto. Three people were inducted this year: para-athlete Lauren Barwick, lawyer Bernard Gluckstein and comedian Rick Mercer. Lauren Barwick was inducted in the Builder category. The equestrian from British Columbia is also one of Canada’s most decorated athletes. This includes the gold and silver won at the 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games. Growing up with a brother and sister born with disabilities, Barwick became paraplegic as a result of a ranch accident in 2000. She recently received Canada’s only medals in Para-Dressage, a silver and bronze, at the 2014 AllTech FEI World Equestrian Games. Bernard ‘Bernie’ Gluckstein and Rick Mercer were inducted in the Achiever category. Gluckstein is a personal injury lawyer based in Toronto. His firm, Gluckstein Lawyers, has helped several clients with disabilities, especially those with Acquired Brain Injuries (ABIs). Gluckstein is a founding director of the Ontario Brain Injury Association. He is also an accredited photographer for the Paralympics.
During his acceptance speech, Gluckstein spoke fondly of a client who needed encouragement to keep living after she became paralyzed from the waist down at the age of 19. They have remained friends ever since. That client was the event’s emcee, Joanne Smith. (Smith, a media personality and licensed nutritionist, is a 2007 CHOF inductee.)
Comedian and satirist Rick Mercer was recognized for presenting people with disabilities in a positive light on his weekly CBC TV series, the Rick Mercer Report. On the show, he has trained with Paralympians, and also with those working out at the Abilities Centre and Variety Village. Mercer is also a recipient of the Order of Canada. His weekly TV series is one of the most-watched homegrown shows in Canada. Mercer believes, after having befriended several people with disabilities, that making Canada a barrier-free country is “the only way.”
There is an exhibit going on now commemorating Terry Fox and the 35th anniversary of his Marathon of Hope. The exhibit, titled Terry Fox: Running to the Heart of Canada, opened at the Canadian Museum of History (formerly the Canadian Museum of Civilization) in Gatineau, Quebec (immediately across from Ottawa, Ontario) on April 2, 2015.
Terry Fox (1958-1981) started his walk across Canada because he wanted to raise money for and awareness of cancer research. His Marathon of Hope began after he lost his right leg to cancer in 1979. The Terry Fox Centre in British Columbia has preserved many of the items from the Marathon of Hope, which Fox ran from April 12 to September 1, 1980, when his cancer returned to claim his life.
Fox’s Marathon of Hope lasted 143 days and 5,373 kilometres. It began in Newfoundland and ended in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Since Fox’s death, the Terry Fox Run has become an international event held every September.
I visited the exhibit in June, and I recommend it. The exhibit retraces the story of Fox’s marathon and how it continues to motivate and inspire people to contribute to the fight against cancer. I liked seeing all the artifacts on display, including his artificial leg. My favourites were the van his friend drove alongside Fox during the Marathon of Hope, and the Order of Canada that Fox received in late 1980. Terry Fox: Running Through the Heart of Canada continues until January 3, 2016. You can order tickets online at http://www.historymuseum.ca/, or call 1-800-555-5621. TTY customers can call 1-819-776-7003.
Tonight I'm sad to read Michael Burgess has died of cancer. He was a Canadian actor and opera tenor. I met Burgess twice during the '90s and saw him as Jean Valjean in a Toronto production of Les Miserables. He was a good guy. Rest in peace Michael Burgess.
“Enjoy the moment.” This is what singer/songwriter Justin Hines says to his fans who attend his concerts. During the Parapan Games, I heard Hines say this when he performed at Nathan Phillips Square one hot August afternoon. Prior to that day, I got to interview him for Enables Me.
Interviewing Justin Hines recently was a great moment for me, because I got to learn more about this talented folk-pop artist, and the people that influenced him and his music along the way.
“I was always into people who weren’t kind of flashy,” Hines says. Hines grew up in Newmarket, Ontario, with family members who were musical. This includes his father, who played guitar. In addition to his musical family members, Hines credits Cat Stevens, Carole King, James Taylor and Jim Croce as influences. “I have always loved the singers who would go on stage and tell their stories through songs… I thought that was really cool, and I wanted to be that guy.”
Hines was born with a rare joint condition called Larsen’s Syndrome. Hines says he doesn’t think about his disability too much, preferring instead to share his gifts and talents with his fans.
Hines’ began singing as a child, with his earliest public performances at church services. Hines’ formal entry into the music business came as the age of 14. “I had won a contest to sing the National Anthem at a Toronto Raptors game (1996). From there I kept getting these kid show gigs. I didn’t think much of it at the time, but it ended up being the start of my journey going forward.”
After paying his dues for the next decade, he signed with an independent label called Orange, which has a distribution deal in place with Universal Music Canada. His second album, Chasing Silver, has a song called “Say What You Will.” The song encourages the listener to say what is on your mind when you’ve got the chance. Staying silent could result in a missed opportunity.
“Say What You Will” became a #1 hit in South Africa, and its popularity led Hines to filming a music video there. It also led to Hines and colleagues to donate school supplies to the Despatch Primary School in Reservoir Hills.
“Going to South Africa was really emotional for me,” Hines says. Their educational campaign was inspired by the song. Witnessing people help each other out on a huge scale is something I never dreamed I would be a part of. The whole experience was life-changing when I look back on it.”
Hines has enjoyed many spectacular moments in his career so far. Over the past decade, he has released five CDs, toured throughout Canada and internationally, received the Order of Ontario, and was made a founding artist of The Agency for Extraordinary People. When I asked him what his favourite moment has been, this was his response:
“I don’t look back too much. I can’t isolate anything in particular… everything has been amazing… I never thought I could make it to this level… I feel blessed…”
So, what enables Justin Hines?
“Having a strong support system… I believe that’s the key for people like ourselves striving to find a really good support system. A lot of people haven’t been as fortunate as I have. I say to them, if you didn’t have it yourself, then maybe you can be that person to somebody else, and recognize how important it is to really be there for each other.”
