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In 2006, when Clara Hughes stepped onto the Olympic podium in Torino, Italy, she became the first and only athlete ever to win multiple medals in both the Summer and Winter Games. Four years later, she was proud to carry the Canadian flag at the head of the Canadian team as they participated in the opening ceremony of the Vancouver Olympic Winter Games.

But there’s another story behind her celebrated career as an athlete, behind her signature billboard smile.

While most professional athletes devote their entire lives to training, Clara spent her teenage years using drugs and drinking to escape the stifling home life her alcoholic father had created in Elmwood, Winnipeg. She was headed nowhere fast when, at sixteen, she watched, transfixed in her living room, as gold medal speed skater Gaétan Boucher effortlessly raced in the 1988 Calgary Olympics. Dreaming of one day competing herself, Clara channeled her anger, frustration, and raw ambition into the endurance sports of speed skating and cycling. By 2010, she had become a six-time Olympic medalist.

After more than a decade in the gruelling world of professional sports that stripped away her confidence and bruised her body, Clara began to realize that her physical extremes, her emotional setbacks, and her partying habits were masking a severe depression. After winning bronze in the last speed skating race of her career, she decided to retire from sport, determined to repair herself. She has emerged as one of our most committed humanitarians, advocating for a variety of social causes both in Canada and around the world. In 2010, she became national spokesperson for Bell Canada’s Let’s Talk campaign in support of mental health awareness, using her Olympic standing to share the positive message of the power of forgiveness.

Join Clara Hughes as she discusses how she kept an open heart and mind amid her struggles and triumphs.

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In the past century, humanity has undergone explosive changes in numbers, science, technology, consumption and economics that have endowed us with the power to alter the biological, physical and chemical properties of the planet.

It is undeniable that the atmosphere and climate are altered; air, water and soil are fouled with toxic pollutants; oceans are depleted; forests are being cleared; and species are disappearing.

Now that most people live in large cities, our relationship with nature is less obvious. Computers and telecommunications fragment information so that we can no longer recognize the interconnectivity of everything in the world. Globalization of the economy renders the entire planet a source of resources and all people a market for products, while local communities and local ecosystems are negatively impacted.

Today, science is verifying this ancient wisdom and defines a different set of priorities that should become our bottom-line for the 21st century:

• We are biological beings with an absolute dependence on clean air, water, soil and sunlight for our well-being and survival.
• The web of all life on Earth is responsible for cleansing, replenishing and creating air, water, soil and captured sunlight.
• Diversity at the genetic, species, ecosystem and cultural level is critical for long-term resilience and adaptability.

We are social animals with an absolute need for love to realize our full human potential; maximal opportunity for love is ensured with strong families, communities, full employment, justice, equity, freedom from terror and war.

Human beings are one species among perhaps 10 to 15 million other species on whom we are ultimately dependent for our well-being. Humanity needs to rediscover humility and our place in the world so that we and the rest of life can continue to flourish.

Join Dr. Suzuki as he discusses how the way we see the world shapes the way we treat it.

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Facing tough choices with tenacity and living up to our potential is so often easier said than done. How can we truly rise to the occasions that challenge us? How can we harness exciting possibilities in a way that inspires others?

Manjit Minhas’ mesmerizing keynote will show you how to make a difference — at work, at home, and in the lives of everyone around you. Minhas shares her memorable experiences as an entrepreneur and leader, showing what it means to have vision, perseverance and true teamwork — and what it means to lead.

A judge on CBC’s Dragons’ Den for the past six years, Minhas also runs the 10th largest brewery in the world —earning an excess of 220 million dollars last year alone. Her unprecedented success in a male-dominated field has demolished stereotypes, surprised competitors, and cleared a path for entrepreneurs of every age and gender.

Join Manjit Minhas as she distills the hands-on entrepreneurial lessons of her success to inspire you to embrace change, defy expectations, and incentivize disruption.