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INFRASTRUCTURE Councillors prefer to see new crossing built 9
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THE PICTON
Gazette
Volume 186, Week 42
THURSDAY
OCTOBER 20, 2016
GIANTS
Wellington celebrates 20 years of heavy vegetables
Canada’s longest publishing non-daily newspaper, proudly serving Prince Edward County since 1830
Commonwealth Games trailblazer honoured Kent receives new international award after years spent working for equity ADAM BRAMBURGER STAFF WRITER
Judy Kent personified and experienced a number of firsts during her 15 years of involvement in the Commonwealth Games movement. Fittingly, some nine years after her final meeting, there was one more. At the annual general assembly of the Commonwealth Games Federation before representatives from 71 different countries , Kent was the first person inducted into the Commonwealth Games Order of Merit for exceptional service to the organization — an honour she had no knowledge existed as she attended the event in Edmonton Oct. 4-8 to present another award to Canadian she had mentored. The vice-patron for the Games, Prince Edward, the Earl of Wessex, was on hand to present the award given for Kent's decades of service and commitment to promote the values of humanity, equity, and destiny. "I hadn't been to a meeting since I resigned in 2007 and I hadn't talked to anybody really," Kent said, noting the CGF and Commonwealth Games Canada (CGC) worked together to surprise her. "I am humbled to receive
PIONEER IN SPORT Judy Kent was the first female delegate at the Commonwealth Games Fed-
eration’s general assembly and the first woman to serve as her country’s chef de mission for the sporting event. Here, she displays her Order of Merit baton — the first incarnation of the award presented for exceptional service to the Commonwealth Games. (Adam Bramburger/Gazette staff)
this award and proud to see so many women in positions of influence at the national and the international levels of the Commonwealth Games movement." The Prince Edward County
resident was working with Sport Canada as a high-performance coach in the late 1980s after a career as swimmer. She had done some work in Commonwealth countries developing sport programs through
the Lifesaving Society. At that time, she remembered CGC was setting up a working group to study the use of sport as nation building. They asked her to run as a member-atlarge in 1987 and she jumped
in with both feet. At the 1990 Games in Auckland, New Zealand, Kent was Canada's assistant chef de mission — the second in command for the country's delegation. At that point, no other females had ascended to similar positions in the games. She recalled going into a meeting to talk about the inclusion of athletes with disabilities in the games. It was a difficult time. "I went to the chefs' meeting and I wanted to talk to England and Australia about the inclusion of athletes with a disability, that's where we were at here in terms of equity. My first experience, the Australian chef said "Trust Canada to send a broad." Kent was undeterred, however. By 1992, when the CGF met at the Barcelona, Spain Olympics, she became the first female delegate to the CGF general assembly. In some respects, she stuck out like a sore thumb for years to come. Some delegates thought she was there because she was the mistress of a past highranking Canadian official. Kent remembers unwelcome advances and countless incidents where she was patted on the bum. At that time, the room was set up with a table Kent described as "old white men" at the front, another table of "black and brown men" separated from them and no evidence of women or people with disabilities.
Helping you build your wealth.
Partnership hands out additional $2.7 million
Equity fund attracts six more tech start-ups JASON PARKS STAFF WRITER
A total of six technology businesses operating at the Prince Edward County Innovation Centre are benefitting from matching venture capital investments by the Prince Edward-Lennox and Addington Community Futures Development Corporation (PELA CFDC) and private sector investment partner First Stone Venture Partners in the amount of $2.7 million. Bay of Quinte MP Neil Ellis announced Friday at Huff Estates that the investment ($1.35 million by the federal government through the Upper Canada Equity Fund, $1.35 million by First Stone) will lead to the creation of no fewer than 15 new jobs at the local firms that operate in the world of automation, software, robotics, online directories and fashion. In trumpeting the news of the investment, outgoing PELA CFDC executive director Craig Desjardins called Friday a day of “celebration for both innovation and rural entrepreneurship.”
See FUND, page 2
See KENT, page 32
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