Renu Kapoor

As a child growing up in India, Renu Kapoor recalls her mother helping young women further their education, while her father was a founding member of the Rotary service club in the country. She also remembers that students coming from other countries to attend school in their community were welcomed into their home. She absorbed those childhood lessons and has applied them as a volunteer and fundraiser and in her professional work as a counsellor.

“I tend to volunteer with activities that relate to community needs that I’ve identified as important,” she says. “My criteria for volunteering is: ‘Will it help people and make our community better?’”

“Regina has enriched my and my family’s life so much, and I believe in giving back to this community. I feel so fortunate to have met many beautiful people and to have built long-lasting friendships along the way,” she says

Kapoor has a Master of Social Work from the University of Lucknow, India, and a Master of Science-Social Work from the University of Wisconsin. She and her husband Don settled in Regina in 1965, when there was what she describes as a small but vibrant ethnic community in the city. “We faced challenges but felt welcomed,” she says. “In many ways the Regina of today is built on cultural diversity and richness; it is part of our city’s identity.”

Kapoor’s 35-year career focused on mental health and addictions counselling with the former Saskatchewan Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission and the Regina Health District. Over her career, she witnessed a shift in public attitudes regarding addictions and
mental health.

“There was a stigma attached to people with addictions or mental health issues, but in my work I counselled people from all walks of life,” Kapoor notes. “Attitudes are quite different now; there is an understanding that these things can happen to anyone.”

Her volunteer activities outside work encompass organizations such as Cultural Connections Regina, Community Foundations of Canada, Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse and Addiction, South Saskatchewan Community Foundation, SaskCulture, Regina Public Library, YWCA Regina, Saskatchewan Health Care Excellence Awards, United Way Regina, North Central Family Centre and Regina Airport Authority.

“It is the biggest surprise of my life, and I feel deeply humbled by this honour,” Kapoor says.

Kapoor has also taken leading roles in various fundraising galas, including India Night, Champions for Mental Health, Moving Forward Together and the RCMP Charity Ball. She has been recognized for her volunteer work with the Sovereign’s Medal for Volunteers and Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee Medal, University of Regina President’s Community Award, YWCA Volunteer of the Year Award and the Saskatchewan Volunteer Medal, among many others.

Kapoor says she was in shock for days when she received the call from University of Regina President Vianne Timmons that she was to receive an honorary degree. “It is the biggest surprise of my life, and I feel deeply humbled by this honour,” Kapoor says. Her parents raised her to believe in the spirit of sharing, she adds, and that people should volunteer because of their values, not for recognition.

“Regina has enriched my and my family’s life so much, and I believe in giving back to this community. I feel so fortunate to have met many beautiful people and to have built long-lasting friendships along the way,” she says.

Kapoor receives her honorary degree on June 6, 2019.

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“It’s difficult for me to put into words,” says stage, screen, and voice actor Eric Peterson about receiving an honorary degree from the University of Regina. “It’s a big deal for me,” he continues. “And it affirms to young people the possibility that they don’t have to leave home to achieve success, that being a cultural worker is not just something done by other people in other places.”

Peterson – who was born and raised in Indian Head, Saskatchewan – has fashioned a distinguished 50-year acting career that includes the enduring stage play Billy Bishop Goes to War and lead roles in the TV series Street Legal, This is Wonderland and Saskatchewan’s own Corner Gas. He has performed on stage in countless theatres across Canada, at international festivals, at London’s West End and on Broadway.

As for Corner Gas and his role as the irascible Oscar Leroy, Peterson describes what a huge thrill it was to step out and see his own landscape when he prepared for a day on the set. “I had to pinch myself, but it proved what I believed: that my country can produce successful cultural productions based on who we are.”

Peterson’s pathway to success did require him to travel to establish his career. Along the way, he met other Canadians who were determined to discover and tell Canadian stories. After graduating high school, he attended the University of Saskatchewan, “with no idea of what I wanted to do,” he says. While there, he was persuaded to take a part in a drama production and “took to it like a duck to water.”

After his second year he dropped out, working for a while with a semi-professional drama company before moving to England to work as an apprentice stage manager and stage carpenter, picking up acting roles when he could. When his work permit ran out, he returned to Western Canada, eventually settling in Vancouver where he met many people involved in the arts, including John Gray, who would become his long-time creative collaborator.

Later, in Toronto, Peterson’s experience with emerging groups such as Theatre Passe Muraille, which aimed to create a home-grown theatre telling Canadian stories, profoundly affected his thinking about theatre and his ambitions as an actor. “I realized that theatre – and cultural expression in general – is as important as any other activity in the life of a nation and its people; providing glimpses of what living in Canada and being Canadian is like.”

Peterson’s long list of acting credits include The Farm Show, a collective creation based on conversations with people living in Ontario’s farm country, and Billy Bishop Goes to War, a collaboration by Gray and Peterson that dramatizes the life of Canadian World War I fighter pilot Billy Bishop. The often-revived two-man musical has been a staple for Gray and Peterson throughout their careers. “Billy Bishop established us and made us famous, both in the theatre and on film,” Peterson observes.

As for Corner Gas and his role as the irascible Oscar Leroy, Peterson describes what a huge thrill it was to step out and see his own landscape when he prepared for a day on the set. “I had to pinch myself, but it proved what I believed: that my country can produce successful cultural productions based on who we are.”

Peterson also appeared in Corner Gas: The Movie, and continues to portray Oscar Leroy in the animated TV series.

Peterson receives his honorary degree on June 6, 2019.

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For their benevolent spirits and philanthropic generosity, Gordon and Jill Rawlinson will receive honorary degrees from the University of Regina. Both are honoured to be jointly recognized.

Gordon and Jill were both born and raised in Saskatchewan; Gordon in Prince Albert and Jill on a farm near Redvers. Jill received the Governor General’s Academic Medal in high school, and then graduated from the University of Manitoba with a Bachelor of Arts degree. Gordon graduated with distinction with a Bachelor of Commerce degree (Honours, Administration) from the University of Saskatchewan.

“My father’s mantra was, ‘The better you serve the community, the better your business will do,’” Gordon recalls. “It has proven to be very successful.”

Gordon grew up around CKBI radio in Prince Albert, the broadcasting company that his father E. A. Rawlinson founded in 1946. Gordon took over managing the company in 1969, and became the owner and CEO in 1974. He has developed and expanded the company – now Rawlco Radio – to include radio stations in Regina, Saskatoon and Calgary, all of which have been recognized for their emphasis on community service.

“My father’s mantra was, ‘The better you serve the community, the better your business will do,’” Gordon recalls. “It has proven to be very successful.”

That same emphasis on community is evident in the lengthy list of philanthropic activities supported by the couple in the areas of health care, education, the arts, and support for Aboriginal entrepreneurs and business leaders, primarily through the Lily Street Foundation, which Jill chairs.

“Growing up on a farm in Saskatchewan made me realize and appreciate the importance of a strong family and a strong community,” Jill says. “There was a huge interdependence; supporting one another is just what you did. That’s where our philanthropic commitment to Saskatchewan came from.”

The donations Jill and Gordon have made reflect their shared belief that they owe most of their success to spending their formative years in the province. Some examples include: $1.5 million to furnish and equip the Rawlco Centre for Mother Baby Care at the Regina General Hospital; $1.5 million to promote business education to Indigenous students at the University of Saskatchewan; $230,000 to the University of Regina to support aspiring journalists and Indigenous entrepreneurs; $1 million to the Children’s Discovery Museum (now Nutrien Wonderhub) in Saskatoon; $1.45 million to the E. A. Rawlinson Centre for the Arts in Prince Albert; and $300,000 to the Victoria Hospital Foundation, also in Prince Albert. Other donations include $1 million to the Saskatchewan Hospital North Battleford and $500,000 to help develop a multiplex in North Battleford.

“Growing up on a farm in Saskatchewan made me realize and appreciate the importance of a strong family and a strong community,” Jill says. “There was a huge interdependence; supporting one another is just what you did. That’s where our philanthropic commitment to Saskatchewan came from.”

Jill and Gordon also provided $875,000 to a fund assisting Saskatchewan musical artists to each produce a CD, giving the artists full ownership of their work. The couple are also major annual supporters of the Canadian Red Cross, and the United Way in Regina and Saskatoon, always focusing their donations on the programming these organizations deliver in Saskatchewan.

Gordon is a Member of the Order of Canada and the Saskatchewan Order of Merit. He also serves on the Dean’s Advisory Council at the Edwards School of Business, University of Saskatchewan.

The couple receives their honorary degree on June 7, 2019.

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