2009 Most Influential Canadian Expat


Most Influential Canadian ExpatIt’s official- Michael J. Fox has been voted “the Most Influential Canadian Expat in the world” by both members of the Canadian Expat Association and by the general public.

In July we invited members of the association to nominate people to a list to be voted on in October.  We received literally hundreds of names but took only those that received two or more nominations for the final voting list.  A total of 17 names were unveiled on October 1st with voting open to anyone in the world.  Voting closed on October 31st.

Michael J. Fox emerged as the clear winner with just over 28.9% of the votes.  Wayne Gretzky came second place with 11.4% followed by Tony Burman, Neil Young and then Peter Allard in that order.

About our winners:

Michael J. Fox

Michael J. Fox was born in Edmonton Alberta but moved extensively across Canada during the first few years of his life.  In 1971, his family moved to Burnaby, BC where he completed most of his schooling.  In 1979, at the age of 18, Michael made the move to Los Angeles officially becoming a Canadian expat.  Once in L.A. he worked his way through the industry eventually landing a career-changing, 7-season roll on the hit T.V show Family Ties.

Of all the work that Michael did during that period and then following on multiple super-hit movies, undoubtedly his most important work came with his roll as advocate with the foundation that bears his name. The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research has contributed over $154 million in funding to help find a cure for the debilitating Parkinson’s disease.

Diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 1991, Fox has worked tirelessly to help educate the public about the disease and find a cure.

Michael J. Fox has been recognized with honorary degrees from both New York University, the University of British Columbia and has had a theatre named after him in Burnaby, BC.

It gives the Canadian Expat Association great honour to announce that Michael J. Fox has been selected as the Most Influential Canadian Expat for 2009.

Wayne Gretzky:

Wayne Gretzky, born and raised in Branford Ontario, he is credited with changing the face of Ice Hockey.  Nicknamed “the great one”, Gretzky excelled at Ice Hockey as a child  and then dominated as an adult as an Edmonton Oiler from 1978 to 1988, as an L.A. King from 1988 to 1996 when he became a Canadian expat, as a member of the St. Louis Blues in 1996, as a New York Ranger from 1996-1999 and then as a coach and executive director of two Olympic hockey teams.

Gretzky has been awarded Associated Press Male Athlete of the year, Sportsman of the year by Sports Illustrated and officer of the Order of Canada.  He has been inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, has had a highway named after him in Edmonton and has at least two statues erected in his honour in Edmonton and in Los Angeles.

Tony Burman:

After an illustrious Canadian career in print, radio and TV broadcast journalism and news management Tony Burman emigrated to Doha, Qatar in 2008 to become managing director of Al Jazeera English, the world’s first English-language news channel headquartered in the Middle East. The channel, which operates 24 hours a day with high definition broadcasting, aims to provide both a regional voice and a global perspective to a potential world audience of over one billion English speakers but without an Anglo-American worldview. Instead of being run centrally, news management rotates around broadcasting centers in Kuala Lumpur, Doha, London and Washington, DC, “following the sun.” Al-Jazeera is owned by the government of Qatar. The station also aims “to give voice to untold stories, promote debate, and challenge established perceptions”, and to “set the news agenda, bridging cultures and providing a unique grassroots perspective from under-reported regions around the world”.

Beginning his career as a university campus newspaper editor, and then a Montreal Star reporter, Tony became a freelancer, sojourning in South America, returning to Montreal to join CBC Radio in 1972 as a contributing producer to As It Happens and, later, as executive producer of Cross Country Checkup.

Switching to TV in 1974 he became a current affairs story editor with the nightly Montreal news program City At Six. The following year he moved to Toronto as senior writer on The National under the guidance of anchors Lloyd Robertson, Peter Kent, and Knowlton Nash. From 1980-82, Burman was executive producer of The National. He then spent three years based in London for CBC Television news, where he also periodically wrote articles on international affairs for the Globe & Mail. He and correspondent Brian Stewart were the first North American journalists on the ground to cover the 1984 - 1985 famine in Ethiopia. He again returned to Canada, as senior producer with The Journal, producing many documentaries between 1985 and 1990. From 1990-93, Burman was chief news editor of CBC Television. He then spent a year as managing director of CBC’s all-news network, CBC Newsworld. In 1993, he returned to The National as executive producer, creating the current hour-long format, and co-producing.

By 1998, after the news show won several Gemini award nominations, Tony resumed a role in management, serving as head of CBC Newsworld until his retirement in 2007. Additionally, Burman had also been in charge of all journalistic programming since February 2000. In October 2007, he received the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television’s Gordon Sinclair Award for lifetime achievement in broadcast journalism.

 Neil Young:

Neil Young was born in Toronto Ontario and spent the first 12 years of his life in and around the greater Toronto area.  At the age of 12 he moved with his mother to Winnipeg Manitoba where he spent a great deal of time.  Around 1965, Neil became an expat when he moved to Los Angeles to pursue his career as a professional musician.

Neil has been recognized for his lifetime contributions to the world of music by his induction to the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame twice.

Peter Allard:

Peter Allard, formerly of Edmonton, practiced law in Vancouver before moving to Barbados about 15 years ago, to focus on preserving natural habitats especially threatened by tourism and other development in the Caribbean. On the island of Barbados, to spearhead national environmental awareness and encourage government-led development of national water policy and environmental management practices, Mr. Allard provided in excess of US $34 million to restore and professionally manage the last mangrove forest and most significant migratory bird habitat in Barbados. The Graeme Hall Nature Sanctuary consists of 35 acres of wetlands and forest, and is located within the newly designated 81 acre Graeme Hall Ramsar wetland, recognized by the Convention on Wetlands. Within the Site, Mr. Allard has set aside approximately 5 acres of land which has been developed with visitor and educational facilities. Mr. Allard has promoted an environmental standard that encourages development of a Barbadian national water policy. He believes that while private sector efforts to preserve habitats is very important, effective environmental management practices must be derived from government-led national water policy. In light of this belief, Mr. Allard has donated (and continues to donate) hundreds of thousands of additional dollars associated with public/environmental health, safety and education in Barbados.

On the island of St. Vincent Mr. Allard continues to provide the government with direct support for the St. Vincent Amazon parrot conservation programme, in an effort to save this endangered flagship species from extinction. The importance of this programme is significant, as it is the first phase of a national effort to protect the species and its natural habitat. Mr. Allard is also responsible

for maintaining the only other St. Vincent Amazon population in the Caribbean (located at the Graeme Hall Nature Sanctuary in Barbados) in order to maintain genetic diversity. To date, the cost of this Programme has been in excess of $500,000, and it is hoped that the core populations in St. Vincent and Barbados will be the basis for genetically-diverse wild St. Vincent parrot populations when government can declare a new National Park for the species.

On the island of Dominica Mr. Allard provided the government of Dominica with the largest and single most significant contribution that ensured creation of the Morne Diablotin National Park on January 21, 2000. His contributions were the essential element that guaranteed the formation of the world’s newest National Park of the millennium. The Park is expected to become the Caribbean’s second United Nations Natural World Heritage Site.

While residing in Barbados Mr. Allard has widely donated in excess of $2.0 million to 75 Canadian charities, focusing on research and development of treatments for cancer, diabetes, HIV/AIDS, and for arts and health and human welfare support organizations.

The Canadian Expat Association would like to congratulate Ms. Marianne A. Carrington currently living in Barbados as the recipient of the Tim Hortons gift basket.

We would like to thank all the sponsors of this year’s Most Influential Canadian Expat in the World contest.

Tim Hortons  Time Well Spent   Sedai Law Office

One Response to � Most Influential Canadian Expat”

  1. Well-deserved! Thanks for posting.

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