Northern Lights Aero Foundation has cancelled its 12th Annual Elsie MacGill Awards Gala, scheduled for October 2020, because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The winners in this year’s program will instead be celebrated at the organization’s 2021 gala event.
Winners of this year’s program, however, will be announced sometime this fall. Established in 2009, the Elsie Awards each year recognize up to eight women for their contributions in specific aviation and aerospace disciplines, under the categories of Flight Operations, Government, Business, Education, Pioneer, Engineering and two Rising Stars.
RCMP Northern Light, Pilot Kathy Stewart
Northern Lights Aero Foundation (NLAF) also announced president Joy Parker Blackwood is stepping down from her post. New NLAF president Kathleen Lang of Bombardier Inc. has served as a long-time board member for the organization.
“This is and will continue to be a very difficult year for all of us in our personal and business lives. Incremental revitalization is starting, but getting back to a near-normal will unfortunately take months,” said Parker Blackwood. “The Northern Lights Aero Foundation will survive for a new and brighter day. Recognizing and promoting women, and diversity, in the Canadian aviation and aerospace industries is an on-going need and we are here, front and centre, fulfilling this mandate.”
