The Spring 2020 Journey Magazine is here!

JOURNEY LAKEHEAD ALUMNI MAGAZINE | SPRING 2020

WELCOME TO HOLLYWOOD NORTH A film industry insider gets cameras rolling

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TREK A geography teacher goes north

POLAR BEARS Hunting with a clever carnivore

PLUS Courtney Holmes’s community spirit Student activist Sami Pritchard PPE for frontline workers

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CONTENTS

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ON THE MAP

ADVOCATE AND ACTIVIST

CREATING COMMUNITY

Essential news from Lakehead Orillia and Lakehead Thunder Bay

Sami Pritchard is a young alumna with the Canadian Federation of Students

Meet Courtney Holmes, the student leader transforming Lakehead Orillia

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PPE FOR FRONTLINE WORKERS Lakehead collects PPE for frontline health-care workers fighting the COVID-19 pandemic

08 POLAR BEARS ON THE MOVE These wily predators deploy an ingenious hunting technique

Cert no. XXX-XXX-000

LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION! Alumna Lieann Koivukoski is turning North Bay into a film metropolis

16 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TREK Geography teacher Peter Cameron goes on an Alaskan expedition

GOING TO THE DOGS (AND CATS) Alumni share photos of their furry family members

25 A LOOK BACK Michelle Labadie and Wilma Pidhayny have been BFFs since 1989

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HISTORY HIGHLIGHTS

TURNING POINTS

Did a Cessna plane really crash-land beside Lake Tamblyn?

Alumni milestones and achievements

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SPRING 2020 • Volume 36, Number 1 Lakehead Journey Alumni Magazine is published twice a year by the Communications and Marketing team which is responsible for establishing policy, editorial direction, and content for the magazine. The views expressed or implied do not necessarily reflect those of Lakehead University or the Communications and Marketing team.

Publications Mail Agreement Number 40062450

QTY: 31,630

CONTACT US

Communications, Marketing and Clayton Browne Web Development Director Editor Tracey Skehan Graphic Design Melissa Kastern Telephone: 807-343-8134, Fax: 807-346-7770 Email: editor@lakeheadu.ca CONTRIBUTORS Editor Tracey Skehan, Brandon Walker, Bonnie Schiedel

SEND ADDRESS CHANGES TO

Office of Annual Fund and Alumni Engagement Lakehead University 955 Oliver Rd., Thunder Bay, ON Canada P7B 5E1 Telephone: 1-800-832-8076 Fax: 807-343-8999 Email: alumni@lakeheadu.ca or online alumni.lakeheadu.ca

ALUMNI ASSOCIATION BOARD OF DIRECTORS President and Chair Vice-President Vice-President Treasurer Past President Director Director Director Director Director Director Director Director Director Annual Fund and Alumni Engagement Director

EXTERNAL RELATIONS TEAM

Debra Woods Yolanda Wanakamik Karen Boz Paul Popo-Ola Michel Beaulieu Nancy Angus Michael Michaud Chris DaSilva Linda Henderson Nancy Luckai Chris Vaillant Laara Losier Peter Lau Mike Walton Mark Tilbury

Interim External Relations Vice-President Ann Brandt (Toronto Office) Annual Fund and Mark Tilbury Alumni Engagement Director Government Relations Director Richard Longtin (Toronto Office) Communications, Marketing and Clayton Browne Web Development Director Philanthropy Director Kathryn Davidson External Relations Coordinator Patricia McCluskey Annual Fund and Meghan Hanbury Alumni Engagement Manager Annual Fund and Amanda Gerow Alumni Engagement Associate Annual Fund and Anna Sampson Alumni Engagement Associate Alumni and Philanthropy Assistant Anna Gagliardi Campaign Operations Associate Jennifer Steers Campaign Research Analyst (Toronto Office) Jill Cooper Donor Events Associate Diane Robnik Donor Events Manager Patti Merriman External Relations Associate Jacquie Kent (Lakehead Orillia) External Relations Associate Samantha Carothers (Toronto Office) Gift & Database Administrator Katie Friday Communications and Marketing Associate Tracey Skehan Communications and Marketing Associate Melissa Kastern Media, Communications and Brandon Walker Marketing Associate Media, Communications and Jaclyn Bucik Marketing Associate (Lakehead Orillia) Philanthropy Associate Lee-Anne Camlin Stewardship and Student Aid Associate Tara Monteith TD Insurance Fellow Jenna Kirker Web Development Manager Spencer Ranta Web Developer Justin Michel Web Information Designer Stefan Hoard Web Information Designer Ian McLeod

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Fall 2019 started with the opening of Alumni House during Thunder Bay’s Homecoming Weekend. Alumni House, as Alumni Association Vice-President Yolanda Wanakamik explained, will welcome alumni, donors, and friends to campus.

At the Thunder Bay Homecoming Alumni Awards Dinner, we honoured Ottawa Senators head physician Dr. Donald Chow (BSc’77), nationally recognized hockey coach Dave Siciliano (BA’69), lawyer Rosa Carlino (HBCom’08/MSMgt’10), and Alumni Association Past President Jim Eccles (posthumously).

Honorary memberships were given to Frances Harding, Vince Mirabelli, Paul Weber, Lakehead President Dr. Moira McPherson, and Lakehead Board of Governors Chair Ross Murray.

Many thanks to our affinity partners, TD Insurance and Milburn Universal, for sponsoring student spots at the awards dinner. Our Homecoming celebration at Lakehead Orillia continues to grow. This year we expanded activities and held the opening event in Barrie at the Flying Monkey Brewery.

December 2019 ended with the retirement of External Relations Vice-President Deb Comuzzi. Deb was a fierce advocate for the Alumni Association and advanced our alumni engagement efforts during her eight years at Lakehead. In addition, she established Lakehead’s External Relations function, centralized communications and

Debra Woods, President Alumni Association

 Alumni House ribbon cutting (l-r): Elder Gerry Martin, Ross Murray, Dr. Moira McPherson, Yolanda Wanakamik, Thunder Bay Mayor Bill Mauro, and Deb Comuzzi

marketing, and paved the way for an institutional philanthropic campaign.

We will be forever grateful for her leadership.

In February, Lakehead presented our five-year alumni engagement plan – Lakehead for Life – at the Canadian Council for the Advancement of Education (CCAE) Alumni Leaders Summit. Lakehead also presented at the CCAE Marketing and Communications Summit and has been asked to present several sessions to our fellow CCAE members in the future.

Since launching our mentoring platform, Lakehead Connect (powered by 10,000 Coffees) in September, Lakehead has consistently placed in the top 5% of schools nationally and our funding has been renewed for a second year. If you haven’t joined, we encourage you to do so.

Finally, a huge thank you to everyone who came out to cheer on our varsity teams. Our awardwinning varsity engagement program saw record numbers of Lakehead fans at games across the province.

We had great opportunities to interact with alumni, friends, and parents, and it was great to be acknowledged by the host schools and fellow alumni directors across Ontario.

Mark Tilbury, Director Annual Fund and Alumni Engagement

ON THE MAP Courtroom Stars

 Dr. Lovell-Johnston and Dr. Mastrangelo’s project uses a holistic approach that engages teachers, children, and community members.

Orillia Researchers Three Lakehead Orillia campus researchers have received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). Education professors Dr. Sonia Mastrangelo and Dr. Meridith Lovell-Johnston are receiving $196,268. Their research, conducted in partnership with the Kwayaciiwin Education Resource Centre in Sioux Lookout and the Self Regulation Institute, will use Indigenous research methodologies to develop new knowledge and understanding of self-regulation practices and literacy development.

Self-regulation is a framework for understanding stress and managing tension to cope with the challenges of daily life. This project will investigate whether promoting self-regulation through culturally appropriate techniques such as storytelling will improve well-being, literacy outcomes, and overall school success. Dr. Alana Saulnier is receiving $62,866 to explore the use of body-worn cameras in policing. Dr. Saulnier is a Lakehead Orillia Interdisciplinary Studies professor and the Criminology program coordinator. A team of experts in policing, criminology, science and technology studies, the sociology of work, and technological change is involved in this project.

For the second year in a row, Bora Laskin Faculty of Law students won the Arnup Cup – a provincial trial advocacy competition presided over

by Superior Court justices. Their victory allowed them to advance to Canada’s national trial advocacy competition, the prestigious Sopinka Cup, to represent Ontario. Two law students, Justin Blanco and Justis Danto-Clancy, defended a fictional bar owner charged with causing an indignity to a body and first-degree murder. Their arguments swayed the judges who awarded the students the Sopinka Cup. “Trial advocacy is all about staying nimble and reacting

to what happens right in front of you,” Danto-Clancy said. In addition, several other Lakehead students participated in separate moot trials held during the competition and won awards. Jula Hughes, Dean of the Bora Laskin Faculty of Law, explained, “Key practice competencies like effectively working together in teams, high functioning in stressful contexts, and being able to respond to feedback with creativity and analytical precision are very important for the practice of law. Winning the Sopinka shows that our students have these skills in spades.”

 Lakehead’s winning Sopinka Cup team from left to right: Justin Blanco and Justis Danto-Clancy (front row) and Ashlee Hudie, Kim Young, Coach Marco Frangione, Coach Amanda Gallo, and Tamaira Muldoon-Davidson (back row)

New Leadership Program Georgian College and Lakehead University have launched an innovative leadership program designed to help senior-level professionals and managers become great leaders. The Executive Leadership Program will be facilitated by expert faculty and instructors and delivered in the heart of Simcoe County. Building on real-world experience, the program will focus on personal leadership style and technique, communication skills and emotional intelligence, and tools to drive performance and cultivate highly productive teams.

The program is geared toward directors, senior managers, and business owners from a broad range of private and public sector industries, including corporate, government, manufacturing, and more. Participants should have a minimum of five years of management experience and a team of direct reports.

Visit GeorgianCollege.ca/ executiveleadership for more information or to register for the Executive Leadership Program.

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ON THE MAP

 Hearing Henry Aldrich’s music performed for the first time by the Cathedral Singers of Christ Church was hugely rewarding for Dr. Dean JobinBevans.

17th-century Choral Music If you haven’t heard of Henry Aldrich, the famous 17th-century composer, architect, and Oxford dean, you’re likely not alone. But music professor and Lakehead Orillia Principal Dr. Dean JobinBevans wants to convince you to tune in. Intrigued by Aldrich’s unique approach to choral music, Dr. Jobin-Bevans set out to transcribe pieces from the 300-year-old collection, editing and creating musical scores for contemporary church choirs, instrumentalists, and music scholars. In partnership with the Christ Church Library, Oxford, he spent six years editing and digitizing 20 different scores, updating elements such as time signatures, and adding musical bars and vocal clefs. A CD of the new editions was released in November 2019. The full album, Henry Aldrich: Sacred Choral Music, can be purchased on iTunes or borrowed from the NAXOS Music Library through your local library.

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Career Zone

Community Legal Clinic

The Student Success Centre celebrated the opening of the Career Zone on January 29 with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. The centre was launched to help prepare students for life after university through services including résumé reviews, interview and job-searching skill development, and an alumni mentorship program. Career Zone staff will also organize networking events such as Lakehead’s career fairs, career exploration resources, and a variety of skill-building workshops. “This new space creates a more visible presence of career supports available for students,” said Sarah Lewis, director of the Student Success Centre. “We believe this increased visibility will bring even more students to use our services and will help increase their chances of success when searching for a career.”

Did you know Lakehead has a legal clinic? Community Legal Services is a free legal clinic located in Lakehead’s Faculty of Law building (PACI) at 401 Red River Road in Thunder Bay. Under the direct supervision of lawyers, student caseworkers offer free legal services to low-income residents in Northwestern Ontario communities such as Thunder Bay, Fort William First Nation, Nipigon, Marathon, Schreiber, and the Municipality of Greenstone. They offer assistance on a wide range of matters including minor criminal offences, serious provincial offences, tenant rights, employment law, simple wills and powers of attorney, and small claims court and civil disputes under $35,000. Visit their website www.lakeheadlegal.ca or call 807-346-7815.

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ON THE MAP

Climate Change Education

 Students Mitchell Argue, Laura Siegers, Bonnie Donaghy, and Adam Kok show off their ACHIEVE competition plaques.

ACHIEVE Competition Four business administration students from Lakehead Thunder Bay earned second place at the ACHIEVE conference in February.

Bonnie Donaghy, Mitchell Argue, Adam Kok, and Laura Siegers were on one of 16 teams from across the country who participated in Canada’s premier undergraduate accounting conference. The event was hosted

by Ryerson’s Ted Rogers School of Management in Toronto. The case competition focused on the theme of technology, automation, and

innovation. “It was interesting to learn from industry leaders about AI and innovation in accounting,” Argue said. “It really got us thinking about what we can do as accountants to remain relevant amidst so many changes to the industry.”

Lakehead’s team received a plaque and a $1,000 prize at the two-day conference, which also included guest speakers and networking events. The Lakehead University accounting team won the ACHIEVE case competition in 2018.

A study led by Lakehead researchers, in collaboration with Learning for a Sustainable Future, has revealed that Canadians are deeply concerned about climate change, yet only half feel they know enough about the issue.

The nationwide study, Canada, Climate Change and Education: Opportunities for Public and Formal Education, paints a broad picture of Canadians’ understanding of climate change and their desire for more education about the issue, both inside and outside of schools. Schools and curricula, the study revealed, are falling short of Canadians’ expectations for learning about climate change. “Canadians are telling us that how we respond to climate change needs to change,” said Dr. Ellen Field, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) postdoctoral fellow in the Faculty of Education at Lakehead Orillia and principal investigator of the study.

Fighting Cancer Sasha Bubon, a research physicist and postdoctoral fellow with Lakehead University and the Thunder Bay Regional Health Research Institute, received a 2019 Mitacs Award and NRC-IRAP Award for Commercialization for his work on a low-dose radiation breast imaging device. The technology is being developed and tested by Radialis Medical, a joint venture co-founded by Bubon and Lakehead Professor Dr. Alla Reznik.

Clinical trials were conducted at the Princess Margaret Hospital in

Toronto. Their device is an exciting innovation in the fight against breast cancer because it is capable of detecting cancerous tumours in their earliest stages, even in women with dense breast tissue. Mitacs is a national, not-for-profit organization that designs and delivers research and training programs in Canada.

Working with 70 universities, 6,000 companies, and both federal and provincial governments, Mitacs builds partnerships that support industrial and social innovation in Canada.

 “Students, parents, and teachers agreed that schools should be doing more to educate young people about climate change and that climate change education is the responsibility of the school system,” said Dr. Ellen Field.

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is going online We are creating a Journey magazine website to give our readers a more immersive experience.

The website will allow alumni to submit news about their milestones and accomplishments, update their addresses, access videos, view past magazine issues, and share Journey articles on social media.

UNCH A L E UT TH 2020.

O B A S F ETAIL HE FALL O D E R R MO BSITE IN T O F D WE TUNE STAY F OUR NEW O

Collecting PPE for Frontline Health-care Workers

by Brandon Walker

Lakehead University and the Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) have collected hundreds of boxes of personal protective equipment (PPE) for health-care providers in Thunder Bay, Northern Ontario, and Orillia – to help alleviate a shortage caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The collection began when researchers started asking Anne Klymenko, Lakehead’s Office of Research Services director, where they could drop off PPE for the hospital. So with the help of Research Services volunteers, Klymenko began coordinating a collection drive.

She worked with Phillip Thompson, the regional manager of distribution and data management with the Procurement Department at the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre, St. Joseph’s Hospital, and the Northern Supply Chain.

“We were able to collect over 820 N95 masks that are in extremely short supply right now,” she said.

“We also received more than 1,750 surgical, procedural masks and disposable face shields, 325 disposable gowns, and sanitizer.”

In addition to NOSM, donations were received from all over campus – including the Faculty of Natural Resources Management, the Faculty of Science and Environmental Studies, and the Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences.  Phil Thompson, the material distribution manager, and Jennifer Svane, material distribution coordinator, with TBRHSC/ St. Joseph's Care Group picked up donations from the CASES building.

 Lakehead Orillia Principal Dr. Dean Jobin-Bevans and Research & Strategic Initiatives Facilitator Rebecca Heffernan accepted more than 4,000 pairs of gloves that went to the Orillia Soldiers' Memorial Hospital.

All items will go to the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre and St. Joseph’s Care Group.

“We are very grateful to our partners at Lakehead University and NOSM for coming together and collecting donations,” said Dr. Stewart Kennedy, incident manager for Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre's COVID-19 response. “Their efforts will save lives and allow our health-care professionals to focus on providing safe, quality care.”

Donations can also be made to the Northern Ontario PPE for HCP campaign.

“The #PPEforHCPs is rising to the challenge of sourcing personal protective equipment from over 28 communities and counting,” said Alannah MacLean, a second-year NOSM medical student in Thunder Bay. The school faces the extreme challenge of having a campus that encompasses the entirety of Northern Ontario—over 800,000 km².

“The hard work and advocacy I’m witnessing from our medical students is creating such terrific momentum,” said NOSM Dean,

President and CEO Dr. Sarita Verma.

If any businesses or individuals in Northern Ontario would like to make a financial contribution or donate PPE, please reach out to NOSM students at northernontarioppeforhcp @gmail.com.

In Orillia, Rebecca Heffernan, Research & Strategic Initiatives Facilitator, collected around 4,000 pairs of gloves from Sustainability Sciences for the Orillia Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital.

“It was definitely nice to see everyone pulling together to help our community during such trying times,” Heffernan said. “Having donated to the hospital directly will ensure that we are putting the much-needed PPE into the hands of our frontline health-care workers.”

Sustainability Sciences Chair Dr. Sree Kurissery is hopeful that life will return to normal. “I hope the world finds peace soon and humanity wins the battle against this disease. Everyone, stay safe and healthy.”

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The polar bears who lazily hunt seals

by Brandon Walker

In Black Tickle, Labrador, polar bears passively float by on sheets of ice as they hunt seals.

When their ice “boats” – known as floes – melt, the polar bears travel north through Labrador’s coastal communities, including Comfort Bight, Domino, and Batteau, until they reach Baffin Bay where they hop aboard another ice floe and begin their leisurely hunting trips again.

This is one of many interesting facts that Professor Martha Dowsley has learned during her visits to Black Tickle, where she has collected and popularized Inuit knowledge of NunatuKavut territory pertaining to polar bears. This research will help Dr. Dowsley and other scientists understand many aspects of polar bears, such as changes in their habitat, food sources, and population trends.

As an associate professor in Anthropology and Geography and the Environment, Dr. Dowsley has examined archival history relating to polar bears and interviewed Indigenous knowledge holders from Black Tickle, which Dr. Dowsley describes as a “sparsely populated, remote area of Canada that has an incredible history and lifestyle.”

“Black Tickle is a tiny community that was once a key hub for commercial fishing – its Indigenous occupation goes back centuries.

It’s right on the ocean and is

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visited by polar bears each year in late winter, early spring, and occasionally in summer.”

Dr. Dowsley was surprised by the tenacity of the people, who she describes as a tight-knit social group that engages in subsistence harvesting activities such as fishing, hunting, berry picking, and trapping.

“The community is on an island with no fresh water except melt water,” she says. “The next closest settlement is 90 km away by boat or snowmobile. There is no all-yearroad connection, no bridge to the mainland, and no running water.

Wood for home heating is only accessible by snowmobile in winter.

“As the commercial fishery developed, Black Tickle became an extremely important area. Fishers from the island of Newfoundland and coastal Quebec congregated at Black Tickle for the summer and fall and processed their catch at a fish plant in the community.”

As services slowly developed at this summer spot, the government and church authorities encouraged the Inuit residents to stay there year-round, putting people in the path of polar bears moving north.

Dr. Dowsley began studying human interactions with polar bears while working on her PhD at McGill University in 2003.

“My primary focus is on how Indigenous cultures understand their natural environments and animals like polar bears.”

Dr. Dowsley has not come face to face with a polar bear yet – and she says she is okay with that considering they are one of the only animals that hunt humans.

“Polar bears also have so much in common with humans. Inuit myths tell us that humans learned much from polar bears, including how to stalk seals on the sea ice, how to wait at the seals’ breathing holes to catch them, and how to build a shelter in the snow.”

 Dr. Dowsley arrives in Black Tickle with Jordan York, a Lakehead Master of Environmental Studies student. “The cod moratorium of 1992 had a devastating effect on coastal communities in Atlantic Canada – with many fishing villages disappearing,” Dr. Dowsley says. (Photo courtesy of Patricia Nash)

Sami Pritchard finds her voice

by Tracey Skehan

Alumna Sami Pritchard (HBASc’17) is constantly in motion.

“Growing up, I was very involved in sports, in particular, synchronized skating and soccer. Sports took a lot of discipline and training, so from a young age, I learned the importance of scheduling my time.”

The skills she learned as an athlete have been invaluable in her role as a national executive representative with the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS). CFS advocates for college and university students at the provincial and national levels, with the goal of making quality postsecondary education accessible to all.

After high school, Sami worked and travelled to raise money for her education. “I taught English in Ecuador for several months. It was there that I realized I wanted to work with people and help shape their dreams.”

Despite her resolve, Sami didn’t foresee a career in the postsecondary sphere. She was the first person in her family to attend university and she was nervous about how she would do.

“When I first came to Lakehead Orillia, I was very hesitant to get involved. I was slightly older than the other students and I felt out of place. But the campus had a strong sense of community and soon I was playing on the women’s soccer

“My core belief is that education is a right and that education will better all of us in some way, shape, or form,” Sami says. team and president of the residence council." She also became a member of the Lakehead University Student Alumni Association and served on the Lakehead University Student Union (LUSU) for four years, eventually becoming the Orillia vice-president. As a student representative, Sami had a special focus on mental health.

“I spoke at conferences about students’ experiences with mental health and the need to create services that are diverse, unique, and equitable for all. My passion for this work stems from my experiences working with students and getting to learn from them.”

Sami took interdisciplinary studies at Lakehead, specializing in geography and psychology and minoring in media studies. Her fields of study deepened her commitment to improving mental health.

“In my first year, I was working with my media studies peers to make documentaries about social injustice.” One of her films delved into the history of the Huronia Regional Centre in Orillia (previously referred to as an insane asylum) and she interviewed former residents of the centre.

“Getting to talk to people who actually lived there when it was a very unjust and unsafe place was a powerful experience.”

Sami’s academic studies and her many campus activities became a springboard to new opportunities.

“I attended Canadian Federation of Students’ conferences as a LUSU provincial and national delegate,” she says. Sami became a member at large of the CFS provincial executive before being chosen as the provincial treasurer and then as a national executive representative.

Although Sami excelled at tackling serious issues, she was equally good at taking a lighthearted approach to campus life. She was an enthusiastic promoter of the “O-Cup” (short for Orientation Cup) games while volunteering as an orientation leader for new students.

She also encouraged students, parents, and the Orillia community to come out to Lakehead athletic events.

“I remember having my face painted half blue and half yellow and wearing a big jersey and high blue socks and screaming cheers at the top of my lungs. It was awesome to hear the whole arena shouting back.”

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2018-19 Impact Report Each year alumni and friends of Lakehead University support the Lakehead Annual Fund.

The Annual Fund and Alumni Engagement Team leads an extensive consultation process with colleagues in areas such as Student Affairs, Lakehead International, Aboriginal Initiatives, Athletics, and others. Together, proposals are reviewed and decisions made so that your donations have the greatest impact.

ď ° Thank you for providing support to students with hidden barriers and purchasing wheelchair accessible outdoor tables.

Thank you for establishing new Ontario Graduate Scholarships and an International Student Emergency Bursary.

The generosity of our donors enables Lakehead University students to achieve their goals.

Thank you for believing in our students. ď ° Thank you for creating a new Varsity Athlete Scholarship and committing to the Wolf Den athletic expansion.

HOMECOMING

October 1 - October 3, 2020 LAKEHEAD THUNDER BAY

lakeheadu.ca/homecoming

October 23 - October 24, 2020 LAKEHEAD ORILLIA

HONOURS

 Front row (left to right): Anne-Louise, Dawn, and Barbara Eccles (family of Jim Eccles), AALU President Debra Woods, Lakehead President and Vice-Chancellor Dr. Moira McPherson, Dave Siciliano, Frances Harding; back row (left to right): Jennifer Eccles, Rosa Carlino, Dr. Don Chow, Vince Mirabelli, and Lakehead Board of Governors’ Chair Ross Murray

DR. DONALD (DON) CHOW (BSc’77)

DAVE SICILIANO (BA’69)

Alumni Honour Award

Alumni Honour Award

Ottawa Senators’ head physician Don Chow has been with the hockey team since their 1992 NHL debut. He earned a Bachelor of Science from Lakehead before studying medicine. He specializes in orthopaedics, trauma, and spinal surgery.

Dave Siciliano was a player/coach with the 1975 Allan Cup Champion Thunder Bay Twins hockey team and a junior coach in Canada, the US, and Italy. In 2006, he received a Stanley Cup ring for his work with the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes.

ROSA CARLINO (HBCom'08/MSMgt'10)

FRANCES HARDING

Outstanding Young Alumni Award

Honorary Membership

After completing her Honours Bachelor of Commerce and Master of Science in Management at Lakehead, Rosa studied law at the University of Windsor and joined a Thunder Bay law firm. She’s also a very active community volunteer.

Frances joined Lakehead’s Office of Continuing Education in 1989 and then Alumni Relations where she oversaw the alumni magazine. She was a dedicated advocate for Lakehead and before retiring in 2015, she led a major university rebranding initiative.

VINCE MIRABELLI

CHARLES JAMES (JIM) ECCLES

Honorary Membership

(BA’70) Alumni Legacy Award

Community champion Vince Mirabelli has forged a lasting relationship with Lakehead, donating to the Faculty of Law campaign, the Piano Project, student scholarships, and the Centre for Advanced Studies in Engineering and Sciences.

This year’s recipient (posthumous) is Jim Eccles who graduated with a BA in History in 1970 as a mature student. He went on to serve on the Alumni Association, including as board president. Jim was pivotal in establishing the Alumni Office.

LIGHTS, CAMERA,

by Bonnie Schiedel

“I love watching a film or a TV series come together,” says Lieann Koivukoski (BA’95), a film industry veteran in North Bay, Ontario.

LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION!

Action!

“You see it go from a paper timeline on a wall to seeing it on the screen. I like how it can be very complicated, but no matter what happens, you still need to make it work. It’s never boring. And you get to meet very creative people from all over the world.”

As a production coordinator, producer, “fixer,” and postproduction studio owner, Lieann has spent the last 15-plus years in Northern Ontario juggling complicated big and small details (she compares them to ping pong balls). Along the way, she’s played a key role in developing the film industry in the north.

As a kid growing up in Thunder Bay in the 70s and 80s, Lieann had zero plans for working in TV and movies. “This career was a very big surprise,” she says. When she decided to get her Bachelor of Arts in English from Lakehead University, she was picturing a life as a writer, filled with the literature and poetry

Inside the world of Lieann Koivukoski

she loves. Dr. Kim Fedderson’s English classes still stand out to her. “Those were some of the most engaging and entertaining classes.

He encouraged us to keep a daily diary about the literature we were reading, and I still have a daily notebook for keeping everything organized and to reflect on what I’m doing.”

The written skills she honed at Lakehead are a big part of her professional life today. “Being able to communicate through writing is the number one priority in the job that I do now, whether it’s as a production coordinator, manager, or producer,” she says. Communication, she adds, is how you develop ideas with other people and keep a production going smoothly.

There was, perhaps, one hint of her future in film during Lieann’s time at Lakehead: “My friend Fyonna Vanderwerf and I founded a student group called PUS, which stands for the Python Underground Society,” she laughs. “Basically we got together in residence and watched Monty Python movies. I think we had 800 members.”

When Lieann and her husband Toivo moved to North Bay (he’s an associate professor of political science), she started working at the W.K.P. Kennedy Gallery, which was interested in starting a mobile media

 Lieann lending a hand as a grip during the filming of the documentary "Five Bucks at the Door: The Story of Crocks N Rolls."

centre. “Within two years we had an up-and-running, not-for-profit organization for teaching kids how to do things like video production and sound production and use software,” says Lieann, who was Near North Mobile Media Lab’s first director. Today, the Lab offers film equipment rentals, holds screenings and events, runs workshops, and helps to create a northern film community. It also has a 16-foot RV outfitted with editing suites and production equipment, to take the tools of the trade to people in the north who might not have access.

“I think it gives a reflection of what’s happening in these communities that may not otherwise be recorded.

 Lieann often finds herself in unusual situations on film sets, but dealing with camels in North Bay was definitely one of the strangest. She was the production manager for the 2016 biblical feature "Joseph and Mary," starring actor Kevin Sorbo, which was shot in November at North Bay’s Bomark Missile Site.

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LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION!

lot of folks to North Bay to film and really helps us grow the film and television industry. We probably have 8 to 10 productions a year that shoot here now. It’s a huge industry here and a lot of the people who are employed are local.”

 Amazing Race Canada producer Guy Clarkson, associate producer Shannon Fewster, and Lieann scouting Ouimet Canyon outside of Thunder Bay for The Amazing Race. The location didn’t end up being chosen, but they fell in love with the space.

It’s really important that artists in these communities have some support. These are very creative people, and maybe they just need to learn a thing or two about the technology and then they can make their dreams happen.”

In 2008, a couple years after the Lab opened its doors, Lieann got a call from city hall—the producers of "Oliver Sherman" were filming the post-war drama in North Bay and needed help finding locations and crew members. That’s how she unexpectedly landed her first film job as a production coordinator. As the film industry in the north began to grow, so did the job opportunities, and Lieann added “producer” to her CV, consulting with other producers on various films and series and having a creative influence. Some of her more memorable projects include "Two Lovers and a Bear," which shot in Timmins, Nunavut, and just outside of Ottawa (where she watched the special effects crew blowing up a set in the parking lot of the Diefenbunker Museum), "A Little Bit Zombie" (Lieann’s first bit part—acting out a drunken walk up a staircase), and 2019’s The Amazing Race Canada 7 (where the competitors had to operate a drone in a challenge created

by Lakehead’s Faculty of Natural Resources Management).

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Shining a light on northern culture has also been part of Lieann’s work.

Visual inspiration is often such an important part of filming, she says, and Northern Ontario certainly has some jaw-dropping natural beauty.

“I worked on "Angelique’s Isle" a couple years ago on Lake Superior and you just can’t see that scenery anywhere else. That great vast lake can be terrifying, but it can also be beautiful,” she says. “The north needs more exposure and the people who live here need to have the opportunity to contribute to that creative industry.” Similarly, she was an associate producer on the justreleased documentary "Five Bucks at the Door: The Story of Crocks N Rolls," a tribute to the Thunder Bay venue that hosted so many indie singers and bands on their crosscountry tours.

“The film industry and the television industry in North Bay wouldn’t be where it’s at today if it wasn’t for Lieann,” says Holly Cunningham, the current director of Near North Mobile Media Lab. “She was the liaison between city departments— you know, closing down roads, finding locations—and she also became connected to film industry folks in Toronto and Los Angeles in a very short period of time. Those connections really helped bring a

Lieann’s communication skills are part of her success, Holly explains.

“Lieann is so well-connected within the community. She understands who’s doing what and where people’s talents lie, and she helps bring all that together and makes things happen. She just has a knack for talking to people, making people feel comfortable, and convincing them to do stuff—but in a good way.”

Nicholas Palinka, the production manager for Thunder Bay’s Magnus Theatre, who has worked with Lieann on several films and series, agrees that Lieann’s personality is a big asset in the pressure cooker of a production.

“She has such a positive energy, even when things get tough. People are coordinating spending all this money in such a short period of time, making sure that everything

 Lieann jokes around with Welsh actor John Rhys-Davies on the set of “Peter: The Redemption” shot in North Bay. Rhys-Davies starred as Sallah in the Indiana Jones films and voiced the character of Treebeard in the Lord of the Rings movies.

LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION!

 Lieann with famed Canadian actor Gordon Pinsent on the set of the documentary “River of My Dreams,” directed by Brigitte Berman. Portions of the film, which celebrates Gordon’s storytelling abilities, were shot in North Bay.

is purchased for the show, and making sure hotel rooms are ready, and dealing with immigration for [non-Canadian] actors, and she’s just always keeping it upbeat,” he says. “As soon as you see Lieann with this bright smile on her face, you know that she’s there with you and you can get the support you need from her, because together you can persevere.”

Keeping people and productions from dialing up the stress is one of the biggest things that Lieann has learned in her career. “This is a creative industry and it can be an emotional industry. You always try to keep an even keel. If someone needs to ‘express themselves,’ that’s absolutely OK. And then when it’s done, you address it in a very calm way.” Another career insight: “Ask the questions that you need to ask. Don’t be shy. You can give your opinion without hurting anyone’s feelings, but also get the information that you need so you can do your job.”

About seven years ago, Lieann saw a need in the industry and, partnering with Dan Peel of Urban Post Production and Theatre D in Toronto, started her own North

Bay post-production company, Post Production North Inc. This means that dailies (film shot each day) can be accessed the next day by the production’s film editors. A service called “additional dialogue recording” is another bonus for productions shooting in the area.

If an actor has, say, a muffled line or there’s unexpected background noise in a shot, they need to come into a studio to re-record that line.

It’s a lot easier and more costeffective to have an actor come into her studio while still on the shoot, rather than trying to coordinate a studio session in L.A., Toronto, or New York weeks or months later.

Another new service that Lieann is excited about is “descriptive video recording,” or DVR. In 2019, the CRTC changed its guidelines to mandate that any show that airs in primetime must have an audio description of what’s going on in a scene between dialogue (for example, someone narrates “waves crash on the beach” so that visually-impaired viewers know what’s happening in the story). “This process used to take up to four days for a 22-minute piece. We’ve been working on some software that has shortened that process to about four hours,” she says, adding that she’s looking forward to hiring more staff.

Lieann’s Work A Select Videography The Amazing Race Canada 7 (Locations Facilitator) Five Bucks at the Door (Associate Producer) Angelique’s Isle (Production Coordinator) Hard Rock Medical (Associate Producer & Production Manager) Two Lovers and a Bear (Assistant Production Coordinator) A Little Bit Zombie (Production Coordinator) Joseph and Mary (Production Manager) The Apostle Peter: Redemption (Production Manager) Country Crush (Production Coordinator) She Never Died (Line Producer) Extracurricular (Executive Producer) Oliver Sherman (Production Coordinator) I’m Yours (Production Coordinator)

What’s the best part about being in the film business and running your own company? “I like to think that I’m able to give people opportunities and start their career in this industry. I’ve watched so many move forward, from being a student to being a cameraperson or running their own company, creating their own movies, and being their own producers,” Lieann says. “To me that is really exciting!”

Lieann in the RFP Media Productions Studio. They are Lieann’s partners for the narration and automated dialogue replacement work they do.



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Adventures in Alaska with National Geographic

by Tracey Skehan

“When I graduated from Lakehead’s Faculty of Education in 1994, I never dreamed I’d be able to go on an incredible two-week expedition with National Geographic through the Inside Passage,” says alumnus Peter Cameron.

When Peter was notified in February 2019, that he would be one of 45 National Geographic Grosvenor Teacher Fellows, he was stunned, but ready to take on the challenge.

The program – hosted by Lindblad Expeditions and National Geographic – brings educators to remote regions of the planet so that they can then bring their experiences back to their schools.

Peter is a Grade 5/6 teacher at St. Elizabeth’s School in Thunder Bay whose innovative teaching methods have been attracting attention. He is the co-founder of M.A.D. PD, or Make a Difference Professional Development,

which brings together educators from around the world to share one idea that made a difference in their classroom. In 2018, Peter’s students, as well as students from other schools, became Junior Water Walkers to raise awareness about the importance of freshwater. In addition, he’s collaborated with Google Earth to make his curriculum more interactive.

 “Alaska has wonderfully abundant fauna,” Peter says. “Otters and sea lions became familiar friends. There were about 50 sea lions in this group and they were very aggressive with one another. It seemed like the biggest male was always sitting on the highest part of the rock. They mostly slept and ate – they are phenomenal fishermen.”

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ADVENTURES IN ALASKA

 Peter’s expedition aboard Lindblad’s Quest ship was one of the longest ones offered by National Geographic. “Although my students and family couldn’t travel with me physically, I brought them along with me virtually to experience Alaska on every step of my journey, sometimes even in real time. I wanted them to be aware that the kind of experience I had is not out of reach for them. I wanted to establish an explorer’s mindset.”

 The Quest departed from Seattle, Washington, and sailed along the coastlines and islands of British Columbia and Alaska. “I was the only Canadian on board,” Peter says, “and I tried to provide a Canadian perspective. I also had the guests help teach my students, who were following me on Google Earth. One of the trip highlights was a talk given by a chief from Alert Bay, British Columbia. His father was a residential school survivor and he was raised by his grandfather.”

 Twelve Lindblad-National Geographic photographers, videographers, naturalists, and teacher fellows were on the ship, as well as 70 paying passengers. “We had a dual role,” Peter explains. “We helped the naturalists with their work, but our primary responsibility was to be engaged learners.” National Geographic specialists ran daily workshops for the teacher fellows and Peter was asked to lead a workshop on technology in the classroom.

 Whenever the Quest anchored, Peter would go hiking on the Alaskan mainland. “We’d be up at 6:30 am to walk with renowned photographer Flip Nicklin, who would give us photography tips. Flip was also the first person to ever record whale songs.” The region of Alaska Peter visited is the home of the Tlingit. “Indigenous People have so much knowledge to share and we need to listen carefully. They can help us turn the tide in terms of where we’re going with the environment. That was my biggest takeaway from the expedition.”

 For Peter, the most impressive natural sight was the massive Tracy Arm Glacier – located 45 miles south of Juneau, Alaska.

“We were allowed to take the Zodiac boat and navigate as close as was safely possible. The fjord walls are narrow and craggy, with steep rock faces and multiple waterfalls. While we were there, a chunk of glacier broke off (called calving).

It was a powerful and beautiful experience, but also sad and distressing.”

 As the ship entered the Glacier National Park in Alaska, the passengers and scientists were thrilled to see a mountain goat.

“It was gazing at two grizzly cubs bounding down the hill in the far distance,” Peter says. “Because mountain goats are able to climb so high, they are revered in Indigenous culture as close to the spirit.”

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2019-20 Women and Men’s Curling Teams Front row (L-R): Samantha Morris (coach), Alyssa Rice (lead), Emily Rea (lead), Aynsley Williams (second), Tiana Gaudry (skip) Missing from the women’s team is Erin Tomalty (third), a 2018 CIS Silver medalist.

Back row (L-R): Kurtis Byrd (coach), Josh Fiegehen (lead), Felix LaSalle (second), Evan Chisamore-Johnston (skip), Adam Walker (third)

Thunderwolves Curling Team Dick became the curling coach in 2009 and his mastery of the sport has made him a local legend. He was inducted into the Northwestern Ontario Sports Hall of Fame for his contributions to curling and he helped organize the curling events for the 2020 Special Olympics Canada Winter Games held in Thunder Bay.

 Lakehead curler Collin Harding demonstrates proper sweeping technique during one of the men’s team practice sessions.

Lakehead’s curlers have wrapped up another strong season.

This is the first year that the men’s team made it to the Ontario University Athletics championship playoffs while the women’s team lost in a tiebreaker for the championship round. In the two previous years, the women secured playoff spots.

“It’s really wonderful being able to work with student athletes,” says their coach, Dick Henderson, who is also a Lakehead alumnus (BPHE’73/ BEd’74/MEd’86).

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“Curling is in my blood,” he says.

“I competed in my first curling spiel in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in 1959 on an outdoor rink. We used cement-filled jam pails with a handle attached for rocks.”

He is very proud of the dedication of the young people on Lakehead’s

curling teams and the fact that they represent areas from across the province. The hometowns of this year’s curlers ranged from Nestor Falls, Rainy River, and Sioux Lookout to Timmins, Thunder Bay, and Caledon.

Dick is doing everything he can to encourage more Northwestern Ontarians to take up the sport of curling, including offering free lessons to both individuals and groups.

Where does his passion for this very Canadian pastime come from?

“I love that it’s a participatory sport,” he says. “You can do it for a lifetime.

I curl at the Port Arthur Curling Club with the old timers.”

 Aynsley Williams, from Rainy River, throws the rock with focus and precision. “The key when you release the rock is to be in a balanced position so that you get a balanced slide,” explains Coach Dick Henderson.

Varsity and Chapter Events

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A Northwestern Ontario Touchstone The Art of Ruth Tye McKenzie Ruth Tye McKenzie had a milestone year in 2019 – she celebrated her 90th birthday and generously donated her collection of over 470 artworks to Lakehead University. Every single piece was created by Ruth herself.

“I’ve always liked doing landscapes and portrait work,” she says.

“I made abstracts, too, called Tapescapes, by putting old typewriter ribbons through the press to squeeze out the ink in interesting patterns and then add some colour.”

Lakehead is honoured to receive this collection of watercolour and acrylic paintings, etchings, drawings, and silkscreen prints.

Ruth is one of Northwestern Ontario’s most recognizable artists and the winner of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the City of Thunder Bay’s Arts & Heritage group.

The collection also has several of Ruth’s well-known Nudescapes.

This is a series of paintings featuring human figures hidden within the familiar rocks, trees, and rivers of Northwestern Ontario.

“Every Saturday, I used to meet a group of like-minded artists at Lakehead University and draw nudes,” Ruth explains. “I was doing landscape scenes at the same time. So I thought, ‘Why not put the nudes in the landscape?’”

Ruth has been an influential member of Thunder Bay’s art scene since arriving in the city in 1976. But long before then, Ruth felt the pull of art. She took her first painting lessons towards the end of the Great Depression in her

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hometown of Edmonton. When she was only 15, Ruth won a summer scholarship to the Banff School of Fine Arts. This allowed her to learn from some of the best artists in Canada, including A.Y. Jackson – one of the Group of Seven painters.

“A.Y. would sit down beside you and talk,” Ruth recalls. “He let you do what you wanted to do, but you talked about it with him beforehand.” Often the students would take day expeditions to find subjects to paint.

“We used to go to Canmore to paint dilapidated old houses. In those days, it was an abandoned coal mining town,” she says.

Since then, Ruth has had many more adventures. She graduated from Toronto’s Ontario College of Art in 1952 with first class honours, raised three children, and found outlets for her creativity wherever she could.

While living in Dundas, Ontario, Ruth would pack up her sketchbook and head over to church teas. “I would set up my easel and do charcoal drawings of children for $5.00 apiece. A lot of little kids came with their mothers.

It was quick and it was a lot of fun.”

 Self-Portrait (watercolour) Ruth painted this self-portrait when she was a 20-year-old student at the Ontario College of Art. “When I started as a painter, I mostly worked in watercolours,” she says. “I liked the feeling of the flowing colour.”

She’s never been afraid to embark on new undertakings. Ruth opened and ran Thunder Bay’s Painted Turtle Art Shop for 30 years, was a founding member of Artists North of Superior, and joined the Port Arthur Puppeteers with the Canadian artist Susan Ross and writer Sheila Burnford (author of The Incredible Journey). Ruth has even gone hang gliding with her son Rob. Ruth has always encouraged connections between the arts, cultural engagement, and education, and her collection will help make this relationship stronger.

Her artwork will be presented, displayed, and appreciated by all Northwestern Ontarians. And to aspiring artists and Lakehead visual arts students, Ruth offers a little advice. “Just keep going and try new things – and don’t give two hoots about how papers and laundry pile up.”

 Ruth Tye McKenzie (third from left in blue jacket) with the collection of art she has donated to Lakehead University.

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EXCEPTIONAL. UNCONVENTIONAL.

EXCEPTIONAL. UNCONVENTIONAL.

History Highlights Crash Landing on Campus As twilight descended, the drone of a plane engine grew louder.

It was March 25, 1991, when students on the Thunder Bay campus looked skyward and saw a small Cessna 152 sputter and nosedive towards the ground.

The two-seater aircraft flipped over and landed upside down beside Lake Tamblyn.

The astonished students watched as two people crawled out of the cabin. The pilot, 22-year-old Louise Pontefract, and her passenger, 23-year-old David Yee, were uninjured.

According to the April 7, 1991, edition of the Chronicle-Journal newspaper, they were aviation students from the Sault College

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of Applied Arts and Technology who were attempting a roundtrip flight between Sault Ste. Marie and Thunder Bay. Pontefract’s assignment was to land the Cessna at the Thunder Bay International Airport. Yee was charged with flying the plane back to Sault Ste. Marie a few hours later.

Things were going smoothly until the plane approached Thunder Bay. “The pilot had radioed the Thunder Bay airport control tower for final landing clearance when she reported engine problems and advised the tower she’d have to make an emergency landing,” explained Chronicle-Journal reporter Darcey Chernysh in her article.

Lakehead’s faculty and staff newsletter, The Agora, also covered the story, noting that the University’s president, Dr. Bob Rosehart, happened to be teaching a class that night. A security officer pulled him aside and explained the situation. The president made his way to the crash site where the

plane lay like an upturned beetle.

He was amazed that no one was hurt and by the pilot’s laidback attitude. “I guess my mark in this course is history!” Pontefract joked.

So why did the plane make its stomach-churning descent? “’There was nothing mechanically wrong with the Cessna 152 that made an emergency landing at Lakehead University here late last month,’ said an investigator with the National Transport Accident Investigation Safety Board,” interviewed by the ChronicleJournal.

The investigators thought the most likely cause of the accident was that the aircraft ran out of fuel, but thanks to Pontefract’s cool head, she and her fellow aviation student walked away without a scratch.

Thank you to Annual Fund and Alumni Engagement Manager Meghan Hanbury for suggesting this story and University Archivist Sara Janes for locating background material.

Courtney Holmes brings students together

by Tracey Skehan

“I’ve always had a fascination with crime and what motivates people to commit crimes,” says Courtney Holmes, who grew up in the close-knit farming community of Mono, Ontario.

Courtney is now a fourth-year criminology student at Lakehead Orillia who hopes to enter the parole and probation field after graduation.

“Through the courses I’ve taken, I’ve become passionate about reintegrating offenders into society and restorative justice,” she explains.

She believes that inadequate access to resources and programs and a lack of support in the community can set ex-offenders up to fail and make them feel isolated and shunned.

“I want to help them reintegrate into society by bridging the gap,” she says, “it’s where I see myself making the biggest change in a person’s life.”

Right now, Courtney is providing support to her fellow students. “I’ve been involved in the Lakehead University Student Alumni Association (LUSAA) since my first

year at Lakehead and I’ve been the president since last year.”

LUSAA encourages students at Lakehead Orillia to become more engaged alumni and raises awareness of the benefits of being an alum (any student who completes five full credits is considered a Lakehead alum).

“The transition from home to university can be hard,” Courtney says, “and LUSAA helped me get my feet on the ground. I made a lot of friends and connections that will last me long after Lakehead.”

One of LUSAA’s greatest strengths is its ability to make students feel appreciated. It now hosts over 20 events a year – ranging from an annual send-off for graduating concurrent education students to an information fair for students in the Lakehead University-Georgian College Partnership (LUGC). “This year, attendance was over eight times higher than our initial turnout,” Courtney says.

LUSAA is also building links beyond the campus. “I’m really proud of our annual community outreach event.

 Courtney (third from the left) at the Lakehead Night with the Barrie Colts – an event organized by the Lakehead University Student Alumni Association.

At our last one, we partnered with Big Brothers Big Sisters and went to a local public school where we did winter crafts, played games, and gave out prizes to the kids.” A photo booth, pizza, and popcorn made the day even more special.

LUSAA made another big impression during the City of Orillia’s 2019 Santa Claus Parade. Behind LUSAA’s float, featuring a house with a white picket fence, a Lakehead street hockey team invited youngsters along the parade route to take a turn playing a game with them. This creative approach prompted the parade committee to give Courtney and her team the award for best float.

Courtney’s dedication also earned her a Lakehead Luminary Award from the Student Success Centre.

Luminaries are defined as engaged contributors – both on campus and within their communities – who recognize and celebrate diversity and inclusivity and demonstrate academic excellence.

In her nomination form, it was noted that: “Under Courtney’s leadership, LUSAA has become such a fixture on campus that they get requests from other departments to be part of their events, including recruitment events such as Preview Day and Open House and Principal’s Office events such as Chamber Business after Five.”

Courtney is continuing to transform life at Lakehead Orillia. “It’s been great to see the growth of the LUSAA board and it’s been a phenomenal experience for me.”

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Going to the Dogs (and Cats) We know that Lakehead alumni love their furry and feathered family members, so in this new feature we are taking the opportunity to introduce your animal companions to our readers.

Julie Harmer (née Moorey) with her dogs Frankie (left) and Gracie (right). Frankie is named after Frank Sinatra because of her blue right eye and Gracie is named in honour of 50s film legend Grace Kelly.

Julie graduated in 2002 with her Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Education. She is now a teacher and vice-principal with the Fort William First Nation where she runs the Niigaanaabda Program for First Nations adults committed to increasing their employability.

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Mark Tilbury is Lakehead’s annual fund and alumni engagement director and the proud parent of his Welsh corgis Cadbury (pictured), Hershey, and Snickers. Mark received his Honours Bachelor of Commerce in 1994 and he also completed a Master of Arts in Philanthropy & Development at St. Mary’s University in Minnesota in 2013. He has maintained close ties with Lakehead, joining the Alumni Association of Lakehead University’s board of directors soon after graduation. Before his work with Lakehead, Mark was the chief administrative officer & deputy director of the Thunder Bay Museum.

Brandon Walker gets a kiss from Cloey, his two-month-old rescue puppy. Brandon is a third-year English student and the media, communications and marketing associate on Lakehead’s Thunder Bay campus. He has used his journalism background as a reporter with newspapers in southern, northeastern, and northwestern Ontario and as the City of Thunder Bay’s communications officer. When he’s not spending time with Cloey, Brandon can be found shooting hoops on the basketball court.

We’d love to meet your animal companion. Send us photos of your cats, dogs, birds, bunnies, reptiles, and other non-human family members, and we’ll share them on our social media channels. Your photo may even be chosen to appear in an upcoming issue of Journey.

Email your photos to editor@lakeheadu.ca or submit them via Facebook and Instagram to @lakeheadalumni.

Include your name, your degree, your animal’s name, and a sentence or two about the photo or your life. If you or your companion is wearing Lakehead swag, that’s even better!

You can also send them via Twitter to @LakeheadAlumni.

A Look Back...

Mal & Willi’s Excellent Adventures Submitted by Wilma Pidhayny Bachelor of Education, 1990 p Wilma Pidhayny (l) and Michelle Labadie (r) proudly wear their Lakehead Thunderwolves T-shirts.

Michelle Labadie and I met in September 1989 when we were roommates in Geraldton House. We were both in the one-year Bachelor of Education program. She had completed her BA at Western and I had completed my BSc at the University of Toronto.

Neither of us had been to Thunder Bay before and, although we had both attended university away from home for our first degrees, this was certainly the farthest from home we had been before. We soon became close friends and were never apart during our year at Lakehead.

We were known around campus as “Mal & Willi” and we had excellent adventures, such as tumbleweed wrangling in the empty field on Oliver Road across from the athletic centre (we took the tumbleweeds back to our room to give our ceiling some texture) and interviewing the operator in the control booth of the swing bridge over the McIntyre River for a science project on bridges.

Also, walking on the path through the snow to Confederation College after finishing homework at 1 am and encountering a white fox and

driving out to Ouimet Canyon (we walked forever in thigh-deep snow to get there).

Every day we’d say hello to the Sleeping Giant on our way to breakfast in the cafeteria and then continue on our adventures in the classroom or in the great outdoors of Thunder Bay. We only spent one year at Lakehead, but we often reflect back and say that it was the best year of our lives – we made great friends, saw a part of Ontario we’d never been to before, and got a quality education that has led to diverse and interesting careers for both of us. Michelle is a learning services consultant for the Waterloo Regional District School Board where she leads professional development for math teachers at local and provincial levels and continues to present courses through the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario each summer. She has also received her MEd from Western University. After my year at Lakehead, I taught in Japan and Muskoka, and then returned to Toronto to get my MA. My BEd degree was also instrumental in getting me my dream job of travelling around the world as a counsellor in the youth/teen program on Princess Cruises. After switching from the elementary

to the secondary panel and working for several years in special education, I shifted into guidance.

Currently, I am a guidance counsellor at a high school in the Toronto District School Board where I have the awesome opportunity to promote Lakehead to our students.

Mal & Willi have remained close friends over the years, even though we live in different cities. We still meet up to have adventures together – geocaching around Ontario and New York or spelunking in Indiana or visiting with a couple of our other friends who were in residence with us at Lakehead. One of these days, we’d like to set off on another adventure: a road trip back to Thunder Bay to see how the town and the campus have changed over the years and maybe even to stay in our old room in Geraldton House!

‘A Look Back’ is a regular Journey Magazine feature. We invite alumni, faculty, and staff to share their memorable Lakehead experiences with us.

Please email your stories and photos to editor@lakeheadu.ca for consideration in one of our upcoming issues.

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TURNING POINTS 1980s Randy Budner (HBPHE’80/BEd’81) would like to connect with other class of 1980 graduates in the Honours Bachelor of Physical and Health Education program to see if it may be possible to organize a class reunion during Lakehead’s 2020 Homecoming in October.

Randy was a teacher for 34 years before retiring from St. Patrick High School in Thunder Bay as well as St. Patrick’s former athletic director and wrestling coach. He now runs a business designing custom canoe and kayak paddles called Open Water Paddles. If you would like to get in touch with Randy, you can email him at randybudner@gmail.com.

2000s Shandor Alphonso (HBCom’09/ MBA’10), a National Hockey League linesman, is the subject of a short video released on February 20 called “OHL Alum Shandor Alphonso On His Journey to the NHL.” The video can be watched on the website scoutingtherefs.com. He is also profiled in a January 21 article on the Sudbury Wolves’ website entitled “From Financial Advisor to Linesman: Shandor Alphonso’s Journey to the NHL.” Lakehead recognized Shandor’s contributions when he was presented with an Outstanding Young Alumni Award at the 2018 convocation ceremony.

David Blanchard (HBA’09/MA’11) is the director of Compliance & Strategic Initiatives at the Totten Insurance Group Inc., one of Canada’s largest managing general agents, located in the Toronto area. David has also worked as the Strategic Initiatives Support Coordinator at the Emterra Group and as a Lakehead

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University research assistant. In 2019, one of David’s research papers “The Kimberly-Clark Corporation and Terrace Bay,” co-written with Lakehead history professor Dr. Michel Beaulieu, was published by the Thunder Bay Historical Society Papers & Records.

2010s Jocelyn Bel (HBSc’15/ MBA’16/MSc’18), a Lakehead graduate and PhD candidate in biotechnology, was honoured at the 2020 Northwestern Ontario Visionary Awards organized

by SHIFT – a not-for-profit organization that promotes networking and collaboration among young people from a variety of professions. Jocelyn was the recipient of a Rising Star NOVA. The NOVA awards are given out to recognize leadership, professional achievement, volunteer work, and civic pride.

She conducts research at the Northern Ontario School of Medicine on the effects of stress hormones on the beiging and inflammation of adipose tissue.

Lorne Clifford (BA’15), a Lieutenant (Navy) with the Thunder Bay Cadet Corps, was honoured as a 2019 Minister of Veterans Affairs Commendation recipient. After a distinguished career with the Canadian Armed Forces and as a senior police commander, Lorne continues to be engaged in veterans’ issues, both personally and as a member of the local Royal Canadian Legion. Through his work with his church, Lorne is responsible for setting up support for veterans through an outreach service called “A Brother in Need.” Lorne is also the director of Security Services on Lakehead University’s Thunder Bay campus.

Roberta Dalgleish (née Busch) (HBA’11) is a social studies and outdoor education teacher with School District #75 in Mission, British Columbia, located in the Central Fraser Valley. In 2018, Roberta earned a Bachelor of Education from the University of the Fraser Valley in Abbotsford, British Columbia, and in 2019, she was appointed as adjutant of the Vernon Cadet Training Centre by the Canadian Armed Forces. Adjutants work with the commanding officer on unit administration matters. She has been a training officer with the Canadian Forces since 2008.

In Memoriam Roy Piovesana (HBA’65/MA’70) Lakehead University was saddened by the passing of Roy Piovesana on January 20, 2020. For over 50 years, Roy was a consummate booster of Lakehead University.

Born in 1942, he was the first recipient of an Honours Bachelor of Arts in History from Lakehead and was president of the inaugural graduating class of 1965. In 1969 he received a Master of Arts in History, the first for that program.

He helped establish what is now the Alumni Association of Lakehead University, serving as its second president. Roy pursued a career as a teacher, retiring in 1984.

He was also an expert on ItalianCanadian history and religious history. Roy was a driving force behind the establishment of the Chair in Italian Studies committee, now the Institute of Italian Studies at Lakehead University. In 2000, he was appointed archivist/historian for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Thunder Bay. In 2015, he was made a Fellow of Lakehead University.

TURNING POINTS

Charles Leitrants, who studied history at Lakehead in the 1970s, passed away suddenly on July 14, 2019, while working in the garden with his adored wife Margaret. Charles became a master carpenter and there are many examples of his craft gracing Thunder Bay homes. As a young man, he joined the Kam Lab Theatre, an experimental theatre troupe, as an actor, performing at local theatre houses and touring throughout Ontario. He arrived

in Vancouver in time to join the then nascent film business and continued to work in it his entire life. Charles loved and took great pride in his work, whether coordinating the scenic carpenter and paint crews or working as an art director. The first episode of season two of the Netflix TV series Altered Carbon is dedicated to Charles, who was that season's construction coordinator.

KEEP IN TOUCH Started a new job?

Have you married?

Begun a family?

Received an award?

If so, we want to hear from you!

T: 1-800-832-8067 E: alumni@lakeheadu.ca W: alumni.lakeheadu.ca

We’re in it together At Tbaytel, we believe that participation and enthusiasm are a key part of building strong and vibrant communities.

Supporting you is our way of helping to make our neighbourhood a better place for everyone.

Thank you, Northern Ontario, for all of the good work you do.

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Building the Wolf Den The Wolf Den – Lakehead’s new two-storey Athletics building – is our commitment to provide much-needed community space and better opportunities for wellness and healthy living.

Lakehead students are using their student fees to fund $11 million of the construction costs and we would like to invite you to make a gift towards the final $1.8 million needed for this capital campaign.

Your gift will help Lakehead build strong communities by providing equal access to quality health, recreation, and wellness programs in Northwestern Ontario.

For decades, Lakehead has been the only full-facility gym in Thunder Bay, offering cardio equipment, weights, a full-length pool, fields, a running track, and a yoga studio.

It is home to the University’s Department of Kinesiology, Sports Medicine Program, and 12 varsity sports teams.

Community groups and sports organizations regularly use our facilities. We host over 3,000 elementary school students every year in our ActiveU community recreational program. Similarly, our Achievement Program for schoolaged youth facing socioeconomic barriers, relies on our athletics facilities. By 2022-23, nearly 600 children in the Achievement Program will be using the Wolf Den.

These new facilities will also be instrumental in attracting and retaining students, student athletes, staff, faculty, and community members.

JOIN THE WOLF PACK Find out how you can help make wellness available to everyone who lives, studies, and works in Northwestern Ontario.

Please contact Kathryn Davidson, Philanthropy Director: T: 807-343-8476 E: kathryn.davidson@lakeheadu.ca W: donate.lakeheadu.ca

lakeheadu.ca/wolfden

“As a Lakehead University student and former varsity athlete, I have spent a lot of time in our current athletics facility. I’m excited that the Wolf Den will give students and community members increased access to courts and cardio and weight equipment. This modern bright addition will also give students another space to study comfortably and de-stress from school.”

– August Ricketts (nursing and psychology student and HBK’18 grad)

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THE WOLF DEN

LAKEHEAD UNIVERSITY ATHLETICS EXPANSION CREATING A NEW, MODERN FACILITY FOR HEALTH, WELLNESS AND RECREATION

NEW WOLF DEN PROGRAMS AND FACILITIES WILL INCLUDE: + NEW FULL-SIZE GYM, CARDIO, WEIGHT, AND AEROBICS ROOMS + MORE SPACE FOR STUDENT AND COMMUNITY RECREATIONAL PROGRAMMING + HEALTH AND WELLNESS SERVICES + ACCESSIBILITY UPGRADES, MORE SAFE SPACES, AND SECURITY ENHANCEMENTS

+ MORE DIVERSE OPPORTUNITIES FOR HEALTHY LIVING AND WELLBEING AT EVERY FITNESS LEVEL AND EVERY AGE + OUTDOOR BASKETBALL COURTS AND FITNESS EQUIPMENT + ENHANCED PUBLIC AND COMMUNITY SPACES FOR LARGE EVENTS LIKE PEP RALLIES AND SPORTS FESTIVALS

Lakehead students voted in favour of expanding our athletic facilities: 79% of students voted yes to investing their own student fees towards a new facility.

Charitable Registration # 11900-2681-RR 0001

THE WOLF DEN: A CAMPAIGN TO RAISE $1.8 MILLION

To make a gift to the Wolf Den and to learn about naming and recognition opportunities contact: Kathryn Davidson Philanthropy Director, External Relations T: 807-343-8476 E: kathryn.davidson@lakeheadu.ca W: donate.lakeheadu.ca

Studying at Lakehead led me to develop a curiosity in my writing and experimentation with my music. Today, I’m a professional flamenco guitarist and composer, working with some of the best artists in Canada.”

Matt Sellick HB Music 2013

OCCUPATION

Flamenco guitarist/ Composer