Harmony
Award Banquet
The Harmony Award Banquet attracts individuals, companies and community organizations that are committed to supporting our diversity education programs. The evening provides a unique opportunity for corporate sponsors to liaise with one another and for Harmony Movement to showcase our upcoming initiatives.
Fill out the ticket order form and reserve your tickets today or order online here:
Sol Guy & Josh Thome – 2009 Harmony Award Recipients
Sol Guy and Josh Thome went to school together in British Columbia. In high school, Josh helped launch the nationwide Environmental Youth Alliance comprising more than 60,000 students and went on to build similar networks with youth leaders around the world. He later won the Sierra Club President’s Award for his work.
After high school, Sol decided to pursue a career in New York City, and quickly became one of the top young executives in the music industry. Sol manages some of the world’s most renowned hip-hop and rap artists, including Canada’s own K’naan.
In 2001, Sol and Josh reunited in order to seek ways to engage youth globally through art, music, culture and digital media. 4REAL was founded in 2003 as a documentary series on CTV and MTV using celebrities raise public awareness of social issues around the world.
4REAL has become a global force with Canadian roots. The TV series now airs in 166 countries and 34 languages. In 2008, Sol and Josh became the first Canadians to receive the National Geographic Emerging Explorers Award for their work.
Based in Vancouver, 4REAL uses the power of the media to inspire young people both in Canada and around the world to take action for positive social change. Youth from over 200 Canadian communities are members on the 4REAL online community at 4REAL.com, where members can direct funds to their favourite cause.
Sol and Josh continue to give presentations around the country, inspiring people to help change some of the most critical issues of our time.
Sol and Josh will be honoured with the Harmony Award at the Harmony Award Banquet on October 29th. Click here if you are interested in sponsoring this exciting event!
Romeo Dallaire – 2008 Harmony Award Recipient
Known to the world as the Commander of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Rwanda (UNAMIR 1993-94), retired Lieutenant-General Senator Romeo Dallaire is receiving this year’s Harmony Award for his dedication to the field of mental health.
Commanding a failing UN Mission in Rwanda, General Dallaire was forced to stand by and witness the killing of over 800,000 Rwandans in one hundred days. This traumatic experience left him deeply scarred with an operational stress injury that led to a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in 2000. Dallaire was medically released from the Canadian Forces, but rather than retreating into a private life of silence, he chose to speak openly and courageously about his battle against depression and alcoholism, his suicide attempts, and his convalescence.
It is for his courage and determination to destigmatize mental illness and mood disorders that Senator Dallaire is this year’s Harmony Award recipient. He is an inspiration to others facing challenges associated with depression, PTSD, anxiety and substance abuse, proving that there is indeed a way forward in even the bleakest of circumstances.
General Dallaire served in the Canadian Forces for over three decades, and has been decorated with the highest of honours, including the Meritorious Service Cross. In 2002 he was invested as an Officer in the Order of Canada, and was also the inaugural recipient of the Aegis Award on Genocide Prevention (United Kingdom). His memoir, Shake Hands with the Devil – The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda, won the 2004 Governor General’s Literary Award for Non-Fiction, and in March 2005, he was summoned to the Canadian Senate, representing the province of Quebec. Senator Dallaire has also received numerous honourary doctorates from universities across Canada and the United States.
