2022 Minister’s Lifetime Achievement Award and Premier’s Awards

November 29, 2022

The Minister’s Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to the following recipients for their efforts in advancing the college, the community and the Ontario college system.

Minister’s Lifetime Achievement Award Recipients

Anne Sado, former president of George Brown College

During Anne Sado’s 17-year tenure as the first female president of George Brown College, the college more than doubled its enrolment, expanded its programs and significantly increased its physical presence in downtown Toronto. This included the creation of an innovative health sciences centre at the Waterfront campus and the college’s first student residence. Anne also led the planning for Limberlost Place –the first mass timber, low carbon institutional building in Ontario – which will serve as a research and innovation hub to address problems related to climate change. She also set up the Office of Research and Innovation, which was named one of the top 10 Canadian college research institutes four times in the last five years. Anne was appointed a member of the Order of Canada for her work to enhance the role of colleges in the postsecondary education sector.

MaryLynn West-Moynes, former president and CEO of Georgian College

MaryLynn West-Moynes is an exceptional leader who dedicated her 37-year career to postsecondary education in Ontario. Under her leadership, Georgian College opened the first research and commercialization space for business and industry in Simcoe County, launched 37 new programs and signed a partnership agreement with Lakehead University to offer 30 new degree programs that serve more than 6,000 students. MaryLynn also helped to build Georgian’s experience serving Indigenous learners and taking meaningful action toward Truth and Reconciliation. Under her leadership, Indigenous values and curriculum were infused in the college’s programs and in its two-year Indigenous language diploma program, the first of its kind in Ontario.

The 2022 Premier’s Awards for college graduates were presented to the following individuals for excellence in seven categories:

Community Services

Shereen Ashman from Centennial College

Shereen Ashman is not only a survivor of gun violence but also a social entrepreneur and community champion. Over the past 15 years, she has led startup and non-profit organizations that support the socio-economic development of Black communities. Today, Shereen is director of education and programs at the CEE Centre for Young Black Professionals, a Toronto-based non-profit organization, which she co-founded, that works to address the economic and social barriers affecting Black youth. She set up the centre’s career training and development programs for youth, with several participants featured in the Toronto Star and the CBC for their inspiring achievements.

Creative Arts and Design

Murray Brewster from Niagara College

Since obtaining his diploma more than 35 years ago, Murray Brewster has become an award-winning Canadian journalist and foreign correspondent. As the CBC’s parliamentary defence and foreign policy reporter, he handles major news assignments across Canada and around the world. Murray spent 15 months as a war correspondent during Canada’s combat mission in Afghanistan. This year, he was sent to the Baltic region and Ukraine where he reported on the human tragedy of Russia’s invasion and the response by NATO countries. Murray has won many awards for his work, including 11 national radio and television news director awards and the Ross Munro Award for defence writing.

Health Sciences

Mark Cameron from Humber College

In 2011, Mark Cameron partnered with a pediatric specialist to create the Canadian International Medical Relief Organization (CIMRO), a non-governmental organization that provides medical education and relief in disaster zones. Today, as president of CIMRO, he works with a staff of 100 critical care nurses, doctors and educators in Canada as well as administrative staff in Europe and affiliated staff in Syria. Mark has worked in Ukraine to provide lifesaving care to orphaned children and provided vaccinations to more than 1.4 million children in Syria. His humanitarian work has been recognized by the United Nations and the World Health Organization. Mark has also received two Governor General of Canada Medals of Bravery.

Technology

Steve DeRoy from Fleming College

An award-winning Anishinaabe professional and entrepreneur, Steve DeRoy is the director and co-founder of Firelight Group which provides community-based research and technical support to Indigenous Peoples. In 2014, Steve founded the Indigenous mapping collective to help Indigenous Peoples collect, analyze and visualize community-based geospatial information so they can tell their own stories of place and space. Since it was created, the collective has trained more than 2,500 Indigenous community mappers on emerging geospatial tools and has become the largest global Indigenous geospatial network. As a result of Steve’s work, more than 3,000 Indigenous communities in Canada have been added to Google Maps and Google Earth.

Apprenticeship

Jennifer Green from Conestoga College

As the only woman in the Industrial Mechanic Millwright Program during her time at college, and one of only three per cent certified in the field, Jennifer Green is a recognized opinion leader on women in the skilled trades. Today, as director of competitions at Skills Ontario, Jennifer leads Canada’s largest skilled trades competition with 2,400 competitors across 74 contests, 37,000 visitors, 800 volunteers and $11 million in-kind donations. In 2020, Jennifer was appointed chair of a team of apprenticeship youth advisors who were invited to work with Ontario’s Minister of Labour, Training and Skills Development on a provincial strategy to attract youth to the skilled trades.

Business

Jason Rasevych from Confederation College

As a child, Jason Rasevych watched his father affirm Indigenous rights for his home community of Ginoogaming First Nation. Today, Jason continues that work as a partner of national Indigenous client services at Deloitte Canada. In this role, he manages close to $1 billion in accounts for 20 First Nations and provides business advice to more than 230 more. He also spearheaded the Matawa Broadband Project that brought high-speed internet to First Nations in northwestern Ontario. In 2018, Jason was recognized as one of Canada’s top economic developers by securing $250 million in funding for economic development projects for First Nations communities.

Recent Graduate

Erica Williams from Niagara College

Choosing to pursue a college education in the social and community services sector came naturally to Erica Williams who visited many organizations trying to get help for her autistic child. The experience gave her the drive to enter the field and try to help others. Soon after graduating, Erica was hired by a local women’s shelter where she discovered that although many people donated haircare and beauty products to the shelter, few were specifically for Black women. For this reason, she decided to set up Erica’s Embrace Support Services, an organization that collects and distributes Black haircare and beauty products to women’s shelters across southwestern Ontario. Having these products available to women in shelters helps to increase their confidence and quality of life.