Mayor’s Event

Amarjeet Sohi – Mayor Sponsor

Amarjeet Sohi was sworn in as the 36th mayor of Edmonton on October 26, 2021.

When I came here, I was 18 years old and had little to my name. But I was lucky. I wasn’t in just any city. I was in Edmonton.

Our schools and public libraries helped me learn to speak English. I found friendship and community playing sports and performing in the arts. And I got to discover the city through the windows of our buses – until one day I got a job driving one.

Eventually, my bus stopped at City Hall when Edmonton took a chance on me as a city councillor. It was my honour to work hard for a city that invested in me through public services. Every day was an opportunity to give back to a place that gave me so much, the place where my wife, Sarbjeet, and I raised our daughter.

My passion for Edmonton took me all the way to Ottawa. I served as the Minister of Infrastructure and Communities, and the Minister of Natural Resources, overseeing billions in investments in our economic future.

From bus driver to city councillor to member of parliament, my experiences have shown me what it takes to bring people together – and build a thriving city for all.

Cathy Heron – Mayor Sponsor

As the first female Mayor in 20 years, and only the second in the history of St. Albert, Cathy Heron represents the values of our modern community. She is proof that St. Albert has grown beyond the debate of women in politics and is ready to tackle the
rights of our LGBTQ+, environmental stewardship, responsible growth, and first nations through respectful engagement within our community.

A graduate of both the University of Alberta and NAIT, Mayor Heron values diverse knowledge, education, and experience in herself and those around her. In addition to her education, Mayor Heron has extensive experience in regional governance, including
2 terms as a city councillor and several years of volunteer work on committees.

Mayor Heron understands the value of leading by example. She serves as President at the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association, Director of Alberta Recycling Management Association, 4 years as Director of the Alberta Capital Region Waste Water Commission, Capital Region Growth Plan Task Force and many more. The result is extensive and diverse relationships throughout the region with elected, civil, and
business stake holders that she can rely upon to help her further her goal of a stronger and more respected City of St. Albert.

Her personal life focuses on her relationship with her 3 adult children. Will, Heather, and Holly have continuously been a source of both strength and pride for Cathy. Sunday family dinners are dear to her, a value she hopes will carry forward into the next generation.

Raised in St. Albert, she is a graduate of Paul Kane high school. When it was time to start her own family and instill core values in her children, living in St. Albert was an obvious and non-negotiable choice. It takes a village to raise a child, and she strongly believes St. Albert offers the best values she wants in her own children.

It is her goal, as Mayor of St. Albert, to contribute to a community where her children will choose to raise their children. The strong values of community and diverse respect that drew her parents to raise her here remain the values she hopes St. Albert will continue to instill in future generations.

Elder Rick Lightning – Speaker

Elder Rick (Patrick) Lightning is an Elder/Mosom from Maskwacis, raised in the traditions of Plains Cree, Nehiyaw. He is a third generation residential school survivor.

Rick has been a Cultural Support Worker to the Indian Residential School (IRS), Mental Health, Aboriginal Youth Communities Empowerment Strategy (AYCES), and the National Native Alcohol and Drug Abuse Program (NNADAP) programs at Maskwacis.

Currently, Rick is the resident Elder, or Mosom, as he prefers to be called, for the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Alberta.

Jason Pincock – Speaker

Jason has been with DynaLIFE Medical Labs since its inception in 1996. Employing over 1400 Albertans, DynaLIFE is one of the region’s largest private employers. Over the last decade, Jason has dedicated his time to building relationships and working closely with executive team members within government and industry in order to structure and support new and innovative service models for health care, including the development of performance-based operating models for improving accountability and laboratory service to Albertans.

DynaLIFE has been recognized as one of Canada’s Best Managed Companies, consistently as one of Alberta’s Top Employers, and is recognized for its culture and community leadership. Jason personally participates in and leads various bio‐tech related industry groups, works with Economic Development and participates on various community committees and boards including Health City, Applied Pharmaceuticals Innovation, Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry University of Alberta, Health Analytics Diagnostics and Decision (HADD) Support Cluster Coalition, Innovation Masterminds Edmonton (imYEG), Little Warriors, the Bissell Centre, and various other non-profit organizations. Jason holds a CPA designation with the Certified Professional Accountants of Canada. Jason was born and raised in the Edmonton region where he is a husband and a father to six children.

Sean McEwan – Speaker

Sean is the Director of Gateway Association Calgary and the GEDI-Hub resource centre for employers across Alberta. He is also a Workplace Diversity and Inclusion Consultant and a Director at RealEyes Capacity Consultants. RealEyes supports organizations to build workforce sustainability through diverse and inclusive workplaces. Sean engages with service providers and businesses to build their capacity in these areas. 

Over the past 24 years Sean has been designing and overseeing Employment Inclusion services for groups under-represented in employment – while providing leadership and coaching to teams of Career Practitioners serving job-seekers and employers. Sean has developed and facilitated training for employment service providers across Canada and has helped develop regional, provincial and national networks dedicated to the Employment Inclusion of under-represented groups. 

Sean’s educational background is in Youth Services and Mental Health. He is a Certified Employment Specialist and has chaired the board of directors for both the Alberta Association for Supported Employment, as well as the Canadian Association of Supported Employment. Sean works across Canada but is based out of Calgary and has worked extensively with Indigenous communities in Southern Alberta. Sean’s Blackfoot (Niitsitapi) name is O’tsskoi piiksi (blue bird).

Jonathon Red Gun – Speaker

Jonathon Red Gun is the disability employment coordinator for Community Futures Treaty Seven. CFT7 is the southern Alberta Indigenous Skills Employment Training Strategy holder. Under the agreement with HRSDC – Service Canada. CFT7 allocates the resources to the sub-agreement holders of treaty 7 territories, consisting of the urban contracts of Calgary, Red Deer, Medicine Hat and Lethbridge. First Nation sub-agreement holders are the First Nations of Siksika Nation, Blood Tribe, Piikani Nation, Tsuu Tina, and Stoney (Lakoda,) for labour market programs.

CFT7 works with two mandates. 1. Mandate is to provide employment and economic opportunities for First Nations individuals, on and off-reserve, including persons with disability. 2. Business Advisory Services, for individuals or groups that want to pursue entrepreneurship.

Mr. Red Gun has facilitated a number of workshops in the wellness stream, specifically, for those who are impacted by the Residential School legacy, and its intergenerational trauma. He now continues to use his wellness training, social work and judicial background to advocate for First Nations persons with a disablity.

Amy Wing – Speaker

Amy Wing is a strong advocate for people with disabilities and mental health barriers. As well, Amy has a deep understanding of the intersectionality between the disability and 2SLGBTQIA+ communities.

Amy consults with organizations and businesses in the area of disability inclusion and has been a speaker at many disability inclusion events over the last 10 years.

Amy is the past president of the Gateway Association Board and currently sits on various committees. She has worked at ATCO Electric for 2 years and this year moved into a full time role as a clerk 3.

Sarah Chan – EMCEE

Sarah is the Lead of Community Engagement and Relationships at Alberta Mentoring Partnership.

Sarah co-Chaired United Way’s campaign cabinet for three years from 2016-2018. As a social advocate with a deep understanding of Edmonton’s charitable sector, she currently sits as a director on both the CN and Telus Community Giving Boards, in Edmonton. 

With a particular interest in the wellbeing of children and youth, Sarah has been a longstanding volunteer mentor with BGCBIGS, Honorary Patron for YESS, advocate for the Edmonton Public Library, and a member of the Mentor team at Peter Lougheed Leadership College at the University of Alberta. Over the past decade she has successfully collaborated to fundraise millions for our community’s most vulnerable populations. 

In 2015 Sarah was named a Top 40 Under 40 by Edify Magazine. She is also the recipient of a philanthropy award in Community Enrichment from the Association of Fundraising Professionals in 2020.