WHEN IT COMES to saving the world, caped crusaders and supermen are in short supply. Not that we’re without our heroes.
They just happen to look more like rock stars and movie actors than those of the tights-andflight variety. There’s Bono and Bob Geldof, of course, and George Clooney and Brangelina. A little closer to home we have the dynamic duo of Belinda Stronach and Rick Mercer.
Stretching the analogy a bit further, Stronach is definitely from the Bruce Wayne/Batman mould: a wealthy heiress and tabloid socialite with a strong desire to right a few wrongs. Fittingly, that would make Mercer, of This Hour Has 22 Minutes fame, her comic sidekick.
Four years ago, Stronach and Mercer joined forces with UNICEF Canada to create Spread the Net, a grassroots campaign to purchase and distribute anti-malaria bed nets for the children of Liberia and Rwanda. So far, they’ve raised $5 million, enough for the 500,000 nets they set as their initial goal.
Spread the Net is just one of the many endeavours that Stronach has been involved with since she slipped quietly from public life, as a member of Parliament, to the private sector.
Stronach makes her hero headquarters — her Wayne Manor and Batcave — in a condo several stories above hip and trendy Yorkville. From there, she can keep her eye on the city, especially the goings-on at Queen’s Park to the south. You see, Stronach’s efforts to make the world a better place extend far beyond the battle against malaria.
The Belinda Stronach Foundation is the driving force behind the first-ever G(irls) 20 Summit in Toronto, which will take place over four days this month (June). Modeled after the G20 gathering of world leaders, the G(irls) 20 Summit will bring together one girl from each of the 20 countries involved to discuss how girls and women can help solve some of the world’s greatest challenges.
“There are 3.3 billion girls and women in this world. The potential for each to contribute to their communities and their countries, and indeed our planet,is great,”says Stronach.“Sadly for so many, the challenges they face in realizing that potential are much, much greater. So our goal is to give the world’s girls a platform to change minds,change lives and — quite literally — change the world by showing the importance of supporting girls and women everywhere.
Stronach points to research that shows that girls and women have the potential to play an important role in building local economies.
For every dollar a woman earns, she invests 80 cents in her family and her community, compared to just 30 cents by men. An extra year of education increases a girl’s income by 10 to 20 percent. While in Kenya, for example, if girls were educated to the secondary school level it would translate into $3 billion being poured into the economy, Stronach says.
“I feel very fortunate to be working side by side with a variety of national and international partners to help empower girls and women, create opportunities for Aboriginal youth, eradicate malaria and help in rebuilding the lives of those in Haiti.
The resolve of those we work with to empower is amazing, and whether it is here in Canada or abroad, their stories, challenges and hope for a healthy and safe life are inspirational.”
It wasn’t too long ago that Stronach was grabbing headlines for the scandal and controversy that had seeped into her personal and professional lives. The former MP was splashed across the papers when her relationship with now Defence Minister Peter MacKay fizzled after she famously crossed the floor from the Conservatives to join the Liberals. Later, the wife of former Maple Leaf Tie Domi accused her husband of having an affair with Stronach.
But Stronach managed the gossip swirling around Canadian water coolers with grace and dignity. “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. There is some proof to that,” she says with a laugh. “You have to really evaluate what is important to you and be able to look in the mirror at the end of the day. I’m comfortable with my decisions, with my principles, and I can’t worry about the judgments others make,” she says.
Indeed, at 43, Stronach possesses the wealth and connections to do just about anything she likes. But it’s her decision to put her privilege to good use, to quietly and consistently help others in need — from a hospital in Toronto to a small village in Africa to a school in Haiti — that is earning her some welldeserved attention.
“I feel very fortunate in that, when you have the resources and the means and the platform to effect change, I think you have a responsibility to do that,” she says. It’s why she established the Belinda Stronach Foundation.
In conversation, Belinda Stronach is straightforward and optimistic. She says that she’s been lucky in life and does what she can to help others who aren’t so fortunate. One of the focuses of her foundation is to help underprivileged girls in developing countries get an education.
Stronach’s foundation and former U.S. President Bill Clinton’s Clinton Global Initiative united to form a $1 million partnership to help NGOs and the private sector co-ordinate efforts to get issues faced by women and girls on the agenda at this year’s G8 and G20 summits in Huntsville and Toronto. Earlier this year, she launched the One Laptop Per Child program to provide a computer to every Aboriginal child in Canada between ages six and 12, so they can go online and connect with the world. She’s already raised more than $2 million from private companies toward that goal.
Stronach’s philanthropic efforts also have a very strong personal meaning. A breast cancer survivor,she hosted Live to Tell, an intimate concert with singer and breast cancer survivor Sheryl Crow last year.The show raised $375,000 toward a new breast cancer centre at Sunnybrook Hospital. She’s since added almost $2 million to the coffers of the Belinda Stronach Chair in Breast Cancer Reconstructive Surgery at Toronto General Hospital.
“I think I’m a very positive person.On one hand, I think I can be a very shy person, which is interesting, but on the other hand, if it’s a good cause, you find the energy and the strength to put to it,” she says. With her second chance, she continues to follow her dream of helping those in need. She also encourages young people who have their own ambitions to follow their passion and stick with it. “Don’t be afraid to dream big because if you can’t dream big you won’t get there,” she says. “You don’t have to wait for everything to be perfectly in line. I’ve met many great entrepreneurs.… They had a dream, they had a passion. They didn’t have all the answers, but they figured it out as they went along.”
— With files from Mary Gazze