17 Emerging Leaders Awarded Action Canada 2012 Fellowships

VANCOUVER, Aug. 29, 2012 /CNW/ - After a nationwide call for nominations, Canada's foremost leadership program, Action Canada, has selected 17 emerging Canadian leaders as 2012/2013 Action Canada Fellows — Canada's next generation of leaders.

They have founded charitable organizations at home and abroad; launched new community initiatives; even established a university centre of research in Canada's North. They include a Rhodes scholar from Yellowknife, a senior government advisor in Ottawa, a Montreal arts director, a Vancouver lawyer, an award-winning teacher in St. John's, as well as business leaders, scientists and PhD candidates from across the country.

These promising young Canadians are participating in Action Canada's 11-month leadership development and public policy program.

During the fellowship year, the Fellows attend five working conferences across Canada. They research and develop new public policy projects, and learn from mentors who are current leaders in government, business, academia and non-governmental organizations. They also join the prestigious Action Canada Network of Fellows, which now has 136 members.

Based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Action Canada is a partnership between the private sector and the Government of Canada.

For more information and complete biographies visit www.actioncanada.ca.

Electronic photos available on request.

A complete list of Fellows is below:

2012 Fellows' Bios

Erin Freeland Ballantyne, the first Rhodes Scholar from the Canadian North, is the founder of Dechinta Bush University Centre for Research and Learning in NWT and a steering-committee member of Canada's Three Oceans Northwest Passage research team.

Vasiliki Bednar, who holds a Master of Public Policy, is executive assistant to the director of the University of Toronto's School of Public Policy and Governance, and vice-chair of the board of directors of Meal Exchange.

Félix-Antoine Boudreault, a civil engineer who was listed among Maclean's magazine's 2004 "leaders of tomorrow", is a senior advisor to the Deputy Minister of Environment Canada.

Nicholas Chadi, is a medical resident in pediatrics in Toronto, and a jazz pianist. Chadi is interested in reducing healthcare inequities in Canada and abroad and has founded a sustainable initiative to improve children's health in Peru.

Matt DeCourcey is the communications, outreach and education coordinator for the New Brunswick Child and Youth Advocate, and volunteers as the provincial coordinator of the Canadian Commission for UNESCO's Youth Advisory Group.

Sébastien Després, an award-winning teacher at Memorial University, is completing a PhD in anthropology. His love of teaching extends to instruction in sailing and the arts.

James Haga is the first director of advocacy for Engineers Without Borders Canada, based in Toronto. He has served on the boards of organizations such as ACCESS Kenya and Educo Canada, and served one term as president of Watari, a Vancouver addiction and mental health organization.

Steven Kuhn, a senior economist with the federal Department of Finance, is co-founder of Matthew House Ottawa, a charitable organization that provides shelter and settlement assistance to refugee claimants and impoverished local families.

Alexandra Kuperman, director of operations at Macro Properties in Toronto, is leading an initiative to launch the Centre for Jewish Innovation to encourage social entrepreneurism. She is also the founder of Shoresh, a non-profit environmental organization in Toronto.

Marie-Josée Parent is the general director of Les Territoires, a Montreal art centre dedicated to emerging visual art practices. Passionate about art and culture, she has served as a consultant for the national forum on culture for Quebec's Agenda 21C.

Pauline Ngirumpatse is pursuing a PhD in applied human sciences at the Université de Montreal, and has spent six years with the Transcultural Research and Intervention Team affiliated with McGill Univeristy. She co-founded and manages Human Above All, an organization devoted to genocide prevention.

Ben Paylor, a PhD candidate researching cardiac stem-cell biology at the University of British Columbia, uses filmmaking, animation and writing to promote public interest in, and understanding of, science.

Andrew Pilliar, a lawyer and board chair of Neighbourhood House in Vancouver, is currently completing a Master of Laws degree at the University of British Columbia to further his interest in improving access to civil justice.

Annie Sabourin, a former Fulbright Fellow, holds a master's degree with distinction in international relations and economics from John Hopkins University. She is currently the institutional relations advisor for the rector of Université de Montreal.

Benjamin Scott is with the Department of Education, Culture and Employment in the Government of Northwest Territories and an advocate for maximizing employment training and opportunities in the north.

Vancouver resident Samira Thomas, who is completing a master's degree in city planning at MIT, is the founder of Mightier than the Bullet, a project that creates artistic exchanges between children living in areas affected by conflict and disaster.

Clifton van der Linden is the founder and executive director of Vote Compass, an organization that fosters democratic engagement and electoral literacy. A PhD candidate in political science at the University of Toronto, he is also a Beattie Fellow at the Trudeau Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies.

SOURCE: Action Canada