Alessia Cara, Triumph new inductees
TORONTO: The star-wattage on the red carpet at the Canada Walk of Fame was a blinding light show as they celebrated top guns from various walks of life over this past weekend at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre in downtown Toronto.
Two young brothers – Abhayjeet and Sukhmeet Sachal – were conferred with the MLSE/Scotiabank community hero award. Both brothers co-founded a company ‘Break The Divide’ in 2016 to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals and have since been highly praised for their tireless efforts. Their focus is to work with youth to break divisions in society and to create change. Within a short span of three years, they have received local, national and global media attention for their achievements and now boast of several chapters in many parts of the world.
From the music industry, Mississauga’s iconic rock power trio, Triumph, was inducted. From Brampton, Grammy and Juno award winner Alessia Cara was graced as the Allan Straight Music Impact Honouree.
Other inductees of the evening were architect Frank Gehry and Dr. James Naismith (science, technology and innovation), Cindy Klassen and Mark Messier (sports and athletics), Jim Treliving (business and entrepreneurship), Will Arnett (arts and entertainment), Mr. Dressup-Ernie Coombs (legend inductee).
The evening started off with a star-studded red carpet walk with loads of celebrities interacting with their fans. Besides this year’s inductees, several past inductees and other well known personalities enhanced the uber chic event. Some of the distinguished attendees were Andy Kim, Jeanne Beker (fashion editor), Chris Hadfield (Canada’s astronaut extraordinaire) and his wife Helene, Michael Wekerle (Dragon’s Den), RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki and the Mayor of Mississauga, Bonnie Crombie.
Pooja Handa of CP24 hosted the star unveiling stage where each inductee signed their star as it was unveiled leading up to the final uncovering where with much fanfare each Triumph member (Gil Moore, Rik Emmett and Mike Levine) signed their plaque. Mayor Crombie also came up to present each of the members with their own private key to the city of Mississauga.
After the grand red carpet entrance and display of the inductees’ stars, there was a splendid gala dinner hosted by CTV’s Ben Mulroney and Anne-Marie Mediwake. Several special guests were part of the audience including among many Olympian Susan Auch, basketball phenomena Elijah Fisher and Isaiah Thomas, David Mirvish, Triumph super-fan Nancy Inch and another granddaddy of the Canadian music scene, Tom Cochrane.
The gala kicked off with a tribute to Alessia Cara by vocal sensation Martina-Ortiz Luis, followed by the special Allan Straight Music Impact award being bestowed upon Alessia, who gave a huge shout out to Brampton.
The evening continued with presentations to all the 2019 inductees showering them with accolades and complimenting them on their achievements and undying enthusiasm. There was also an awesome performance from David Foster and The Tenors.
Then came the energetic and electric finale as Lawrence Gowan, flamboyant frontman of the rock band Styx, and the Rock Army gave a mind blowing tribute performance to Triumph by singing a medley of their famous songs: “Lay it on the Line”, “Fight the Good Fight” and “Magic Power”. That brought the house down!
A big chapeau to all the champions!
READ ALSO: Freddie Mercury: The Indian Parsi who rocked the universe!
