Asper named recipient of 2014 Roblin award

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This article was published 06/09/2014 (4103 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The University of Winnipeg has named Gail Asper the recipient of the 2014 Duff Roblin Award.

Asper will receive the award at a dinner Nov. 18 at the Fort Garry Hotel — it recognizes outstanding Manitobans for their commitment to education and community.

In 2002, Asper became president of the Asper Foundation, a private charitable foundation established by her parents, Babs and Israel Asper. The foundation supports and initiates numerous projects in Canada and Israel. She has also spent the last 14 years working to establish the Canadian Museum for Human Rights as Canada’s first new national museum in 45 years and the first national museum to be located outside the capital region.

Proceeds from this year’s dinner will go toward the Duff Roblin Scholars Fund. This fund provides graduate fellowships in the indigenous governance and masters of development practice programs at the University of Winnipeg. Its aim is to enhance educational opportunities for Manitoba’s indigenous population.

The inaugural Duff Roblin Award was named in honour of and presented in 2007 to former premier Duff Roblin, whose crowning achievement is the creation of the Red River Floodway. This award recognizes a recipient’s qualities as an outstanding Manitoban, a patron of education and someone who demonstrates exemplary citizenship and lifelong commitment to his or her community. Past recipients include Tom Jackson (2008), Kerry Hawkins (2009), Edward S. Kennedy (2011), Charles Coffey (2012), and Jan Belanger (2013).