Margaret Adu is helping change the face of continuing care in Canada.
Margaret Adu
Bringing dignity home.
Margaret Adu doesn’t do anything halfway. She immigrated to Canada from Ghana in 1993 with her husband, arriving as a trained architect and expecting to stay only while he completed his schooling. But after facing resistance from local architecture firms while trying to find work, Adu took on evening home-care jobs — even volunteering her time — to support herself and her family. One client in particular changed the course of her life. Caring for a woman named Dorothy, who hoped to spend her final years at home but ultimately could not, became a pivotal moment for Adu. “I said, I am going to open homes like Dorothy’s and change the face of continuing care in Canada,” says Adu. “You should be able to smell the bacon, hear the clatter in the kitchen when you’re in your room. People need to live humane lives — they need to be in a place that feels like home.” That vision came to life through Calgary-based Aomega Lodges, a network of small care homes built around dignity, comfort and connection. Adu now operates multiple properties across Alberta, supporting seniors and adults with complex needs in home-like settings. Throughout it all, Adu’s persistence and courage have remained constant, strengthened by the support of people who believed in her along the way. “People worked with me and I had great allies,” she says. “I’m grateful for Alberta because it did not say no to a Black woman.”
Dallas Arcand
Hoop dreams: a rose from the concrete.
When Dallas Arcand performs the hoop dance, he becomes a shape-shifter, a storyteller and a conduit for magic. “Everything that we see, touch, feel, experience, smell and hear — all those things combined are what the story tells,” he says. “The hoops take on their own shape when I’m dancing with them.” A proud member of Alexander First Nation, Arcand describes himself as an “orphan rez kid” who grew into an internationally recognized singer, speaker, entrepreneur and three-time World Champion hoop dancer. “Adversity was a good teacher for me in that sense,” he says. “That’s where my creativity and entrepreneurship began. I feel like a rose that grew from the concrete.” In 2025, Arcand (Nimihto Paskwa Mostôs Napew) released the book 13 Hoops: Life’s Lessons Lived and Learned, sharing insights from his journey so far. In 2026, he is set to open Kakio Studio Café in Edmonton, a space that will combine Indigenous cuisine with a recording studio for live streams and podcasts. It’s the latest chapter in Arcand’s relentless pursuit of his many passions. “At the end of the day, we share our gifts with the world to contribute and help make Canada what it is,” he says. “All I can do is show up and move through life with my best foot forward.”
Dallas Arcand performing his hoop dance in Spruce Grove.
Madison Savilow has a vision for the future of Alberta — and the world.
Madison Savilow
Capturing carbon, creating unity.
Madison Savilow was looking for a relaxed, part-time job while she was finishing her accounting degree at the University of Calgary. What she got was a ground floor role at a start-up that would alter her future — and perhaps the rest of the world’s infrastructure, too. That start-up, Carbon Upcycling, captures carbon at an emission source and stores it into a solid material, often an industrial byproduct that would otherwise go to the landfill. From that, Carbon Upcycling is able to create material that performs well within a concrete mix and reduces the amount of cement used. “Cement is responsible for eight percent of global carbon emissions,” says Savilow. “We offer not just a material that stores CO2, but one that displaces a material that’s very carbon-intensive to produce.”
Savilow has immersed herself in different roles throughout her career, becoming skilled at explaining the science to non-technical audiences as Carbon Upcycling scales up. Today, the company has a production facility in Calgary, is looking at plants in Europe and will integrate into Ash Grove, one of Canada’s largest producing cement plants, this year. “My hope is we have the opportunity to decarbonize and store CO2 in massive buildings, use better materials that help the Earth, and meet the demand for critical infrastructure.” Savilow says hardworking Albertans should be recognized for the work they do in this space. “We’ve got resources to be self-sufficient, while also providing for other parts of Canada,” she says. “That, to me, speaks to something that should drive unity instead of division.”
Catriona Le May Doan
Skating circles around pressure.
For decades, Alberta has been home to one of Canada’s most composed competitors — an athlete who knows true success isn’t defined by medals, but by the opportunities they bring. Catriona Le May Doan was the first Canadian to defend a gold medal at the Olympics in 500m speed skating — something only three Canadians have done in Olympic history. “The hard part is standing on the line once every four years for a 37-second race,” she says. “You have one chance — this many years later, it still gives me anxiety.” That pressure inspired her approach as chef de mission for Team Canada in 2022, helping other athletes have a special experience. “Whatever I could do to help them be their very best, that’s what I wanted to do.” After nine years with Sport Calgary, Le May Doan is starting her own venture, Pursuit of Victory. Through workshops and speaking engagements, she wants to help change the culture of potential by empowering people — especially women and youth — and helping them understand their values and tell their story. “Everybody has their own definition of victory and that’s what I want to help people achieve,” says Le May Doan. “My whole goal is to help people be better than they thought.”
“At home” with Olympic speed skater Catriona Le May Doan.
Alex Halat knows how to spend his time wisely.
Alex Halat
The Marathon Man skates on.
Can you remember the longest hockey game you’ve ever played? Alex Halat can probably beat it. And for a better reason. In 2012, moved by the battles his brother and a young girl faced during cancer treatment, Halat organized the Hockey Marathon for Kids to raise funds for Alberta Children’s Hospital. They played for ten straight days, raising $2 million from the initial game. Since then, he’s hosted the marathon three more times — with the last event in 2024 requiring 1,600 volunteers to make it happen. “Trying to do something to help others is contagious,” says Halat. “It just takes one person to think of an idea and someone else to say, I’ll help you. That’s all we want.” Halat has become a driver of innovative fundraising initiatives to support local youth, including nutrition, medicine, housing and mental health. In 2020, he founded the Chestermere Boxing Club, an affordable space for kids to learn the sport, get support and find community. They started with five kids and now have more than 250 in the program. “The average lifespan is 73 years — do what you can in that time to make an impact on others,” he says. “It’s the biggest thing to teach our youth to be generous and look after each other.”
Bert Crowfoot is a journalist, publisher and self-taught photographer.
Bert Crowfoot
Keeping a lifetime of storytelling in focus.
Bert Crowfoot readily admits he wasn’t holding the camera for one of his most memorable shots. It was 1987 and Pope John Paul II was visiting Fort Simpson — Crowfoot was a few feet away from him as the Pope shook hands down the line, but he couldn’t get the picture. “I gave my camera to one of the bodyguards and I said, ‘Shoot one picture, please.’ He shot it. It was beautiful.” Crowfoot understands an elevated moment — and an elevated purpose. He has spent his life lifting Indigenous perspectives, as a photojournalist, publisher and innovator. He got a serendipitous start to his career in photography when a friend asked him to cover a hockey tournament for an Indigenous newspaper and was thrown into the dark room. He taught himself photography and, over the years, everything about newspapers. In 1983, Crowfoot founded the Aboriginal Multi-Media Society of Alberta (AMMSA), serving Edmonton, Calgary and First Nations with Indigenous-led news, as well as community favourites like radio bingo. More than 40 years later, they’ve shifted from print newspapers to digital platforms, expanding their reach to more people. “Our studios are our lodges and our people are storytellers. We’ve been telling our stories from way back — the message is the same,” says Crowfoot. “It’s just how we tell our stories that changes.”
Mark Mullin, who is passionate about the Alberta art scene, at his studio in downtown Calgary.
Mark Mullin
All the world is a canvas.
Mark Mullin has spent a lifetime learning how painting can set the stage. Born and raised in Edmonton, he discovered art early, filling notebooks with drawings before he contemplated it as a career. “I was drawing before I could remember doing anything else, to the point I had a callous from HB pencils.” It was at the University of Alberta that painting truly took hold. From then on, Mullin was a painter, and the creativity that emerged continues to thrill him. He went to Montréal for graduate school, but Alberta called him home — he has been painting and teaching at Alberta University of the Arts in Calgary since 2003.
His work is technically abstract, creating moods and, ultimately, joy from non-representational pieces that leave it up to the viewer to participate and engage. “I’m fascinated in how form, shape, colour and the material of paint can be used in all these different ways to create an orchestra,” he says. “You look at the work and escape for a while; get pulled into my make-believe world.” Mullin has been shaped by Alberta’s arts scene and sees the opportunity for growth. “Edmonton and Calgary deserve vibrant, visual art communities. They have it, and from my perspective, they’re only getting stronger.”
Maeghen Cotterill
The healing power of finding your space.
Martial arts rescued Maeghen Cotterill. As a young girl with undiagnosed ADHD, she was once bullied at a bus stop and, as good fortune would have it, she saw a karate studio a few blocks away. It seemed the right moment to knock on that door. “Karate helped me move energy through my body, even start speaking for myself. It showed me better ways to be vulnerable and deal with conflict.” Her hard work and diligence, combined with an encouraging instructor, has led to a remarkable career. Cotterill grew her own martial arts studio over the course of 27 years, garnered multiple gold medal world championships and, most proudly, in 2023 was instrumental in bringing the first Martial Arts World Championships to Tsuut’ina Nation, adjacent to Calgary. It’s a highlight for her, bringing people from more than 30 countries to experience the beauty of her home. “Martial arts have given me purpose. It’s helped me help my community.” Cotterill is passionate about empowering vulnerable groups — including sexually trafficked women and individuals from the autistic community — creating spaces for all people to feel safer and more empowered. “I started a studio because I didn’t fit anywhere,” she says. “If you can help people see what they’re capable of and give them a sense of safety and control, that’s massive and it’s incredibly healing.”
Gold medal champion Maeghen Cotterill at Kings Fitness in Calgary where she teaches and trains.
Saïd M’Dahoma at The Pastry Nerd, a baking business in the East Village, Calgary.
Saïd M’Dahoma
A recipe for sweet success.
When Saïd M’Dahoma left Paris for Calgary, he didn’t expect he’d one day trade his lab for a kitchen. With a PhD in neuroscience, M’Dahoma came to the University of Calgary for a research position but deeply missed the pastries from back home. “I didn’t realize how spoiled I was in Paris, because there is a bakery on every corner,” he says. “I decided to make my own pastries from home, but I had almost never baked anything. The learning curve was steep.” What began as hobby became a full-blown passion, leading M’Dahoma to leave research to launch a baking business. And he was encouraged by his environment. “Albertans are quite open-minded when it comes to entrepreneurship. They will not frown on the idea of going from university to baking, even encourage it, and I think that was the catalyst.” Wherever M’Dahoma went to bake, people showed up. From pop-up events to baking classes, the support he received enabled him to establish The Pastry Nerd, his full-time business, which offers recipes, courses and, of course, succulent fare. And his scientific acumen is hardly going unused. “I love making croissants because it’s very technical,” he says. “I feel like there’s a good convergence between making croissants and the science behind the process.”
Irfan Chaudhry
Hate crimes have a formidable enemy.
The impact of some events can last a lifetime. Irfan Chaudhry’s work in inclusion and hate crimes was influenced by a moment in history everyone remembers: 9/11. He was a university student and noticed a sudden shift in the public discourse. “People who looked like me and had names like mine were being viewed not in a very nice way,” he says. “It got me thinking: how can we prevent and navigate unfair forms of bias and discrimination?” In response, Chaudhry focused locally and co-founded the Mosquers Film Festival to change negative media narratives through film. It highlighted to him how broad discrimination across communities was, and sparked a research career on hate crimes and supporting victims of hate. He recently finished a term on the Edmonton Police Commission and during his time on the Alberta Hate Crimes Committee, he established one of the only province-wide mechanisms for people to report incidents of hate. “It was one of those journeys where I can help my own community, and help the broader community understand the impacts of hate,” says Chaudhry. “What I’ve observed, regardless of someone’s background or affiliations, Albertans are always very willing to help and step up. We’ll drop everything for others.”
Irfan Chaudhry fights discrimination in communities across Alberta.
