“3D movies continue to be very popular with our guests. With more 3D content being released each year, this installation will ensure that we have enough 3D capable systems to satisfy all of our guests and ensure that multiple 3D movies can play in the theatre at the same time,” said Ellis Jacob, President and CEO, Cineplex Entertainment. “Cineplex is committed to using technology to ensure that our guests can have the best entertainment experience possible when they visit our theatres.”

“Many of the highest profile films this year and beyond are being released in 3D and these additional installations will help assure that movie-goers visiting Cineplex locations will be able to see these highly anticipated movies in fully immersive RealD 3D,” said Joseph Peixoto, President, Worldwide Cinema at RealD. “We commend Cineplex for their commitment to giving movie-goers a premium entertainment experience including leveraging RealD’s technology advantage to deliver a bright, crisp and clear 3D image on screens of all sizes.”

In other news today, theatre guests and Cineplex employees showed support across Canada for the company’s fundraising efforts last year in aid of Starlight Children’s Foundation of Canada. Thanks to this support, Cineplex Entertainment will help provide sick children and their families with some escapism as the company announced today that $1,000,000 was raised for the Foundation in 2011. Guest generosity, national programs that supported Starlight and other special events were the catalysts of the fundraising. A cheque will be presented to Starlight in March.

“I’m so proud of the continued commitment Cineplex employees show the Starlight Children’s Foundation throughout the year. Our employees have truly embraced Starlight and they are quick to donate time or money when they can,” said Ellis Jacob, President and CEO, Cineplex Entertainment. “I would also like to commend our guests for supporting the Starlight programs as we could not have achieved this donation without their generosity.”

“Thanks to Cineplex, Starlight has been able to spread smiles and hope to more than 50,000 seriously ill and hospitalized children and their families,” said Trevor Dicaire, Director of Development, Starlight Children’s Foundation Canada. “We are constantly amazed and inspired by Cineplex’s generosity, passion for Starlight and efforts to include us in their fundraising programs and special events.”

Cineplex programs that benefited the Starlight Children’s Foundation include:

Employees at the Cineplex Home and Regional offices support Starlight throughout the year with various other fundraising events. In 2011, employees participated in raffles, themed events, bake sales and Starlight bear and pin sales.

The Starlight Children’s Foundation is a national, non-profit organization that strives to improve the quality of life for seriously ill children and their families. They provide entertainment, education and other family activities to help these children cope with the pain, fear and isolation of an illness.

“This month, she is witnessing several milestones for the company she started in 2003 and operates with 33 employees out of an office in New Westminster. A commercial her company produced to promote Variety The Children’s Charity Show of Hearts Telethon Feb. 11 and 12 will be airing on Global TV and Cackleberries will be launching “Variety House” in the virtual world of Oville with games, videos and books about special needs issues.

Foster said the partnership between Cackleberries and Variety is a natural because both have a vision of making the world a better place for children.

In addition to the partnership with Variety, Cackleberries is launching the paid membership component of its virtual world for children ages 3-7. Although children can play in the Cackleberries virtual world now for free, they will get access to more stories, as well as arts and crafts, music and early learning activities for a monthly fee.

There is an English as a Second language component for Cackleberries as well, which is being marketed to China, where 10,000 packages have been sold.”

You can read the rest of the interview on the Tri-City News site.

The “perk” of course is that you as a donor will recieve great giveaways and screen credit. And when it comes to the Deadsville IndieGoGo campaign, there is no one else giving away the types of items he has on his list. Things such as t-shirts from his last movie Bong of the Dead and full-size zombie busts.

Every seven seconds in Canada, a child is bullied

Simi Sara, popular radio host on CKNW AM 980 will champion this year’s campaign and will be joined by an all-star cast from the community including E-Talk Canada’s Elaine Lui “Lainey”, City of Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts, Vancouver Giants Captain Brendan Gallagher, Chris Gailus (Global TV), Fiona Forbes (Shaw TV), Gary Mason (Globe & Mail), Jody Vance (City TV) and Norma Reid (CTV) to help spread awareness and education to ensure that bullying stops here.

Official Pink Shirt Day T-Shirts, buttons, teaching resources, and posters are available at www.pinkshirtday.ca with T-Shirts also being sold at London Drugs locations beginning February 1^st.

Over the month of February, Simi Sara and CKNW AM 980 will be dedicating extensive coverage to the anti-bullying campaign. On air guests will discuss the multiple forms bullying can take including in schools, workplaces and cyber-bulling. “There is not more of a critical time than now to educate and arm children and adults with tools they need to stop bullying”, stated Sara who referenced the increased cases of bullying we are seeing across the news, in particular in the gay and lesbian communities.

The goal for this years’ campaign is to sell 60,000 Pink Shirt Day T-Shirts, which net proceeds will benefit the CKNW Orphans’ Fund in support of Boys & Girls Clubs of BC Anti-Bullying programs. For updates on CKNW’s Pink Shirt Day please visit www.pinkshirtday.ca, on Twitter @pinkshirtday, and on Facebook.

The 30 finalist ideas are now in the hands of a panel of impartial judges including Canada AM Anchor Jeff Hutcheson, Volunteer Canada President & CEO Ruth MacKenzie and Free The Children co-founder Craig Kielburger. The judges will review the ideas to decide which projects will receive funding. Winners will be announced January 25, 2012.

While voting is over, supporters can still contribute monetarily to their favourite Aviva Community Fund causes. Starting today, ideas with associated charities will have their “vote now” button replaced with a “donate now” button. These ideas can continue to leverage AvivaCommunityFund.org to collect donations from supporters. Benevity, a software company that helps businesses build more engaging cause marketing, community investment, workplace giving and other charitable programs, is providing the donation processing and tax receipting functionality.

“We would like to congratulate the finalists and everyone that entered the competition for participating. We appreciate each one of these organizations, groups or individuals that stepped up to make their community better and encourage them to continue,” said Debra Ambrose, Senior Vice President of National Sales and Marketing at Aviva Canada. “We’d also like to thank our broker partners for their support in working with many of the submissions to help create positive change in their communities.”

Listed below by province are the Aviva Community Fund 2011 finalists:

British Columbia

• Kitchen Equipment to Help Feed Bodies and Souls (Kamloops)
• Bear Rescue Facility (Smithers)
• VOKRA’s Feline Trap, Neuter, Return Program (Vancouver)

Northwest Territories

• Children’s First Centre (Inuvik)

Alberta

• Holyrood School Courtyard Classroom (Edmonton)
• G.S. Lakie Convertible Theatre/ Summer Arts Institute (Lethbridge)
• Rescue for Life – First Nation’s Spay/Neuter Initiatives (Spruce Grove)

Nunavut

• Help Us Build Nunavut’s First Animal Shelter (Iqaluit)

Saskatchewan

• Yorkton Skateboard, Bike and Walking Park (Yorkton)

Manitoba

• Help D’Arcy’s A.R.C. Animal Rescue Centre (Winnipeg)

Ontario

• Cameron Street Public School’s Yard Revitalization (Collingwood)
• St. Joseph’s Villa / SIM Gym — What if? One Day… (Dundas)
• Kate’s Kause Accessible Playground (Elmira)
• St. John School’s Field of Dreams (Guelph)
• Head Strong (Kitchener)
• A New Hope For Spinal Cord Injury Recovery (Newmarket)
• Kaiden’s Care Kits (Russell)
• Give Our Lions a Place to Roar! (St. Catharines)
• Harder 4 Carter (Temiskaming Shores)
• Help us Champion the Cause of Homeless Cats (Toronto)

Quebec

• TED: Troubles Envahissants du Développement (Boucherville)
• Cascades Club: Something Special from Just About Nothing (Chelsea)
• Des arbres et des jeux, là où il fera bon grandir! (Gatineau)
• Un terrain de jeu grandeur nature (Ste Catherine de la Jacques-Cartier)
• Accoucher de rire (Montreal)
• Complexe culturel Paradis (Rimouski)

New Brunswick

• Saint John SPCA Animal Rescue Needs New Dog/ Cat Kennels (Saint John)

Prince Edward Island

• Bring Bobbi-Jo Home! (Tignish)

Newfoundland and Labrador

• Help Bridges to Hope Fight Poverty in Newfoundland and Labrador (St. John’s)
• Labrador SPCA Needs a New Animal Shelter for K-9′s and Felines! (Valley-Goose Bay)

Viewers can tune in to Global at 7:30pm Eastern Time tomorrow to see ET Canada reporter Kim D’Eon, star interior designer Penny Southam and a group of volunteers complete a record two-day, top-to-bottom makeover of the food bank’s small apartment-style kitchen.

“Our staff at ET Canada were so passionate about this project, we just knew we had to get behind it,” said Paul Robertson, President, Shaw Media and Group Vice President, Broadcasting, Shaw.  “At this time of year, food banks are used more than ever and we’re really pleased that we could help support Fort York Food Bank’s ability to serve the community.”

For more than a decade, Fort York Food Bank has been providing up to 200 hot meals per day to Torontonians in need.  The organization operates with only one staff member and ninety-five cents of every dollar donated goes to people who need it most.

“Fort York Food Bank is thrilled to receive Shaw’s generous financial support. With our new kitchen, we look forward to improving the quality of the meals we provide, facilitating more efficient service delivery and providing a more welcoming environment for our clients,” said Ravi Sreedharan, President, Fort York Food Bank.  “As a grassroots agency we are entirely dependent upon community members coming together for a good cause, and have been inspired to see how quickly the team mobilized to bring this project to fruition.”

Shaw has a strong commitment to enriching the communities where its employees and their families live and work.  In 2010 as part of the Together is Amazing movement, Shaw raised more than 2.6 million pounds of food for local food banks across Canada.

ET Canada Gives Back will air throughout the week of Monday, December 19, 2011 at 7:30pm ET on Global.

“I was worried our workshop wouldn’t be able to make these missing toys in time for Christmas, so I called my friends at MEGA to give me a hand in helping Sun Youth”, said Mr. Claus, Santa Claus that is.

To celebrate his visit, MEGA Brands has extended an invitation to a lucky group of Sun Youth kids that will meet Santa Claus and receive a tour of the toy factory, on Friday, December 16^th, as they learn how toys are made, right here in their home town.

“We are very pleased to assist Sun Youth in their efforts to help families and children in need”, said Marc Bertrand, President and CEO of MEGA Brands.  “Every child should receive a toy during the holidays, and we are happy to work alongside Santa to help make this happen.”

Adds Sid Stevens, Executive Vice-President and cofounder of Sun Youth: “We are touched by the offer that came in from MEGA Brands. We are always pleased to welcome new partners and MEGA came through at a very difficult period for our organization. This partnership will allow us to make sure that 2000 youngsters between the age of 6 and 12 will be able to have gifts under the Christmas tree, thanks to MEGA and Santa”.

We invite the media to join us on Friday, December 16^th at 10:30 am as we welcome Santa and the Sun Youth kids at the MEGA Brands toy factory, located at 4505 Hickmore, Montreal, H4T 1K4.

FuseTalk’s discussion forum software is a great platform for embedding Adjoy campaigns for a wide variety of users and interests. With Adjoy you are able to tie video views with direct donations from a sponsor to a charity. The GiveGauge™ runs while the video is being viewed. The sponsoring company pays for viewership and the majority of the payment makes its way to the charity that is named in the video campaign. Videos can be whatever you want them to be but they are typically based on the charitable organization and cause, headlined by the supporting business with links to the business and the charity on completion. It can also effectively be used to show informative product or corporate videos, which viewers will be motivated to watch because they can see the GiveGauge is rewarding a charity for their time.

“Beyond the obvious, I love how a forum can be properly used to get the attention of it’s membership on an important topic,” says Greg Waite, President of FuseTalk. “With Adjoy I can link in a video that I believe is important to a forum community and have people motivated to actually watch it and share it because viewership raises money for a charity. We see many applications for every forum which run on FuseTalk. Both internal and external forums are always looking for ways to encourage participation and stickiness.”

Over the last decade, the effectiveness of traditional advertising on forums has diminished. Forums behind the corporate firewall do not generally provide advertising.

“A CEO that wants to get a message out to 100 or 50,000 employees can do that far more successfully on a forum by tying in a commitment to a cause. With Adjoy, the full-viewership rate can be as high as 93%, by simply tying viewership to the right cause,” says Brad Stewart, President of Adjoy. “What CEO would not want to guarantee employee attentiveness and at the same time increase morale with a sense of pride that the organization is funding a cause?”

“Imagine the forum you have now and how you could make it that much more interesting and more highly adopted if you inserted meaningful cause-based video that supports your message, your community, and a cause that your company or community can relate to. It just makes sense,” said Waite.

The event will begin Friday, December 16th at 7 p.m. ET at penguinsmarathons.com. The Penguins Productions team will be playing 8 Zelda games for 24 hours a day. The marathon will not conclude until all 8 games have been completed.

They will be immersed in The Zelda Universe, playing: The Legend of Zelda, The Adventure of Link , A Link to the Past, Ocarina of Time, Majora’s Mask, Wind Waker, Twilight Princess, and Skyward Sword. Headlining their amazing prizes is a brand new Nintendo Wii with Skyward Sword and New Super Mario Bros.

The team is raising the bar high, and aiming for a $4,000.00 goal. Donations can be made at the time of the event  via a “Chipin” widget on their website.

Known as “the party that Twitter built,” HoHoTO sells out 600 tickets every year for a remarkable night of music, dancing, and enthusiastic partying; attracting a hyper-connected crowd from Toronto’s vibrant technology, digital marketing and social media communities. Run entirely by volunteers on zero budget, one of the most extraordinary things about HoHoTO is that 100 per cent of all sponsor donations go directly to help Daily Bread.

With the ongoing economic downturn, unemployment in the Greater Toronto Area is high and many people are in need.  GTA food bank use has actually increased 14% since the first HoHoTO in 2008, and this year the need is greater than ever. Daily Bread Food Bank is facing a 140,000-pound shortage of food heading into this Holiday Season.

“No one deserves to go hungry anytime, least of all during the Holidays,” said Alexa Clark, Editor and Publisher, CheapEats Restaurant Guides, and one of the fundraiser’s founding organizers. “More than a million of our Toronto-area neighbours have had to visit a food bank in the past year. Given how affluent our city is that’s just unacceptable.”

HoHoTO attracts support from a host of generous sponsors, including Molson Coors, Rogers, Chevrolet, Teehan+Lax, Klick Health, Gelaskins, Keek and many others. Partygoers are treated to great music from local DJs and an extraordinary silent raffle filled with donated prizes like smartphones, spa packages, sports tickets, private chef services, art, and e-book readers. The HoHoTO Hangover Auction, one of the world’s first Twitter-driven charity auctions, kicks off on the evening of December 20, with some great additional prizes up for grabs.

“For the last three years, HoHoTO has helped inject wonderful positivity into the fight against hunger,” said Gail Nyberg, executive director, Daily Bread Food Bank. “We are truly thankful for the time and commitment that the HoHoTO organizers put in. Without the support of organizations like HoHoTO, our Holiday Drive could not be as successful.”

HoHoTO has been cited as one of the first and best examples of the power of self-organizing online groups to make a real-world difference. In 2010, HoHoTO was among the top three third-party fundraising events for the Daily Bread Food Bank. The event has been profiled as a best-practice use of Twitter and social media in best-selling business books and was even recognized by Queen Rania of Jordan as an example of social media influencing online activism.

The Kidscape app, which is available in three different versions – city, farm and space – is unlike other apps available on the market. It allows users to connect with the kids that drew the pictures, with the game play experience taking you inside a child’s imagination.

“Kidscape is a modern day lemonade stand, providing a fun and wonderful way to raise money for the Ronald McDonald Houses across Canada, and support the families and children staying at a House,” says Cathy Loblaw, Executive Director, Ronald McDonald House Charities Canada. “The app takes place in a happy and imaginative virtual world that engages people of all ages to play a game while making a difference.”

Developed by Trajectory Sales Enablement, Kidscape was created using aggregated drawings from kids staying at Ronald McDonald Houses across Canada and turning them into a fully animated game with fun sound effects. The game also features a special gallery of the original drawings provided by the House kids.

“This is the first time we developed an app without knowing what the end product would look like before we started. The children staying at the Ronald McDonald Houses led the way, and we went where their drawings took us,” says Bennett Pearl, President, Trajectory Sales Enablement. “It was great to be part of a process where the kids were taking charge to make a difference. They were an incredible inspiration to work for.”

Kidscape is available for purchase on iTunes and will help give the gift of family to sick children whose families are staying at a Ronald McDonald House® while their children are being treated at a nearby hospital. The three different versions of the app are:

• Kidscape City for $0.99
• Kidscape Farm for $4.99
• Kidscape Space for $19.99

A sneak peak of the Kidscape game play experience is available online. The kidscape apps are rated 4+ and are compatible with iPhone, iPod touch and iPad devices running iOS 3.1 or later.

• Maison Astral (McGill College Avenue between Sherbrooke and Cathcart Streets)
• MusiquePlus and MusiMax stations, and L’Astral concert hall (corner of St. Catherine West and de Bleury Streets)
• Astral Radio (corner of Papineau and René-Lévesque East where radio stations NRJ 94.3 and Rouge fm 107,3 are located)

In many regions across the province of Québec, NRJ, Rouge fm and boom teams are also taking part in collecting cash and non-perishable food donations.

“We are very proud to be participating in the Media’s Big Food Drive once again this year,” said Derev Antikacioglu, Director, Brand Management and Social Responsibility, Astral Media Inc. Québec remains one of the provinces most affected by hunger with food banks helping hundreds of thousands of people each month, over a third of which are children. The entire Astral team is pitching in and making a heartfelt plea to all of its listeners, viewers, and many partners to give generously to the Media’s Big Food Drive.

Astral is proud to announce the participation of Philippe Laprise (starring in VRAK la vie and Ça sent drôle! on VRAK TV) as spokesperson for the Media’s 2011 Big Food Drive.

“With the support and generosity of the public, we want to do something tangible to encourage young people in New Brunswick to build their reading and writing skills,” says Étienne LeBoeuf, Senior Manager, Assurance Services, at Ernst & Young’s Dieppe office and leader of this initiative. “Literacy is a key issue for the future prosperity of our province, and we believe this initiative is a step in the right direction.”

Ernst & Young is inviting the public to the drop-off point this Saturday. Volunteers will be on hand with hot chocolate for all donations of books or cash, and donors can enjoy the Santa Claus Parade festivities.

• Date: Saturday, 26 November 2011
• Time: 6:00 to 7:30 p.m.
• Drop-off point: Assumption Place, 770 Main Street, Moncton
• Wanted: New and used books, cash donations
• Target group: Children between ages 5 and 12

Donations will also be accepted at Ernst & Young’s offices from 5 to 16 December 2011 between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. Books can be dropped off at the reception desk of our Dieppe office at 11 Englehart Street.

“The upcoming holiday season reminds us how important each small act can be in supporting the community we live and work in,” says Dieppe office partner Roger Bastarache. “Fostering a thirst for learning among our young people is key to growing a strong, competitive local workforce.”

“While Canada’s mission in Afghanistan is coming to a close, the aftershock for military families can be everlasting.  And the day-to-day challenges that military families face – like being posted far away from extended family – will be ever present. We need to challenge ourselves to continue to support those who have been supporting us, whether it’s in a time of conflict or peace,” said Shaun Francis, Chair of the True Patriot Love Foundation.

The money raised at this latest Tribute Dinner presented by Bell Canada will support military families through programs that provide psychological counselling, retrofit homes and cars for soldiers returning with injuries, rehabilitate wounded soldiers through sport, and help families in the community cope with the everyday challenges that come with service.

“We are honoured to be here in Toronto and I am so thankful that Canadians recognize the service and sacrifices made by their sons and daughters in uniform.  Words can hardly express the gratitude we feel for all that the True Patriot Love Foundation has done for our families and your military,” said the Chief of Defence Staff, General Walt Natynczyk.  ”The support of Canadians is making a difference for military families, the wounded, ill and injured, and the families of the fallen.  These initiatives and the funding from tonight’s gala clearly demonstrate to our troops that Canada really cares.”

Facts:

• Since its inception in 2009, the True Patriot Love Foundation has raised more than $9.7 million through three Tribute Dinners in Toronto (2009, 2010, 2011), one in Fredericton (2010), one in Vancouver (2011) and one in Halifax (2011).
• The money raised has been donated to organizations that support military families, including:
• Military Families Fund – To provide immediate support where government is unable, including counselling, local supports for children with special needs, and help for families to reunite in times of illness, injury and death.
• Military Family Resource Centres – To meet the needs of military families and to give them opportunities to enhance their quality of life, including childcare, children’s programming and career development.
• Soldier On – To optimize the functional independence of ill or injured Canadian Forces personnel through programs that support their full and active participation in physical fitness, health promotion and sport.
• Two new initiatives were announced at the Toronto Dinner:
• The True Patriot Love Mount Everest Climb in support of Soldier On:  In the Fall of 2012, a group of Canadian veterans injured in Afghanistan will test their limits by conquering the highest point on earth as part of their recovery.
• The True Patriot Love Vimy Pilgrimage Award for Outstanding Youth Leadership and Service:  In August 2012, young people who have been recognized for their outstanding community service and leadership will be awarded a fully funded, week-long educational program in Vimy, France, to study Canada’s tremendous First World War effort.
• For the third year in a row, Canadian artists transformed military helmets into unique works of art. A symbol of protection and our hope for the safe return of our soldiers, each helmet reflects each artist’s vision of Canada and honours the sacrifices made.
• Notable attendees at the 2011 Toronto Tribute Dinner include General Walter Natynczyk, General (Retired) Rick Hiller, the Honourable Julian Fantino, Associate Minister of National Defence , Mrs. Laureen Harper, Mr. David Jacobson, US Ambassador to Canada and  Dr. Andrew Pocock, UK High Commissioner to Canada, and George Cope, President and CEO of BCE and Bell Canada.
• Musical entertainment was provided by the Trews and Sass Jordan.
• In August 2011, the True Patriot Love Foundation in partnership with the Government of Ontario announced a plaque program to commemorate the sacrifices made by Canadian soldiers and their families, which will be placed at 26 bridges along the Highway of Heroes.
• In the spring of 2012, True Patriot Love will be hosting its second annual Invitational for Heroes golf tournament.

“Bell knows that Canadian Forces members and their families are there for all Canadians, and we are proud to work with the True Patriot Love Foundation to help support their well being,” said Mary Deacon, Chair of the Bell Mental Health Initiative. “We are pleased that our sponsorship of tonight’s event will support the service men and women, and their families, dealing with issues related to mental health.”

The CLIC program provides home computers to individuals and families in Calgary who might not be able to afford them. The program is hosted by the Calgary Drop-in & Rehab Centre (The DI). The DI’s philosophy is to be a compassionate voice for the down and out low-income population of Calgary – without regard to the circumstances that led up to their demise.

CTECH wants to help. According to Carl Fransen, President of CTECH, “The DI Centre donations have been drying up. They are 200 computers short and the waiting list has grown to over 5 months.  CTECH can do something about that, and we do so with pleasure.”

CTECH is determined to have these computers in the hands of the people who need them by Christmas. There will be staff members who will even pick up the donations, and in exchange, will give 1 hour of system consulting time in exchange for any donation.

CTECH operates on the building blocks of Build IT, Grow IT and Support IT to provide their clients with the complete satisfaction and confidence in their technology systems. CTECH’s professional Calgary IT support team will not rest until the client is satisfied with the needed servicing.

“This silver coin commemorates the spontaneous outpouring of emotion by thousands of Canadians who have gathered along the roadway and overpasses of the Highway of Heroes to pay tribute to the brave Canadian men and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice,” said Ian E. Bennett, President and CEO of the Royal Canadian Mint.  “The Highway of Heroes commemorative coin also continues the proud Mint tradition of issuing coins that honour Canada’s veterans and the theme of Remembrance.”

“With this special coin, the Government of Canada is paying homage to every day Canadians who have shown their unwavering support to the families who have accompanied our fallen soldiers as they made the journey along the Highway of Heroes,” said the Honourable Jim Flaherty, Minister of Finance and Minister responsible for the Royal Canadian Mint.  “The donation to the Afghanistan Repatriation Memorial and the Military Families Fund through the sale of this coin will ensure that the spirit of the Highway of Heroes will endure for years to come.”

“As we approach Veteran’s Week and Remembrance Day on November 11th, Canadians across this great country are taking a moment to think of the brave men and women who serve and sacrifice to protect our nation,” said the Honourable Peter MacKay, Minister of National Defence.  “The Highway of Heroes is a grassroots movement that symbolizes the outpouring of support for the efforts of the Canadian Forces.  I am proud that the Royal Canadian Mint has captured the emotion of this movement and I commend them for supporting military charities.”

The Highway of Heroes commemorative silver coin, which has a limited mintage of 25,000, can be ordered today by directly contacting the Royal Canadian Mint at 1-800-267-1871 in Canada, 1-800-268-6468 in the US, or on the Internet at www.mint.ca/heroes. This coin will also be sold at the Mint’s boutiques in Ottawa, Winnipeg and Vancouver as well as through the Mint’s global network of dealers and distributors, including participating Canada Post outlets.

“Community Day is one way we can say thank you to the many communities that have been so supportive of us over the years and simultaneously raise awareness and funds for the Starlight Children’s Foundation,” said Pat Marshall, Vice-President Communications and Investor Relations, Cineplex Entertainment. “We are overwhelmed by the generosity of our guests and our Community Day partners who helped make this event such a success. We look forward to doing it again next year.”

Cineplex would like to thank Warner Bros. Pictures Canada, RealD, Mars and Wrigley Canada for their donations to support Community Day. Warner Bros. Pictures Canada donated the movies that were enjoyed on Community Day. RealD donated 3D glasses allowing guests to enjoy the 3D experience. Mars and Wrigley Canada donated a portion of the candy that was sold.

In addition to the concession sales, additional funds were raised as theatres sold paper stars which guests could write their name on for $2 and some theatres offered face painting for $2. Cineplex also donated all of the revenue from theatre video and interactive game machines during the morning event. Cast members and office staff across Canada volunteered their time to be a part of Community Day.

Community Day featured free family movies and specially discounted concession items. Regular-sized popcorn, soft drinks and select candy items were sold at the reduced price of $2 each.

The Starlight Children’s Foundation is a national, non-profit organization that strives to improve the quality of life for seriously ill children and their families. They provide entertainment, education and other family activities to help these children cope with the pain, fear and isolation of an illness.

“We’re pleased to once again kick off this exciting initiative with Pier 1 Imports and Owlkids,” says UNICEF Canada’s Chief Development Officer Dave Spedding. “This is the 7^th annual competition in Canada with 100 per cent of proceeds supporting UNICEF’s work ensuring the most vulnerable children worldwide have opportunities to thrive in the future.”

The winner of this year’s contest will be announced in January 2012 and will receive a $5,000 scholarship and $500 worth of art supplies for their school.  Visitors to the Pier 1 website can also take part by voting for four Fan’s Choice Awards between November 27 and December 3. Winners will receive Owlkids surprise gift packs.

Entry forms are available at all Pier 1 Imports stores nationwide while supplies last or online from pier 1, unicef or owl kids. All entries must be hand-drawn and received by Pier 1 Imports’ Corporate Headquarters by November 4^th.  Submissions will be judged on artistic quality and creative interpretation of this year’s theme.

Last year’s contest winner was 13-year-old Genice Chan from Vancouver B.C. who received the grand prize for her heart warming interpretation of the theme “Making Spirits Bright” – a cheerful design of two children placing a shining star on top of a holiday tree. Along with having her design turned into a greeting card, Genice received a $5,000 scholarship and $500 worth of art supplies for her school.

The Pier 1 Imports/Owlkids/UNICEF Greeting Card Contest started in 2005 to raise awareness among Canadian school children about UNICEF’s important work for children around the world. It has inspired kids from coast to coast to use their creative talents in a meaningful way.  Pier 1 started selling UNICEF greeting cards in North America in 1985 and has raised more than $29 million to date.

Funds from the sale of cards support UNICEF programs that provide lifesaving medicines, vaccines, nutritious foods, primary education, clean water and sanitation as well as emergency relief for millions of children and women in more than 150 countries.

The wide-screen projection of these two short films by Oasis HD will be accompanied by an online exchange session on Twitter between spectators in the theatre and Parks Canada specialists. The films are in English, but this exchange can be carried out in the preferred official language of the participants.

This original initiative is part of the Parks Canada centennial. Its goal is to bring the Canadian population in urban centres closer to Canada’s natural heritage landscapes, which is Parks Canada’s mission to protect, for all time.

Tickets for this one-of-a-kind screening are now on sale. To get details about the projection schedule and participating theatres in your region, or to purchase your tickets, visit the Cineplex Events page.

Cineplex Entertainment will also be hosting its first-ever National Community Day on Saturday, October 22nd. Guests are invited to all Cineplex theatres on the morning of October 22^nd to enjoy a free movie and discounted popcorn, soft drinks and select candy items. This year’s specially designed Starlight pin will also be available for guests to purchase during the event. All proceeds from these initiatives will be donated to the Starlight Children’s Foundation.

“We are extremely proud to host our first-ever National Community Day in our theatres to support the Starlight Children’s Foundation. We hope our guests will join us for what is sure to be a very fun family-friendly morning,” said Pat Marshall, Vice President Communications and Investor Relations, Cineplex Entertainment. “The generosity of our guests and Community Day partners will no doubt make this event a big success and help brighten the lives of some very deserving recipients.”

The Starlight Children’s Foundation is a national, non-profit organization that strives to improve the quality of life for seriously ill children and their families. They provide entertainment, education and other family activities to help these children cope with the pain, fear and isolation of an illness.

Community Day will feature free movies and specially discounted concession items. Regular-sized popcorn and soft drinks as well as select candy items will be sold at the reduced price of $2 each. The specially designed Starlight pin, available for purchase exclusively at Cineplex theatres, will also be sold for $2. All proceeds from these sales will be donated to the Starlight Children’s Foundation.

Special thanks to Warner Bros. Pictures Canada who graciously donated the movies that will play on Community Day and to Mars and Wrigley Canada for donating a portion of the candy. Cineplex staff, from cast members to Home and Regional Office employees, will volunteer their time at theatres across the country to help make this event a great success.

A complete listing of movies and showtimes for your local theatre can be found at online. Seating for each movie is limited and available on a first come, first served basis. Theatres will open their doors to guests at 8:30 a.m. and movies will begin at 9:00 a.m.

“The script uses the Jewish tradition of Passover to tell a story of lost innocence and the harsh realities of growing up. It does so with a hilarious, irreverent twist that gives it universal appeal,” said Producer David Cormican. “It’s the moment when every kid realizes Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy or even the Easter Bunny aren’t real. That’s what drew me to this script”.

The cast includes Gemini and Leo award nominee Brian Markinson (Charlie Wilson’s War, Shooter, Caprica) in the title role as Elijah the Prophet. Melanie Nicholls-King (Rookie Blue, The Wire) and two­-time Emmy Award nominee Tonya Lee Williams (Young & The Restless, Poor Boy’s Game, She’s The Mayor) play Officer Murphy and Cst. Jackie, respectively. Gemini nominated funny man, Carlos Diaz (Rent-a­-Goalie, Cra$h & Burn), also lends his comedic chops to the short, playing Brian.

Behind the camera, Cormican and Cooper have assembled an experienced team that includes:

* Genie and Gemini nominee, Director of Photography Alwyn Kumst (Degrassi: The Next Generation, Highland Gardens)
* Indie music and recording artist, Olds Sleeper, as Composer
* Veteran Sound Editor and two­-time Genie nominee, Alan Hardiman (Relic Hunter, Kids in the Hall).

“I couldn’t be more pleased with the team we’ve been able to put together. The script has really helped us generate interest from day one”, said Director James Cooper. “Kickstarter offers us a unique ability to raise awareness for the film before we go to camera, which is something a lot of shorts have trouble doing.”

The film, set to be shot in the Spring of 2012, will be partially funded via Kickstarter, an arts-specific crowd­-funding site. The all-or-nothing campaign aims to raise an additional $20,000.00 in 45 days. Kickstarter campaign contributors will be provided with a variety of unique rewards, ranging from original music from indie recording artist Olds Sleeper, limited edition artwork, Elijah bobble-­-heads and engraved flasks, to festival premiere tickets and round trip plane tickets to attend the filming of the short film. The Kickstarter campaign for ‘Elijah the Prophet’ runs from October 12th to November 25th 2011.

Cormican’s executive producer credits include feature film work on the Milla Jovavich film, ‘Faces in the Crowd’, the Jessica Biel thriller, ‘The Tall Man’ and the currently in production zombie slasher ’13 Eerie’ starring Katherine Isabelle (Ginger Snaps, Endgame).

Cormican’s last two produced short films from the Canadian Short Screenplay Competition, ‘Minus Lara’ and ‘Rusted Pyre’, have most recently been co-awarded the distinction of “Best in Canada” by the 2011 Reel Rave International Film Festival.

‘Rusted Pyre’, which first bowed in Cannes as part of Telefilm Canada’s “Not Short on Talent” programme has also screened as an official selection of the CFC’s Worldwide Short Film Festival, Calgary, Edmonton, Atlantic and Tulsa International Film Festivals. The short was also named one of the top 100 films of 2011 by the Young
Cuts Film Festival.

‘Minus Lara’, a Bravo!FACT funded short film, has also received ‘best of’ honours at the Yorkton Film Festival and screened recently as an official selection of the Edmonton International Film Festival.

This fundraiser screening is a rare occasion for journalists to meet many young Aboriginal filmmakers and musicians, who enjoyed the passage of the mobile studios in their community. Ghislain Picard, Chief of the AFNQL, as well as representatives from Oxfam Québec, SUCO and Health Canada will be among the honored guests to highlight their talent.

The launching of the 2011 films selection, during the New Cinema Festival (Festival du nouveau cinéma), is also an opportunity for the Wapikoni Mobile to raise funds for its future activities with First Nations youth. The screening will take place at the “Cœur des sciences” of UQAM at 5:30p.m.

The launching of the 2011 film selection was made possible thanks to numerous partners and in particular, the Arts and Letters’ Council of Quebec (CALQ), Quebec’s ministry of Culture, Communications and Status of Women (MCCCF), the Arts Council of Montreal (CAM), Oxfam Québec and Suco.

During the three-week fundraising drive, Canadians passionate about literacy tapped their online social networks and communities encouraging friends, family and neighbours to “adopt” their local schools and raise funds for books. For every 100 “adoptions,” Indigo donated one book to the school. Individual stores added unique events to the campaign including an African drumming night hosted by Indigo Bay/Bloor for Toronto’s Rose Avenue Junior Public School and students at Forest Park Elementary distributed handcrafted bookmarks to anyone who made an in-store donation at Chapters in Nanaimo.  Giving a gift that gives, resonated with Canadians during this year’s campaign with 70% of online donations coming from the purchase of special limited-edition Indigo e-gift cards redeemable at Indigo, Chapters and Coles stores as well as online at indigo.ca.

Good News by the Numbers

• $391,000 was raised for 154 public school libraries -21% more than in 2010
• 41 schools surpassed their fundraising goal by raising more than one book per child in their school
• 14 schools also surpassed their fundraising goals, raising more than two and three times their fundraising goals

“Thank you to Canadian book lovers who, again this year, demonstrated overwhelming generosity and support for childhood literacy and Indigo’s Adopt a School Program,” says Jennifer Jones, Director, Indigo Love of Reading Foundation. “The schools identified this year were using worn-out, out-dated books and learning materials to teach our children. Now, the gift of reading during the critical elementary school years is even more possible for children at high-needs schools across the country.”

To date, Adopt a School has raised more than $924,000, putting more than 80,000 books into the hands of children at 459 elementary schools across Canada. Fundraising will continue online until June 1, 2012 given the overwhelming interest by and support of Canadians. Schools interested in participating in next year’s Adopt a School program can apply online.

To meet official Guinness standards, each costume must have:

• A full body cover outfit in blue
• Red underpants over the blue outfit
• An S on the chest in red and yellow
• A yellow belt
• Red boots or full boot covers in red
• A red cape

Nexen staff will try to better the current record of 288 participants at an event organized by the Cuchulainn Gaels Athletic Club in Omeath, County Louth, Ireland, in August 2010. An adjudicator from the Guinness Book of World Records will be in attendance to take the official count and verify whether a new record has been set. According to Guinness rules, all Nexen staff wearing Superman costumes must gather in an enclosed area for 10 minutes for the total to be official.

The event will raise awareness for the United Way of Calgary and Area, which is attempting to set its own record with the 2011 “Change starts here” campaign by beating last year’s campaign total of $51.7 million. Nexen has run successful United Way campaigns for more than 25 years and last year raised $1.4 million, which includes employee donations and dollar-for-dollar matching funds from Nexen. For 2011, Nexen is attempting to better last year’s total by increasing staff participation while inspiring other companies and organizations in Calgary to support the United Way!

“Social responsibility is a huge part of our company culture and it’s one of the criteria for our 50 Most Engaged Workplaces award, so it’s important that we lead by example,” said Razor Suleman, Founder and CEO of Achievers. “I’m so impressed and incredibly proud that even after ACE, our biggest event of the year, the team walked 32 km on Saturday. It speaks to how much community service is ingrained in our corporate culture.”

The Achievers team, which had 15 members including CEO Razor Suleman as well as CFO and COO David Brennan, raised a total of $51,381.36. The team participated in the 32 km walk on September 10th, and were among 4,013 participants who raised a total of $9.4 million.

To date, The Weekend has raised over $121 million, enabling The Princess Margaret to support research programs and clinical trials, seed-fund the breast cancer rapid diagnosis pilot which is now The Gattuso Rapid Diagnostic Centre, expand the surgical robotics program for gynecological patients, purchase breast MRI and digital mammography machines and continue to support the first in-hospital Survivorship Clinic and Program in Canada.

“We’ve made a great deal of progress in the last ten years, but we need to keep moving forward,” said Dr. Benjamin Neel, Research Director at The Campbell Family Cancer Research Institute at The Princess Margaret. “The continued support of The Weekend community allows us to procure new leading edge diagnostic equipment and enables scientists to make continued progress in clinical trials and research advancements.”

Achievers provides a multilingual solution with 24/7 support to organizations between 500 employees up to Fortune 500 companies looking to enhance employee engagement. The Social Recognition platform provides performance-based recognition and rewards in the form of points that can be redeemed for meaningful rewards including Apple, Visa and Expedia.

Each participant has been partnered with a child anticipating his or her wish to serve as an inspiration. Participants will meet their wish child in person for the first time on event day. Upwards of $100,000 is expected to be raised at the event. Nationally since 2006, more than 650 participants have taken part in Exile Island helping Children’s Wish raise over $2 million.

Who will be banished to Exile Island this year?

• Andrea Shaw, Founder & Managing Partner, The Twentyten Group
• Chief John McKearney, Fire Chief, Vancouver Fire & Rescue Services
• Gerry De Cicco, Assistant General Manager, Richmond Olympic Oval
• Ian Speckman, Dealer Principal, Maple Ridge Chrysler
• Jennifer Scott, Designer & Co-owner, A Good Chick To Know
• Jessica Bedi, Vancouver Police Department
• Kevin Hayes, Community Events Director, The Shore 104.3 FM
• Mashiah Vaughn, Actress, Model & Entrepreneur, Founder of Open Sundaes
• Mayor Richard Stewart, City of Coquitlam
• Michael Gokturk, Chief Executive Officer, Payfirma Corporation

Look for the festivities to take place in the Art Gallery’s North Courtyard by the Fountain, with the official Opening Ceremony getting under way at 1:00 pm. The challenges will run from 1:30 pm until 4:00 pm, and will be followed by awards presentations and the closing ceremony.

This fall, Hasbro Canada Corporation has teamed up with Toys”R”Us locations across Canada to help families responsibly dispose of their old, worn-out games. Toys”R”Us is offering exceptional savings to replace these old games with new refreshed editions of Hasbro games, to bring an extra dose of fun to all Family Game Night gatherings. At the same time, consumers will also be contributing to a great cause.

Toys”R”Us will be hosting The Great Games Trade-In Event from September 9^th through September 29^th at all Toys”R”Us locations across Canada. Consumers will save $5.00 off any Hasbro game over $9.67 when they trade in any old board game.

In addition to these savings, Hasbro Canada Corporation will donate one Board Game per unit exchanged at Toys”R”Us locations nationwide between September 9^th and September 29^th, to the Starlight Children’s Foundation. The games that Hasbro Canada Corporation will donate to Starlight for the promotion will be decided on by Hasbro Canada Corporation based on net exchanges during the promotion and shall be capped at 2000 units. Starlight Children’s Foundation Canada in turn will donate these games to lift the spirits of seriously ill children across Canada.

“Hasbro and Toys”R”Us are thrilled to be donating to the Starlight Children’s Foundation who are as committed as we are to making children smile” said Greg Ferguson, Senior Brand Manager of Games & Puzzles for Hasbro Canada. “These children and their families have been through so much, we are honoured to help provide them with some much needed joy and fun.”

This year’s IT Lounge, held from September 8 to 14, connects diverse brands such as Canada’s RW&CO and Italy’s Coccinelle to raise funds and awareness not only for international charity partner Artists for Peace and Justice (APJ), but locally for Camp Oochigeas, where children with cancer rediscover the magic of childhood.

Founded by Oscar-winning director and screenwriter Paul Haggis, APJ is improving the lives of Haitian children by supporting an education model that will give thousands access to schooling, as well as hot meals, clean water and medical care. The APJ board includes Hollywood heavy-hitters such as James Franco, Penélope Cruz, Javier Bardem, Nicole Kidman, Olivia Wilde, Gerard Butler, Josh Brolin, Diane Lane, Charlize Theron and Maria Bello.

IT Lounge doesn’t overlook those who need support close to home, with participating brands also donating to local charity Camp Oochigeas – a privately funded, volunteer-based organization that provides kids with cancer and kids affected by childhood cancer with a unique opportunity for growth through challenging, fun, enriching and magical experiences.

Though Natasha Koifman, president and founder of NKPR Inc., is quick to admit the film festival is her favourite time of year, it’s not just because of red carpet calls and gala events. “Working with our partners to raise funds and awareness for a number of different causes gives us a unique opportunity to make a positive impact in the lives of children and their families on both a global and local scale.”

Located in the heart of the cinematic action at 312 Adelaide Street West, NKPR headquarters will once again transform into a can’t-miss pop-up shop loaded with star-worthy finds that all give back. Don’t miss out on the always fun and functional IT Lounge media centre, this year created by interior designer and décor expert Karen Sealy, owner of Sealy Design Inc., featuring HD LG Optimus Pads provided by Rogers.

This year feature brands include a wide range of global and local faves such as RW&CO., Fila, Coccinelle, Stila Cosmetics, Ardell Lashes, Goody, Simply You Jewelry, Kobo, G.M. Collin skin care, House of Marley, Stratusphere Living, ConScent/Parental ConScent, Baker Street, FIJI Water, SKYY Vodka.

Previous guests of the IT Lounge include Edward Norton, Catherine Deneuve, Fefe Dobson, Queen Latifah, Tim Robbins, Jason Bateman, Olivia Wilde and Ryan Gosling.

In addition to hosting the IT Lounge (September 8 to 14), NKPR will be at the helm of key festival events uptown, downtown and all over town, including:

• September 9 and 10: TORO After Dark Lounge, at Ame (19 Mercer St.). TORO After Dark will celebrate Artists For Peace and Justice on September 9, with a fundraiser hosted by Academy Award-winning director Paul Haggis, with Jon Hamm and George Stroumboulopoulos. On September 10, A-listers and industry insiders will enjoy fresh festival programming at the late-night lounge.

• September 10: Artists for Peace and Justice Academy Lunch. Located at a private estate in the Annex, this intimate backyard lunch will raise funds for the APJ Academy for children in Haiti. The event will feature special guest performances by Eddie Vedder (Pearl Jam) and Régine Chassagne (Arcade Fire).

• September 10: HELLO! Canada Red Carpet & Gala. Canada’s only celebrity news magazine commemorates five glamourous years with a celebration of the greatest Hollywood style icons featured in HELLO! Canada at an invitation-only cocktail reception at the luxurious Ritz-Carlton.

NKPR will also spread social good using social media. The agency will donate $2 to APJ and to Camp Oochigeas – with proceeds split equally – for every new Twitter follower received between August 25 and September 14. Follow NKPR at natashankpr on Twitter to make your contribution to the campaign.

“Through the generosity of the brands who’ve participated in the IT Lounge over the past three years, and previous Artists for Peace and Justice fundraising events held during the film festival, we’ve been able to help make a difference in the lives of children around the world,” says Koifman, who also serves as Chair of the APJ Canada Board and as Advisory Board Member for Camp Oochigeas. “Mobilizing our social media community to help spread awareness for our causes is a natural evolution in our fundraising efforts.”

NKPR has helped raise more than $200,000 to both local and global charities through the IT Lounge, fundraising events, and online charitable campaigns like their “Follow For A Cause” initiative.

Be sure to visit NKPR’s all-film-festival, all-the-time microsite which will track fundraising efforts, feature daily contests, the latest news from the red carpets, exclusive IT Lounge images and updates from NKPR’s social networks.

This is a true UNconference, the schedule is created the morning of when the attendees arrive. The camp will open at 9:00am with guests pitching to be presenters for the day and the freelancers vote on who they want to hear speak. Registration for Freelance Camp is just $10.00 +HST, with the proceeds going to charity.

Topics from landing a freelancer’s dream project to dealing with the nitty gritty details of doing business will be discussed. The Freelance Camp is the opportunity to make connections with like-minded people across many fields. Over 130 people attended last year’s event, including freelancers from Victoria, Kelowna and Seattle. The UNconference hosted 22 presentations where 196 cups of Waves Coffee was consumed. You won’t leave empty handed either because $5400 worth of goodies and $448 worth of door prizes were given to attendees last year to make being a freelancer even better. Attendees were also part of a wave of social broadcasting with 1478 tweets mentioning the event and were also a top trending topic in Canada on twitter for three hours.

The success of Freelance Camp raised $1100 last year and donated all its proceeds to Mental Health Camp – a conference on examining the possibilities of using social media to achieve and maintain mental health. It is important to Freelance Camp to give back to local initiatives and was excited to have Mental Health Camp as the benefactor.

The satisfaction of last year’s event has propelled Vancouver Freelance Camp to make this year’s event even bigger and accessible to more freelancers. We’ll be the first local event to use Google+ Hangouts to engage a maximum of 25 attendees per session off-site. Through live streaming video, participants can view and ask questions in Google+ Hangout allowing for 725 online viewings.

Gala – September 16 (Arcadian Court, 401 Bay Street) to raise funds for international and domestic microfinance projects and a scholarship. Reception: 6:00 pm, Dinner & Program: 7:30 pm. Silent & live auctions, entertainment.

Conference -September 17 (Allstream Centre, Exhibition Place,105 Princes’ Blvd.) features experts who address the effectiveness of microfinance as a poverty alleviation tool and provide frontline insights from around the world. A NEW MicroMarketplace will showcase products of micro-entrepreneurs. Registration: 7:30 -9:00 am, Program & Lunch: 9:00 am-5:00 pm.

“Microfinance is an effective way to deal with poverty,” says Dr. Carol Golench, President of Toronto International Microfinance Summit. “When you consider that, worldwide, in 2009 over 92 million borrowers from nearly 2,000 microfinance institutions had an average loan balance of $527USD, you realize microfinance is addressing poverty in a significant way and transforming people’s lives.”

“Microcredit enables people to become givers, not takers,” adds Philip Smith. “Microcredit should not be seen as charity but rather as the opportunity poor people need to build a decent life. Through microcredit, donors can shed the old hand-out mentality and become true partners in progress with the people of the developing world.”

Over 30 event speakers include: Bob Annibale – Citi, Joyce Lehman – Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Michael Bowles – Aga Khan Foundation, Kadita (A.T.) Tshibaka – Opportunity International USA, Stéphanie Émond – FINCA Canada, Dr. Tanjina Mirza, PLAN Canada, Jeff Rayman – UEnd: Poverty Foundation, Deborah Lindholm – Foundation for Women and Gordon Crann – Rotarian Action Group for Microcredit.

Once again, The MasterCard Foundation is providing financial assistance for the first 100 students to register for the conference. Early Bird Deadline for conference tickets is September 2nd.

The IndustriOS Golf for Kids with Cancer tournament offers IndustriOS and Sage Software customers, partners, friends and family, with the opportunity to enjoy an afternoon of fun-filled golf while raising funds for the Coast to Coast Against Cancer Foundation.  Included with the $100 registration fee per golfer are the Green Fee, Electric Cart, Crested Tee Package, Hat, Lunch and Dinner.  Friendly competitions, prizes and a 50/50 draw round-out the day for the golfers.  Online registration is available.  This event is being hosted from 12 Noon to 8:00pm at the Turtle Creek Golf Club in Campbellville, Ontario.

In support of the Coast to Coast Against Cancer Foundation, which benefits children’s cancer charities, this tournament follows the IndustriOS Software tradition of supporting charitable organizations and events such as Tour for Kids and the Arthritis Society’s Joints in Motion, and now Coast to Coast Against Cancer Foundation.  This impressive charitable organization raised $4.7 million in 2010, and is the only national childhood cancer charity in Canada. All receiptable funds, obtained through initiatives and events that promote healthy living, are delegated to charities and programs supported by the Coast to Coast Against Cancer Foundation to help improve the survival and quality of life of children and their families afflicted with cancer including research, clinical care, and children’s cancer camps.

The company is proud to host the IndustriOS Golf for Kids with Cancer Tournament, and eagerly anticipates sharing this fun-filled day with IndustriOS customers and partners this autumn, and are honoured to support the Coast to Coast Against Cancer Foundation.

“When the school bell rings, not all children will have the supplies they need to succeed. Help give students-in-need the confidence to learn, by making a donation at your local Staples store,” said Steve Matyas, president of Staples, Canada.

Every Staples store in Canada will collect funds for the Back-to-School Supply Drive, and all donations collected, will remain in your local community.

“We hope Canadians keep up their good will by continuing to support the School Supply Drive,” says Matyas. “Last year, we raised over one-million dollars, and we would like to match or exceed that figure again this year. Giving back within the communities where we operate has always been important to us, and we want to continue to help support children’s education.”

Customers can make a donation from July 23 until September 6 at any Staples store, and in Quebec from July 31 until September 4.

Each of the 20 projects involved with Share Your Care receive base support of $2,500 totaling $50,000. In addition, the remaining $50,000 will be distributed between the three projects which receive the most votes. From July 5th until August 14th, Facebook users can vote once per day for their favourite project. Votes will be gathered and ranked by popularity. The three community projects with the highest number of votes will be announced at the end of August.

Some of the organizations participating in Fido Share Your Care include the Gorge Waterway Initiative in Victoria, the Fletcher Wildlife Garden in Ottawa, Friends of the Coves Subwatershed in London, the Ann & Sandy Cross Conservation Area in Calgary, and Befriending the Mountain in Montreal.

“It’s often difficult to see how we can make a difference in the face of global environmental issues,” explains Geoff Cape, the Executive Director of Evergreen. “That’s why we are pleased to be working with Fido to help local champions take up the challenge in their own way and in their own community, by applying a local solution through the Share Your Care initiative.”

Partners since 2009, Fido and Evergreen have worked together to restore degraded public spaces, increase opportunities for outdoor recreation, education and enjoyment, as well as improve the health and biodiversity of natural habitats in urban communities. To date, Fido has helped Evergreen support more than 190 school ground greening projects, 800 public greening events and workshops, engage more than 20,000 volunteers and plant over 40,000 trees and shrubs across Canada.  In addition, Fido has saved over 3.62 tonnes of paper through its online billing initiative.

“Videotron is very pleased that this partnership can end up helping so many causes and so many Canadians,” declared Videotron’s Mobile Marketing and Product Development General Manager, Marie Ginette Lepage. “We today live a life of choices, and with these kinds of partnerships, we are able to offer support, as well as touch and help so many people.”

“On behalf of the Mobile Giving Foundation Canada, I extend our appreciation to Videotron for their efforts in providing this new mobile channel for their customers to support their favourite causes,” said Bernard Lord, MGFC Chair and CWTA President. “Canadians have overwhelmingly embraced the power of mobile giving, raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for more than 100 registered charities in the past year alone.”

Pay it Forward, an innovative program launched last year by The Sponsorship Report and Hilborn eNEWS, invites registered charities to apply online for one of five complimentary passes to the Sponsorship Summit. For applicants outside the GTA, airfare is included courtesy of WestJet.

Last year’s Pay it Forward program drew 108 applications from deserving charities across the country.

“Charitable organizations often struggle when introducing corporate sponsorship to their revenue stream,” says Mark Sabourin, Publisher of The Sponsorship Report. Charities compete with sophisticated sponsorship marketers from sports, arts and culture, but often find themselves overmatched when corporate sponsors weigh competing proposals.

Organizations that attend the Sponsorship Summit can gain a year’s worth of learning in just two days.

“Corporate sponsorship is not philanthropy. Sponsorship solicitation requires a completely new approach, a new skill set, even a shift in culture within the charitable organization,” says Sabourin. “But the rewards can be staggering. Last year Canadian companies invested more than $1.5 billion in sponsorship.”

Strategic Sponsorship Marketing: The Canadian Summit® is hosted by The Sponsorship Report, and features two days of programming delivered by the top sponsorship experts from across North America. This year’s Summit will be held October 18 and 19 in Toronto.

Apply now for a Pay it Forward bursary, the deadline for applications is June 19.

The grants are vital now that some annual library budgets are as low as $2.81 per child – the equivalent of less than 1/3 of a book per student each year.  Canadians can’t get a cappuccino for what many Canadian provinces invest annually in books per student in some public schools and yet, with only a one per cent increase in literacy rates studies show we can add more than $18 billion to the Canadian economy, according to a Stats Canada study done on June 22, 2004 (Coulombe & Tremblay and Marchand, Department of Economics, University of Ottawa).

Recognizing the importance of investing in the futures of Canada’s children, the Indigo Love of Reading Foundation continues to respond to this funding challenge through the Literacy Fund grants. Based on the student population, each new Indigo Love of Reading Foundation Literacy grant recipient school will receive up to $176,000 over three years to help support literacy programs, purchase new books and dramatically improve literacy rates. Through the Literacy Fund grants, schools will be able to increase their literacy budgets to an average of $76 per child per year.

“My heart breaks for Canada’s public school children who are left uninspired by libraries with empty shelves or books that are decades old,” said Heather Reisman, Chair of the Indigo Love of Reading Foundation. “This is a special time of year for Love of Reading when we are able to help educators end Canada’s literacy crisis. Through the Literacy Fund we know we’ll be transforming the libraries and lives of students at another 20 schools.”

Ms. Reisman advised the recipients via conference call amid joyful tears and whoops of excitement. “You’ve just changed the lives of the children we serve every day,” exclaimed Principal Jill Maar, Armadale Public School, Markham, ON, where the literacy team persevered to receive funding after their third grant application attempt.

This year’s 20 new schools receiving Literacy Fund grants from the Indigo Love of Reading Foundation clearly demonstrated a passion and commitment to literacy as an important part of their curriculum, as well as a clear need to update their libraries to help them achieve their literacy goals. Recipient schools include:

British Columbia:

• Abbotsford Middle School, Abbotsford ($115,000)
• Tomsett Elementary, Richmond ($49,500)
• Lord Selkirk, Vancouver ($139,000)
• Thunderbird Elementary, Vancouver ($70,000)

Alberta:

• Barons School, Barons ($28,000)
• Penbrooke Meadows Elementary, Calgary ($53,000)
• St. Maria Goretti Catholic School, Edmonton ($53,000)

Saskatchewan:

• Connaught Community School, North Battleford ($50,000)
• King George Community School, Saskatoon ($35,000)

Manitoba:

• Dufferin School, Winnipeg ($53,000)
• Sister MacNamara, Winnipeg ($105,000)

Ontario:

• Armadale Public School, Markham ($176,000)
• Dunrankin Drive Public, Mississauga ($118,000)
• First Nations School of Toronto, Toronto ($20,000)
• Queen Victoria Public, Toronto ($174,000)
• Eastwood Public, Windsor ($80,000)

Quebec:

• Verdun Elementary, Verdun ($64,000)

New Brunswick:

• Mountain View Elementary, Irishtown ($26,500)

Newfoundland:

• Acreman Elementary, Green’s Harbour ($19,000)

Nova Scotia:

• Evangeline Middle School, New Minas ($77,000)

Indigo Books & Music Inc. founded the Indigo Love of Reading Foundation in 2004 to address the underfunding of public schools, their libraries and the resulting literacy crisis. Every year the Indigo Love of Reading Foundation commits $1.5 million to high-needs elementary schools so they can rebuild their libraries with the purchase of new books and education resources. To date the Indigo Love of Reading Foundation has committed more than $10.5 million to 110 schools nationally.

“At Cineplex, we are extremely proud of the relationships we have within the communities we operate and we wanted to show the residents of Slave Lake we care and want to help,” said Pat Marshall, Vice President Communications and Investor Relations, Cineplex Entertainment. “Community Day is a fun outing that supports a very worthwhile cause.”

On the morning of Saturday, June 11^th, Cineplex invites Edmonton residents to enjoy a selection of FREE movies and specially discounted items at the concession stand. Regular-sized popcorn and regular-sized fountain drinks will be available at a reduced price of $2 each with 100% of the proceeds of these concession items donated to the Canadian Red Cross Alberta Fire Response efforts.

“The Canadian Red Cross is very grateful to Cineplex Entertainment for this support,” says Steve Armstrong, Director of the Canadian Red Cross in Alberta. “Many families were impacted by the fires in Slave Lake and Red Cross is committed to assisting with their recovery. Donations from events like this enable us to help people rebuild their lives.”

The FREE movie schedule for Community Day on Saturday, June 11, 2011 at Cineplex Odeon North Edmonton and Cineplex Odeon Grande Prairie Cinemas includes:

9:00 a.m. – Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
9:10 a.m. – Yogi Bear
9:20 a.m. – Gnomeo and Juliet (3D)
9:30 a.m. – Hop
9:40 a.m. – Megamind

All movies are free of charge to guests and are based on seat availability on a first- come first- serve basis. Cineplex Odeon North Edmonton Cinemas is located at 14231 137th Avenue NW in Edmonton and Cineplex Odeon Grande Prairie Cinemas is located at 10330-109th St. in Grande Prairie.

In other cinema-related news, D-BOX Technologies Inc. has signed its second agreement with CineLux Theatres to equip its Scotts Valley, California theatre with 28 D-BOX MFX Seats.

“Given our motion technology’s successful performance and increasing popularity among moviegoers, commitments from existing theatre partners like CineLux continue steadily,” said President and CEO of D-BOX Technologies, Claude Mc Master.

“CineLux is delighted to continue its relationship with D-BOX and announce a second location,” said President of CineLux Theatres, Paul Gunsky. “We’ve experienced great success at our Morgan Hill location and expect similar results at our CineLux Scotts Valley Stadium 10, which has been expanded and now features every modern amenity, including D-BOX technology.”

“At Kobo we believe in the power of reading. Today, the average person spends five times more time watching TV than reading, schools continue to be underfunded and libraries are disappearing. We have an opportunity to change that with Read On,” said Michael Serbinis, CEO, Kobo. “At a time when technology is taking the printed word through an evolution, we are starting a revolution – a reading revolution.”

Kobo has created the One Trillion Minute Challenge to inspire people to make reading a bigger part of their lives, and make a difference in their local community. Every minute read with Kobo counts towards achieving this epic challenge and funding eReading programs in schools and community organizations.

Readers can get started with Read On today by signing up online and then:

• Name your cause: A school, or community organization dedicated to learning
• Start reading with Kobo: Every minute read counts
• Track progress: Using Kobo’s innovative social platform Reading Life
• Tell friends: Use Facebook, Twitter, Reading Life, blogs and podiums at schools and community centers to spread the word, and help make a difference
• Check the one trillion minute counter which will be updated in real-time

For every 10 million minutes read, Kobo will make a contribution of eReading valued between $1,000 and $20,000 to a recipient chosen through the Read On program. Recipients will receive Read On kits including eReaders, eBooks and the materials needed to start digital reading programs in their community. Kobo is contributing the first million dollars and will work to enlist additional partners inspired by this innovative new program.

“With Read On, our goal is to bring reading to more people in more places, inspiring people to read more and make a difference in their schools and communities. Over 500 years ago, it took only one person and a printing press to start a revolution. Imagine what we could accomplish today if we just Read On,” said Michael Serbinis, CEO, Kobo.

The development group also has two fundraising activities tied to the game. For every game purchased, they will donate 10 cents to Water.org, a charity ensuring sanitation and fresh drinking water for developing countries. The other contest is directed at various university clubs. For a one year period, each club has a special purchase code that they can give to fellow students, family and friends. Those people then enter the code when they buy the game, and this code translates into 50 cents for the club whose code is used. The contest seems easy to understand, but not easy to explain, so here’s the video explanation directly from the developers:

Starting today and for the next seven days, eBay buyers will have the opportunity to bid on dozens of hard-to-find items and unique experiences in support of two Canadian charities: the NHLPA’s Beard-a-thon to support the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada and Rethink Breast Cancer.

The auctions are live at:

To support the NHLPA Beard-a-thon
To support Rethink Breast Cancer

Notable items and experiences up for grabs include:

* A Harley Davidson 2010 Street Glide motorcycle in support of Rethink Breast Cancer.
* NHL jerseys signed by some of the top players in the NHL – past and present – including Wayne Gretzky, Saku Koivu, Henrik Sedin and Luke Schenn, in support of the NHLPA Beard-a-thon
* “Rethink the Date package” hotel stay at The Sutton Place Hotel Vancouver.
* Signed NHL player photos from Roberto Luongo, Dion Phaneuf, and Alexander Ovechkin.

With bidding starting at $1.00 for many of the items, there’s an opportunity for everyone to bid and buyers will be helping to raise funds for two very important causes. The NHLPA Beard-a-thon is an exciting charitable initiative that will help the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada purchase Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) for local hockey arenas and communities across Canada. Funds raised by Rethink Breast Cancer will go towards its vital education, research, and supportive care programs for young women with breast cancer.

This Thursday, May 5, 2011, Astral Media Inc. will hold its annual Astral Media National Day of Caring for Kids. The event will be broadcast live throughout the day on more than 60 English-language stations across Canada.

This national event is in support of about 20 major hospitals and healthcare facilities across the country. Last year, in twelve hours, the largest Radiothon event in North America raised over 7.1 million dollars.

This year again, all Astral radio stations have been very active on social networks and launched an online community that was quickly embraced by children’s hospital foundations, parents, young patients and listeners alike. Many touching and hope-filled stories, videos and passionate calls for listener generosity have been posted over the past few days by over 2,200 members of the Astral Radiothon Facebook group.

Astral has teamed up with the Children’s Miracle Network, an international non-profit organization that helps save the lives and improves the quality of life of sick kids by raising funds for children’s hospitals and healthcare foundations. To see the complete list of participating radio stations and beneficiaries, or to make a donation, please visit the radiothon site.

All miles donated for this initiative will be split equally amongst all of Aeroplan’s charitable partners including: Air Canada’s Kids’ Horizons, Athletes for Africa, Earth Day Canada, Engineers Without Borders, Médecins Sans Frontières, Schools Without Borders, The Stephen Lewis Foundation, Veterinarians Without Borders and War Child Canada.  Each of these nine Canadian organizations is committed to improving lives and enriching communities across Canada and abroad.

“Our Beyond Miles partners use Aeroplan Miles to offset travel costs including flights, hotel accommodation and car rentals for projects they work on in Canada and abroad,” said geneviève bich, Vice President, People and Culture, Groupe Aeroplan Canada.  “We couldn’t be more proud of our members as we recently reached the milestone of 200 million miles donated by members to our Beyond Miles partners.  We hope our members and the general public will ‘like’ us on Facebook so that together we can support the incredible work each organization is doing.”

“Aeroplan’s support with Beyond Miles has been incredibly important to Engineers Without Borders. Aeroplan has enabled us to save money on hundreds of flights, allowing us to send many talented young Canadian engineers overseas,” said George Roter, Chief Executive Officer, Engineers Without Borders.  “Because of their support and that of thousands of Aeroplan Members, we’ve been able to send more volunteers overseas. Our volunteers provide support to increase prosperity for African farmers and work with African organizations that are providing access to infrastructure and delivering crucial services, such as improved access to clean water.”

Aeroplan’s Beyond Miles program invites Aeroplan Members to join us in supporting nine Canadian charitable organizations through the donation of Aeroplan Miles.  Since the program was launched in 2006, more than 200 million Aeroplan Miles have been donated by members. Aeroplan offsets 100 per cent of all carbon emissions from flights taken by Beyond Miles partners using donated miles.  In 2011, Aeroplan donated 1.25 million miles to each of its partner organizations.  Aeroplan also announced recently that members can now automatically donate 2 per cent of all miles accumulated to any Beyond Miles partner of their choice.  Members interested in donating 2 per cent of their Aeroplan Miles simply visit their profile page on aeroplan.com, select the donation opt-in and the Beyond Miles partner they would like their miles to go to.

In addition, Aeroplan also has a Charitable Pooling program that allows members to use miles to support individuals, families or local grass roots community charities in need.  Since inception, members have pooled more than 57 million miles into over 430 pooling accounts across the country.

Aeroplan’s Beyond Miles program and other community investment initiatives can also be found on Twitter.

Source Studio has released their space shooter game ProtoGalaxy on Impulse for the PC, giving you arcade action, smart puzzles, space exploration and a built-in level editor for only $9.99.  In ProtoGalaxy, up to four players can team up, configure their ship and upgrade their weapons in order to defend Earth from powerful alien invaders. Throughout the game players will brave fierce battles, solve challenging puzzles and explore the far reaches of the galaxy in order to end the attacks and rebuild a home for the survivors.

“ProtoGalaxy is an intense space themed dungeon crawler,” said Alex Brown, company founder. “The game includes a built in editor which allows players to easily create entirely new levels. Players can share their creations online and download other people’s levels for endless game play,” Brown added.

Game features:

·         Level editor to create new galaxies
·         Single and multi-player mode (up to 4 players)
·         Array of weapon choice
·         Ship customization with large selection of parts
·         Use physics to solve problems
·         Includes free DLC: Proto Defense

Game publisher and distributor G4Box Inc. has announced the results of the donation drive for victims of the disaster in Japan hosted by its popular online military shooter, Cross Fire. G4Box and Cross Fire held the month-long “Cross Fire For Japan” charity drive from March 24th to April 24th and donated 10% of all sales of the game’s Panda and Japan Name Card Items to the Red Cross Japan Disaster Relief Fund. The Cross Fire player community showed their love and support for Japan by sporting Panda items and Japan Flag Name cards in-game and collectively helped Cross Fire and G4Box to donate more than $5,000 to the Red Cross Japan Disaster Relief Fund.

“The people affected by the tragedy in Japan are still facing so many tribulations and our community really stepped up to support them and donate to the cause during their time of need,” said Jason Yang, CEO of G4Box Inc. “We are lucky to have a very loyal and caring Cross Fire community who gladly supported this very important cause.”

Cross Fire is a free online military first-person shooter for Windows PCs. Players assume the role of either a Black List or Global Risk operative and compete in various modes of play including Team Death Match, the Mutant infested Mutation Mode, attack and defend Escape Mode, and the exclusive stealth-action Ghost Mode. Cross Fire includes a military ranking system, in-game friends lists, an integrated clan system, deep character customization options and social media integration via the Cross Fire website. Cross Fire is part of the Z8Games platform of free-to-play games.

Another Toronto publisher, Game Bridger Entertainment, has revealed two more playable character classes in its upcoming Free-to-play MMORPG Brawler, Aida Arenas. In these dual gameplay trailers, the Gladiator and the Priestess, after a brief warm-up, venture into Aida’s seedy underbelly to fight some baddies and round up some treasure.

When it comes to swords, the Gladiator has no problem wielding a blade almost twice his size. The bigger the better is his motto; just remember to hold on tight with both hands.  Overall, the Gladiator is a well-rounded class that can hold his own against monsters and arena PvPers alike.

With her faithful pet Cocoli and a library of magical knowledge at her disposal, the Priestess comes equipped with a spell for just about any situation. On a story quest or in the competitive PvP arena, the Priestess is an essential part of any complete party.

Create a hero, explore dungeons, fight monsters,compete  with friends and discover hidden treasure in AIDA Arenas, the new MMORPG Brawler from GamerKraft. Combining elements of the classic beat ‘em up arcade genre with the character progression and social features of modern MMORPGs – Aida Arenas offers an action-packed game-play experience unlike any you’ve seen before.

Well this makes me feel somewhat better, even though only one Canadian company made the Top Fifty list and most of these women started their businesses years ago. They aren’t currently trying to mash a whole slew of ideas into one cohesive business unit while trying to extricate oneself from an unrelated family business.  The Women Presidents’ Organization (WPO), in partnership with American Express OPEN, the small business division of American Express, has released the fourth ranking of the 50 Fastest Growing Women-Owned/led companies in North America. The Top 50 generated a combined $4.1 billion in 2010 revenues (mean of $82.7 million) and collectively employed 24,650 in 2010 (projected average for 2011 is 557 employees).

The lone Canadian company on this US-dominated list is SIMAC Canada, Inc., an Ontario-based company lead by President and CEO Gloria Bajkumar. SIMAC is a company that co-ordinates independent medical assessments.

“The Top 50 list includes a group of trailblazing women entrepreneurs who represent a variety of industries ranging from staffing to electronic systems providers, language services to security,” said Marsha Firestone, Ph. D., president and founder of the WPO. “We are pleased to partner with American Express OPEN to honor these powerful women and recognize their triumphs.”

In order to help the Top 50 continue to seize even more business opportunities, each of the honored business owners will be offered a Business Platinum Card⁽based on approvals) from American Express OPEN. The card will include 100,000 Membership Rewards® points, which may be used on capital investments including: the funding of employee recognition programs, business travel or the purchase of office equipment and supplies.

“Based on American Express OPEN’s ‘State of Women-Owned Businesses’ report, there are an estimated 8.1 million women-owned businesses in the United States, generating nearly $1.3 trillion in revenues and employing nearly 7.7 million people,” said Nancy Hood, Vice President at American Express OPEN. “We at OPEN are honored to support this elite group of women who diversify the full spectrum of industries and have become leaders within the women business community.”

All eligible companies were ranked according to a sales growth formula that combines percentage and absolute growth. From this list, the 50 Fastest were selected. To be qualified for the ranking, businesses are required to be privately held, woman-owned/led companies in the U.S. or Canada and have reached revenue of at least $500,000 by the first week of 2006 and $2 million in 2010.

More about the 2011 Top 50:

• Founded the Business: 90%
• Current CEO is actively involved in the day-to-day operations: 100%
• Average years in business: 16
• Average age: 47
• Average Number of Projected 2011 Employees: 557

All 50 companies will be honoured tonight at a special event hosted by American Express OPEN at the 2011 WPO Annual Conference taking place here in Vancouver. The awards reception will take place from 6:30PM to 9:30PM at the Fairmont Vancouver Hotel.

Deadline for photo entries is May 28, 2011. Please note that photos submitted will become the property of the PMC-Sierra Science Fair Fun Run and will be posted on our Facebook Fan Page. Only photos of the PMC-Sierra Science Fair Fun Run will be accepted. One of each prize will be awarded by random draw from all entries. Prizes are non-transferable and must be accepted as awarded.

Remember this year’s Science Fair Fun Run takes place on the morning of Sunday, May 29th at Athlete’s Village Plaza in downtown Vancouver. Registration and Check-in starts at 07:30 with the Run starting at 09:00. The run route is 5k, with a mini 1k run starting at 09:05. Strollers are welcome. Participants will also receive free admission to Telus Science World after the race, as long as they have their run bib and/or T-shirt.

All proceeds raised from the PMC-Sierra Science Fair Fun Run will go to The Dr. Michael Smith Science Fair Endowment to support the promotion and development of Science Fair Programs throughout British Columbia.

Kobo has closed a $50 Million investment round which saw Indigo Books & Music Inc. contributing $13 million of the $50 million in financing with the balance contributed by  leading institutional investors, as well as current Kobo investor Cheung Kong Holdings. This round of investment adjusts Indigo’s majority ownership to 51%.

“Kobo will use the new funding to continue its explosive growth internationally,” said Greg Twinney, CFO of Kobo. “As the eReading space continues to heat up, Kobo is committed to providing an innovative experience that lets consumers read anytime, anyplace and share their love of reading with friends.”

Kobo kicked off its European expansion last week, with the announcement of its plans to launch local content stores in Germany – the largest book market outside of the US – and Spain starting in May 2011. Local stores for France, Italy and the Netherlands will follow this summer – an industry first. In providing local content and reading experiences for European readers, Kobo continues to build on the vision of giving people around the world the freedom to read on any device, and share their love of reading with friends.

Starting today, consumers can buy the highly anticipated BlackBerry® PlayBook(TM) which comes pre-loaded with the Kobo eReading app – in leading retailers across the US and Canada. RIM selected Kobo as its strategic eReading partner, given its ability to service customers around the globe.

The Kobo eReading app delivers a personalized reading experience and allows users to choose the perfect text size and style, select between day and night mode, both featuring uninterrupted reading with seamless page turns and chapter transitions. Plus, readers can switch between single or side-by-side page view simply in landscape orientation or simply rotate the Playbook to read in portrait orientation. Kobo is offering a free copy of Thomas Cleary’s translation of The Art of War exclusively to BlackBerry PlayBook customers. Users can sign in or create their Kobo account from the BlackBerry PlayBook and the free eBook will be added directly to their library.

Software publisher Strategy First Inc. will increase from 20% of all sales to 30% of all sales from their game store to further assist with the ongoing crisis in Japan. The website will feature both hardcore and casual games so that everyone in the family may purchase and support Japan.

The efforts are to help the RED CROSS with the Japan Earthquake and Tsunami relief efforts. The Earthquakes and Tsunami   have devastated the country and its people. Strategy First is extending its commitment to helping the region and its people through the Red Cross until April 18th, and anyone who purchases one of the other over 300 titles available on the website will directly help the Red Cross provide relief to the victims in Japan.

Some of the available titles featured are, Ninja Blade Online, Dark Fall Lost Souls, Crash Time III, Darkstar The Interactive Movie, Steel Fury, Jagged Alliance II Gold with casual titles, Rail Way Mogul, Air Port Control Simulator  and many more. Along with Hard Core Strategy, and Casual Games other genres include, Simulation, Arcade Action, Racing, RPG, Adventure, Grand Strategy, and Train Simulator. All titles are available for your donation.

“With the unfortunate news coming from Japan we are renewing our efforts to support the country and its people through the Red Cross.” Says Strategy First Director Emanuel Wall, “Our games will provide an opportunity to help others while providing good quality entertainment to Gamers.”

With your support the Red Cross can continue to provide life-saving medical care, shelter, supplies and most importantly – hope, to earthquake and tsunami survivors.  The needs are great but you can make a difference. All funds raised will support the Red Cross.

Waterloo’s Dejero Labs Inc. has announced that the Panasonic NAB exhibit will feature a Panasonic Toughbook laptop that integrates the Dejero LIVE Transmitter software to demonstrate a live HD video transmission solution that is highly mobile with 4G wireless capability. This innovative transmission solution integrates store and forward capabilities and can also upload clips, photos, and files as well as stream live video. The collaboration between Panasonic and Dejero delivers on the simple premise: broadcast live or remotely located high-quality video without the high cost or complexity of satellite or microwave transmission. Television broadcasters can view at NAB for the first time, a new choice to cover breaking news faster, with less set-up time, and with the ability to transmit anywhere cellular or Ethernet networks are available. The Dejero-enabled Toughbook laptop demonstration is at the Panasonic NAB exhibit # C3707 (in the Central Hall).

“Collaborating with Panasonic on a new HD mobile video transmission solution offers broadcasters a view of a more flexible future for live and remote file-based transmission,” said Dan Mance, Dejero CEO. “Toughbook continues Panasonic’s tradition of delivering no-compromise reliable computing for mission critical users and is the ideal Dejero enabled laptop platform.”

Solution Highlights:

• Toughbook CF-31 Laptop
• Bonded 4G Modem Module
• HD-SDI Input
• Adaptive Bit-rate H.264 Transmission
• LIVE + Store and Forward
• Direct to Web Streaming Solution
• File Transfer Clips, Photos or Files
• HD-SDI to HD-SDI, Web Stream or FTP/Folder
• Low Latency
• High Quality Video

The Panasonic and Dejero live HD video transmission solution includes the Panasonic Toughbook CF-31, the sixth generation of flagship Toughbook clamshell notebooks, which have become the gold standard of rugged computing over the past 14 years, boasting the lowest failure rates in the industry. The Toughbook incorporates the Dejero LIVE Transmitter software, to produce a portable HD/SD transmitter that connects to a camera and goes live with the push of a button. The complete solution also includes the Dejero LIVE Video Manager, the online manager that connects transmitters to video receiving servers; and the Dejero LIVE Video Server, the receiving unit that typically resides in a studio rack to decode the live video transmission for ingest.

Also at NABS is Toronto’s ViXS Systems Inc., and they invite attendees to experience how the next generation multimedia processors by ViXS are enabling new broadcast and professional applications.  Key to these digital media revolutions will be advanced transcoding, encoding and media processing from ViXS Systems.

ViXS’ smart processors put it firmly at the center of the next generation encoders and transcoders, enabling a large array of devices, including: cable/satellite/IPTV encoders; switched digital systems; multi-screen (TV, PC, mobile) transcoders; ingest systems; on-demand video delivery systems; video conferencing; surveillance and many others.  The following demonstration line will be shown at ViXS’ private suite:

• XCodePro^® multi-stream transcoder solution for broadcast and professional applications
• XCodePro^® HD/SD encoder solution for broadcast and professional applications
• Over-the-top and content mobility solutions to address the anytime, anywhere entertainment; streaming to iPAD^®s, tablets and other mobile devices

BPS Resolver Inc., a recognized leader in governance, risk and compliance (GRC) management software headquartered in Toronto has announced the release of the latest version of its flagship GRC application, GRC Cloud. Version 5.4 builds on and expands many key features in response to feedback from BPS Resolver’s customers, many of whom are leading companies in their industries. These enhancements include:

• Greater capabilities for non-Administrative users with new advanced permissions to add items and edit items within the framework from their normal working screens
• More flexibility in determining how users access and interact with reports in the home page dashboard.
• Enhanced abilities to efficiently remove or purge external documents from the application
• Capability to determine the display order of mathematical  functions and include function results in more chart types

“This release of GRC Cloud brings to fruition ideas generated both by our own product team and our customers, and allows companies to assign greater responsibility for maintenance of the GRC framework to qualified users across their organization.” said Steve Taylor, CEO, BPS Resolver Inc.

“Close to 700,000 Canadian children live below the poverty line. Boys and Girls Clubs in 700 communities across Canada support critical areas of healthy child development, including addressing child hunger through the provision of nutritious meals and snacks to thousands of young people in need,” says Pam Jolliffe, President and CEO, Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada. “Our longstanding partnership with Microsoft is having a tremendous impact on the lives of the more than 200,000 children, youth and families we serve, and we are thrilled to be working with the MSN.ca team on this Breakfast Campaign, which will help us have an even greater impact on child hunger and nutrition in Canada.”

The eight-week social media campaign encourages Canadians to reset their homepage to MSN.ca – for every homepage reset, Microsoft Canada will donate a breakfast to Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada. With a target of 100,000 homepage resets and breakfast donations, the campaign is anchored by a Facebook application that allows users to ‘toast’ their profile photo and post it to the Wall of Toast, share the cause with their social networks on Facebook and visit MSN.ca to reset their homepage.

“Microsoft Canada has proudly partnered with Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada for over a decade through programs like CanTech, Digital Arts competitions and an Annual Holiday Greeting Card competition,” says Gavin Thompson, Director of Corporate Citizenship, Microsoft Canada. “We are thrilled to offer our Facebook fanbase a unique way to engage with MSN.ca and make a difference in the lives of Canadian kids through the breakfast campaign.”

Distribution360 has been very busy over in Europe. Earlier today the company announced that it has secured the worldwide distribution rights—excluding the UK—for the brand new animated preschool adventure series, Olive the Ostrich (52 x 5’), created by BAFTA-winning animation studio Blue-Zoo. The series will premiere in the UK on Nick Jr. in September 2011.

Written in a highly descriptive, storybook style, Olive the Ostrich is a CGI animated series for kids, which chronicles the adventures of a young ostrich named Olive on her imaginary travels to all sorts of amazing places. In each episode, animators bring to life real pictures drawn by children and submitted through an integrated online component. These animations create all the guest characters, places and objects that Olive encounters. Inquisitive and enthusiastic, Olive loves to solve problems and help people whenever she can. She’ll try anything once, which can get her into trouble, but always finds fun and inventive ways of getting herself out of it.

“Olive the Ostrich is a wonderful new series, and we’re very pleased to be partnering with Blue-Zoo to bring Olive’s adventures to markets internationally,” says Stéphanie Röckmann-Portier, Head of Sales, Distribution360. ?This truly engaging and interactive property allows us to further explore the preschool market for new and exciting opportunities.”

“Olive is a unique property that has been brought to life by children for children. Core to Olive is story making and creativity – both important ingredients in creating a successful property, said Oli Hyatt,Director Blue-Zoo. “We are pleased to be working with Distribution360, and hopefully Olive will now be enjoyed by children in many more countries.”

Join your peers and industry experts from Panduit, The Uptime Institute, Cisco, and Emerson at the Novotel Toronto Centre in Downtown Toronto on May 26th to learn how you can drive change within your enterprise to become more efficient, productive and agile.

Panduit’s ‘The Nature of Transformation’ Roadshows feature presentations, interactive sessions, and roundtable discussions with industry experts that will address business challenges such as evolving customer expectations, technologies, regulations and sustainability initiatives. With a focus on best practices and methodologies, Panduit, Emerson, and Cisco will also discuss cutting-edge solutions in data center and building planning, design, and management that reduce costs while enhancing business performance. Space is limited, so register early if you want to attend.

Watch, Enjoy, Donate.

Reminder: Battle of the Apps Round 2 is open for submissions until April 15th.
Tickets: Canadian Video Game Awards tickets are on sale now at TicketMaster.
Just In: Seth Green will reprising his role as Joker in the upcoming Mass Effect 3.

FACTOR is now accepting applications for the 2011-2012 fiscal year through FACTOR’s Online Application System. Visit onlineapp.factor.ca to create an account, review new program guidelines, as well as create, save and submit online applications for all FACTOR programs. New Program Guidelines are available online. 

Apparently the Eastern Arctic region of our country has entered into a thaw, because Big Blue Bubble is celebrating Spring. Starting tonight at 5PM ET a large selection of the studio’s iOS titles will be on sale for 24 hours, so if you’ve been meaning to download some of their games and haven’t gotten around to it, now is the time for action.  Big Blue Bubble’s Administrative Assistant Amanda Thorpe hinted that the studio has some great things coming up for their iOS games in the next few weeks, so she suggested that you stock up now while they are at a reduced price.

These iPhone and iPod Touch Titles will be available for 99 cents USD:

• Thumpies (regular price 2.99)
• Burn The Rope (regular price 1.99)
• Home Sweet Home 2 – Kitchens (regular price 2.99)
• Home Sweet Home (regular price 2.99)

The following universal titles (they work on all iOS mobile devices) will also be available for only 99 cents USD:

• Fighting Fantasy: Warlock Of Firetop Mountain (regular price 2.99)
• Fighting Fantasy: Deathtrap Dungeon (regular price 2.99)
• Fighting Fantasy: City Of Thieves (regular price 2.99)
• Fighting Fantasy: Citadel Of Chaos (regular price 2.99)
• Fighting Fantasy: Creature Of Havoc (regular price 2.99)

The following iPad titles are also on sale:

• Burn The Rope HD – sale price 2.99 (regular price: 4.99)
• Home Sweet Home HD – sale price 0.99 (regular price: 3.99)
• Thumpies XL – sale price 0.99(regular price: 2.99)

Three of Big Blue Bubble’s 99¢ games will now be free permanently:

• Rooster Punch
• Invaders From Uranus
• Snow Ballistic

Henning Software Solutions property Kidobi has added several children’s series to its growing library of videos for preschoolers, which are part of new distribution partnerships with top children’s content producers, including Organa LLC and Toronto’s CCI Entertainment.

“These additional series bring us one step closer to our ultimate goal, which is to provide videos that entertain young minds while showing them their imagination and potential is limitless,” said Eric Sorenson, Director of Research & Content, Kidobi.

New Additions Include:

“The Adventures of Mouse and Mole” about the everyday adventures of these lovable companions as they help each other to navigate through both good times and bad, from Los Angeles-based Organa LLC.

“The Longhouse Tales” (26×30’) about the fantasy and fun adventures of a young coyote and his animal friends, and “Farzzles World” (130×3’), which shows the real world seen from a baby’s point of view, CCI Entertainment.

A subscription to Kidobi provides a personalized playlist for each child based on their skills, interests, educational needs and more. By creating playlists for individual children, Kidobi ensures a unique and engaging experience for each viewer. Parents can rest assured that while their children watch videos from Kidobi’s current library they are surfing on a site that is entirely age appropriate and free of advertising.

Kidobi, which is currently seeking Beta testers, was developed with experts in child development, education, psychology and children’s media. Kidobi creates personalized video playlists based on the educational needs and entertainment tastes of individual children.

Reminder: The Gamers Heart Japan television special will be airing on SPACE and G4 on April 4th. Watch, Enjoy, Donate.

PlayTest: zinc Roe is looking for kids (ages 3-6) in the Toronto area to playtest some of the studio’s upcoming projects. Contact them via their website or email if you’re interested.

Yannis Mallat, President & CEO of Ubisoft Montréal & Toronto will be offering a glimpse into the secrets which enabled Canada’s video game developing industry to grow into the world leader it is today when he makes a presentation to the Canadian Club of Montreal on April 4th. Mr. Mallat’s speech is titled Myths and Realities of the Canadian Video Game Industry, and during his presentation, Mr. Mallat will also address what he considers to be the type of strategic thinking that should be encouraged in order to ensure a sustainable Canadian economy.

Yesterday Quebec newspaper Rue Frontenac broke the story that Ubisoft Montreal has fortified its court injunction barring THQ Montreal from further actively recruiting Ubisoft staff. THQ has already successfully obtained the development services of Mark Besner, Jean-Francois Boivin and Alex Drouin, all of whom worked on Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed franchise, and it’s suspected that other Ubisoft developers will be switching work addresses if they haven’t already. The first inkling of trouble between the two Montreal studios came last spring when THQ signed Assassin’s Creed creator Patrice Désilets, who was named to head up the THQ studio beginning this May.

And with that news bit, I will segue over to some Dawn of War II news. Owners of  Relic Entertainment’s Warhammer® 40,000®: Dawn of War® II – Retribution™ will soon be able to purchase a custom Dark Angels Space Marine chapter for use in multiplayer. The Dark Angels Pack is scheduled to be available for download on Steam, the THQ E-Shop and select digital retailers on 6 April for a suggested price of $7.50 USD.

The Dark Angels Pack adds the iconic Space Marine chapter to the game with eight unique models for the major multiplayer units as well as new color schemes for the others.  The Force Commander is replaced by a Dark Angels Company Master complete with winged helmet, the Tactical Marine squad all sport the iconic Dark Angels robes.  Additionally, the Scout Squad, Assault Marine Squad and Terminators all receive similar chapter-specific revisions. The Space Marine vehicles also get a visual makeover with this DLC pack, adding custom designs and emblems to differentiate them from the standard vehicles.

Activision Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Entertainment, LLC have officially announced Spider-Man™: Edge of Time, where Spider-Man faces one of his greatest challenges ever — saving Spider-Man. Developed by Activision-owned studio Beenox, Spider-Man: Edge of Time challenges the player to take on the roles of both classic Amazing Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2099 to correct a time-stream gone awry and prevent a catastrophic future brought on by the early and untimely death of Peter Parker.

“The first Spider-Man entry by Beenox, Spider-Man™: Shattered Dimensions, was touted as one of the wall-crawler’s best Spider-Man games to date from both critics and fans,” said Vicharin Vadakan, Director, Global Brand Management. “Beenox is once again taking a fresh and different approach to bring a fast-paced and high-octane adventure and unexpected story to life in Spider-Man: Edge of Time.”

“At Beenox, we are constantly listening to the fans and looking for new and creative ways to innovate the gameplay experience for them,” said Dee Brown, Studio Head, Beenox. “We want to create a totally distinct experience in Spider-Man: Edge of Time by working with Peter David on the story and creating this urgent, high-stakes experience where time is working against you and the fate of Spider-Man hangs in the balance.”

Spider-Man: Edge of Time is a focused, action-packed adventure set in two connected and evolving timelines, from the contemporary times of the Amazing Spider-Man to the corrupted future world of Spider-Man 2099, against the backdrop of a rich, tightly crafted narrative by acclaimed Marvel veteran Peter David (co-creator of the comic book series Spider-Man 2099). The game features all-new “cause-and-effect” gameplay, where players will see how the immediate and sometimes unexpected effects of their actions as one Spider-Man changes the timeline of the other Spider-Man. Spider-Man: Edge of Time is slated for release this fall.

Congratulations to Frima Studios, whose Zombie Tycoon: IceField Demo has reached the FITC finals for Technical Excellence in Flash and Excellence in 3D. The title is also nominated for an FITC People’s Choice Award. Voting is open now and will remain open until midnight on April 22nd. You can play the Zombie Tycoon Interactive Demo on Adobe Molehill.

“We’re honored to be nominated for two FITC awards,” said Steve Couture, Frima’s CEO. “Our R&D team has worked extremely hard to ensure we’re always on the leading edge of technology and it feels fantastic to be recognized.”

Built using a combination of Adobe’s Molehill technology and Frima’s proprietary IceField 3D engine, Zombie Tycoon is one of the most advanced Flash games to be released. In Zombie Tycoon, players control their very own horde of ravenous zombies! Developed in just a few months by Frima Studio’s R&D team, the Zombie Tycoon: IceField Demo offers three levels of zombie madness. Two game modes are available to try; mild, which offers players a chance to explore and conquer the game world, and chunky mode which offers players the chance to see the full power of the new technology with over a hundred zombies moving on the screen at the same time.

Held from May 2-4, 2011 in Toronto, FITC is a three day event of presentations, demonstrations, networking opportunities and parties about the creative, technical and business aspects of Flash and digital media. Topped off with the FITC Award Show, the event aims to leave the attendees inspired, energized and awed while covering the Flash and digital media industries.

Following its successful launch on iPad, Shaw Media today announced their Global Video App is now available on the App Store for iPhone and iPod touch. The Global Video App offers Canadian viewers on-the-go access the network’s blockbuster library of premium content, including full episodes of House, The Good Wife, NCIS: LA, The Office, Rookie Blue and Survivor along with previous broadcasts of Global National and 16:9:The Bigger Picture.

Highlights of the Global Video App include:

* Full-length episodes and clips
* Superb video quality
* Sleek interface design with user-friendly features
* Progress bars to indicate runtime – allowing viewers to exit the app and to resume viewing at the same spot
* Schedule guide for Global programs with listings up to two weeks in advance
* Behind-the-scenes footage and Web-exclusive content

As college enrollments surge to record levels, thousands of students are arriving to campus finding they lack the basic math and English skills needed to succeed in their studies. Many of these students are coming from the high-school system, are non-native speakers or are displaced workers looking to improve their workforce skills, necessitating enrollment in remedial programs that help address basic literacy and numeracy skills.

Providing students with a way to quickly improve their math, reading and writing skills is the basis for MyFoundationsLab from Pearson, the world’s leading learning company. Suitable for multiple college and career readiness programs, including boot camps, high school bridge programs and student success centers, MyFoundationsLab is a complete online resource for assessing and remediating developmental skills. The program also includes comprehensive learning modules to improve students’ general skills, such as note taking, test taking and critical thinking.

Built specifically for Canadian students in mind, MyFoundationsLab delivers interactive, customizable features, including a comprehensive diagnostic tool, personalized content modules specific to each student’s skill level and self-paced learning activities that allow students to measure their progress toward the skills needed for continued academic and workplace success. “Colleges need flexible resources to help students learn the math and English required to succeed in their courses, and MyFoundationsLab can be tailored specifically to the needs of any learning environment,” said Steve O’Hearn, President of the Higher Education division of Pearson Canada. “Pearson’s investments in new technologies and learning solutions like MyFoundationsLab are designed to support institutions and instructors in their efforts to improve student achievement and retention.”

Pearson’s award-winning MyLabs and Mastering programs have personalized learning for millions of students around the globe, delivering proven results for institutions looking to improve student performance and lower costs. Available in a range of subjects including math, English composition, the sciences, foreign languages, economics and IT training, the programs provide immediate feedback and targeted help where and when students need it the most. Students learn at their own pace, in their own style, while educators are able to monitor student progress and communicate with their students online to keep them engaged and accountable for their work.

Some of the available titles featured are, Dangerous Waters, Flat Out Ultimate Carnage, Jagged Alliance, Space Empires, Disciples, Darkness Within 2, TRAINZ, Making History II, Rise of Flight: Iron Cross Edition along with casual titles Cradle of Rome, Air Port Control Simulator and many more.

“For generations Japan has contributed and shaped the Video Game industry. We would like to do our part in giving back to a country and its people who have given us some of the greatest games of all time.” Says Strategy First Director Emanuel Wall, “By offering both Hardcore and Casual games we are hoping that we can offer games for everyone in the family in return for their generous donation.”

With your support the Red Cross can continue to provide life-saving medical care, shelter, supplies and most importantly – hope, to earthquake and tsunami survivors.

Along with Hard Core Strategy, and Casual Games other genres include, Simulation, Arcade Action, Racing, RPG, Adventure, Grand Strategy, and Train Simulator. All titles are available for your donation. The needs are great but you can make a difference. All funds raised will go to support the Red Cross.

More than 600 digital enthusiasts will connect at The Fifth Social Club in downtown Toronto to meet in-person, network and raise money for The Remix Project, a local charity utilizing mentorship, instruction and the power of the arts to inspire disadvantaged youth and help them achieve their dreams.

Through ticket sales and corporate sponsorships, including Creative Niche Inc., Rogers Canada, and Hill & Knowlton, TwestivalTO (@TwestivalTO) is already in the top three cities leading Twestival global fundraising totals.

“With 12 Canadian cities and over 150 locations across the world hosting locally organized Twestivals, we’re excited to raise the bar for fundraising through Twitter and Facebook,” said Shawn Griffiths, co-lead of Twestival Toronto’s organizing committee. “Through recent global events we’re realizing the true power of social media. TwestivalTO is the latest example of people connecting, sharing information and organizing for social good.”

TwestivalTO promises an interactive experience showcasing the best Toronto’s digital community has to offer. Highlights include red carpet Twitpics, a QR Code Treasure Hunt, the debut of ‘Canadian Twidol’ – where audience tweets decide the winner – and musical performances from The Remix Project. The evening performances will be featured during a 24-hour live stream connecting Twestivals around the world and raising money for Save the Children’s Japan Fund. TwestivalTO will also participate in an attempt to set a world record for the ‘most international charities participating in a live stream.’

“We’re very excited to partner with this year’s TwestivalTO,” said Gavin Sheppard, co-founder and executive director of The Remix Project and 2010 TED fellow, who will co-host with MuchMusic Host, Lauren Toyota. “All money raised will help creative, young people in Toronto realize and fulfill their dreams. It’s going to be truly spectacular.”

“All my mentors have been simply amazing,” said Ruthie Titus, a Remix Project graduate now working as a professional photographer. “I don’t know where I’d be right now without Remix. It’s changed my life in so many ways.”

Twestival Québec 2011 (@TwestivalQuebec) will be held at Café Babylone and the group is supporting Fondation Gilles Kegle. Café Babylon will be offering two menu options: $5.00 appetizer or $12 for a meal. DJ Andrei Herran and other artists will be entertaining attendees throughout the evening.

Twestival Vancouver’s (@yvrtwestival) will be held at The Vancouver Lookout – Atop Harbour Centre, and will be raising funds for the Beauty Night Society, an award-winning volunteer-run,  registered Canadian charity that builds self esteem and changes lives of women and youth living in poverty through three streams of programs: wellness, life skills development and makeovers. The Society helps women of all ages and from all walks of life. Homelessness, hunger, mental ill health and debilitating illnesses are some of the reasons Beauty Night’s participants connect with the Society. One in three women have experienced sexual violence before the age of 18 years old, but we have found that number to be much higher amongst our participants.

Society Founder Carolne MacGillivary shares some background about the Beauty Night Society: “If people do not believe change is possible, change will not happen. We welcome our participants as they are. They come in, make friends, access services, and many become leaders in their community.  When we ask women living in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside what assistance they want, they tell us they want to be treated with dignity and respect. Beauty Night because dignity is beautiful. The makeover is a great opportunity to reintroduce healthy touch in a non-threatening way and build relationships based on trust with the participants. Through the makeover program and life skill development we are able to connect our participants with resources to help them move forward in their life.”

The Edmonton Twestival (@yegtwestival) will be supporting the Edmonton Public School Foundation, whose primary purpose is to help children get ready for life through public education. But what does that really mean? Before they even start Kindergarten, children begin learning. Research tells us that 75 per cent of brain growth occurs before age six. When children live in vulnerable circumstances without opportunities for healthy growth, their future success becomes threatened. The Edmonton event will be held at the Red Star Pub.

The Victoria Twestival (@yyjtwestival) will be supporting The Cool Aid Society, a group which traces its origins to the Cool Aid Hostel, established over 40 years ago on June 10th 1968, to provide short-term, emergency shelter to transient youth travelling the country. Today, Cool Aid operates a diverse range of social and health services for those in the Victoria community who are most vulnerable. A large portion of the funds raised at the Victoria Twestival comes from the Silent Auction – and after looking at the list of goods and services, I can see why. Head over to the Victoria Twestival page and take a look for yourself. While you’re there, scroll down and check out the awesome artists who will be entertaining those of you meeting up in the Bengal Lounge at the Fairmont Empress Hotel. Caroline Spence, Adam Basterfield and Mike Ross from Spaceport Union will be performing, along with You, me and Jose as well as acoustic duo Megan Johns & Hayden Cyr and rising star Ashleigh Eymann.

Montreal’s Twestival event (@TwestivalMTL) will be supporting The Dans La Rue team, who works tirelessly to put Father Johns’ philosophy of help without judgment into action by providing street kids with food, shelter and support through their outreach programs.

Montreal’s Cabaret du Mile End is happy to host the Montreal Twestival, and set in the heart of the Mile End district at 5240 Parc Avenue for close to 30 years, Le Cabaret has seen thousands of local artists perform and contribute to make this venue a landmark of this neighborhood limitrophe to the Plateau and Outremont.

UpVenue is also supporting the Montreal Twestival, and the super talented Inuk singer, composer and filmmaker Elisapie Isaac will be showcasing “There will be Stars“  which is her first solo recording. There Will Be Stars is the much anticipated follow up to the internationally acclaimed, award winning duo Taima which she co-founded with guitarist / composer Alain Auger in 2001.

Kelowna’s Twestival (@YLWtwestival) will be held at The Kelowna Art Gallery and will working to raise funds for the purchase of five new computers for The Women’s Resource Centre. These new computers will become a part of the Women’s Resource Centre’s educational programs.

The Lethbridge Twestival (@LethTwestival) will be held at Average Joe’s and has chosen the Family Centre Society of Southern Alberta as its cause. The Society provides services to children and their families as a Family Resource Centre. It is a community-based organization, working with children, families and caregivers to enhance identified strengths, to build capacities and to promote healthy development. They also provide a comprehensive range of prevention and early intervention services to children, youth and families as well as offering early learning through play programs.

Meanwhile the Calgary Twestival committee (@YYCtwestival) is thrilled to announce Mandie Crawford, President of Roaring Women, as the emcee for this year’s fundraising event to support Making Changes. Crawford was honoured as Business in Calgary’s 2010 Woman of the Year, and has a passion for encouraging women.

“All great leaders in history have used their passion as the driving force in making a difference in other people’s lives. Mandie is a great example of someone in our community who decided to step up and make a difference,” says Jay Cloutier, Calgary Twestival committee member. ”Her life’s work is to empower women to strive for the best and be confident in their abilities, which is a perfect fit for this year’s theme. We are extremely excited that she accepted our offer to emcee this event.”

The event is on March 24th at Firewater (222 – 7^th Street S.W.), and tickets can be purchased online for $15, and also sponsorship is available for as low as $100. The theme of the night spurred from one of Making Changes programs called Walk in Closet whose mandate is “To empower women by providing them with knowledge and a selection of work attire for their transition into the workplace.” At the event, there will be a paparazzi-filled red carpet, a photo booth, and models. People will have the chance to buy Espy clothes off models backs for chances to win bigger prizes.

The Fraser Valley Twestival (@FVTwestival) will be held at the Coast Hotel and Conference Centre in Langley City and will feature the following:

1. Exciting performances by Sound Refuge, Greg Neufeld, The Latency and March Hare band!
2. Delicious food provided by Mizuna Culinary, Mozart Bakery and a fresh oyster bar from 1 Fish 2 Fish
3. Mesmerizing contortion acts by Westcoast Contortion
4. Free wine and beer tastings from Vista D’oro Winery, Township 7 Winery and Dead Frog Brewery
5. Big screen xBox games from Digital Smart Homes
6. Hilarious photo booth fun with Jennifer Kirk Photography
7. Airbrush tattoos from Tattoos For Now
8. Chance to win some amazing raffle prizes and silent auction items.
9. Your ticket includes one drink ticket (cash bar available thereafter) and one raffle ticket.

This is going to be such a fun night out! Invite your friends, your colleagues – and see you there, and remember: 100% of funds raised from this event will benefit the new Canuck Place Abbotsford! It’s also 1 year anniversary of the Fraser Valley Social Media Meetup and the 2 year anniversary of FraserValleyPulse.com.

Ottawa Twestival’s (@TwestivalOTT) chosen charity is the Royal Ottawa Foundation for Mental Health, and 100% of Twestival’s ticket and live & silent auction sales (along with all other proceeds) will go to support the Foundation. Your Ottawa Twestival ticket will get you in the door at Daly’s in The Westin Hotel, salty snacks and cupcakes, a photo area to get a professional avatar picture done, lots of mingling opportunities and a Twitter demo area for those who haven’t caught the bug yet.

Whistler’s Twestival (@TwestivalWhis) will be supporting Zero Ceiling, an organization that affords at risk youth and street youth the opportunity to learn and grow through the experience of adventure sport such as skiing and snowboarding. Since the charity’s inception it has helped over 4,000 youth over 13 years.

According to the Whister Twestival page, they will be drawing for a Scandinave Spa Whistler pass from the first 50 tickets  sold, and then they’ll draw for an even bigger prize when sales hit 100, and an even bigger prize than that for the 150th.  Big Mountain Rhythm will get the party started and with  a killer silent auction, raffle and grab bag fundraiser the organizers suggest that attendees bring some cash or cheques if you want to score some cool swag and help raise more money for Zero Ceiling.

DJ Foxy Moron will get on the decks after Big Mountain Rhythm but the Whistler Twestival isn’t all about the music.  It will be a feast for the senses with Paintertainment’s Candy Girls in the house, live art stations where you will be able to express yourself on blank skis and snowboards with Whistler-based artists, showings of the top three Deep Winter and Deep Summer slideshows, not to mention tasty nibbles from Pure Bread Whistler and Nester’s. Whistler’s Twestival will be hosted at the Whistler Brewing Company.

Congratulations are due to the Ubisoft Montreal Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood team, who picked up the BAFTA in the UK last night for top Action Game and to the Bioware team who garnered the Best Game award for Mass Effect 2.

I keep forgetting to tell you all about the huge Book Drive that’s been going on in BC, so I left the page open to the site to remind myself because I tend to be forgetful. The next big event is this weekend, March 19 & 20th, at the Salvation Army Divisional Headquarters located at 3833 Henning Drive in Burnaby. Drawing directly from the information on the Book Drive site:

“The Big Book Drive is a two-day event aimed to help the less-fortunate and low-income families so that they may gain a better education in the future. Oftentimes after we’ve read a book, we leave it lying around without touching it for years. This is wasteful of Earth’s resources, and it does not have to be so. These books can be used to help others, so make The Big Book Drive your way of giving back to the community. Our goal is to collect as many books as possible. The books will either be sold at used bookstores to generate proceeds, donated to the charities we’re working with, or recycled to be remade into new books. Either way, 100% of the proceeds will be donated, because we want to help others just as much as you do!“

I hope that if you are able to help out, you can. The organization is looking for textbooks, journals, comic books, novels, children’s books, magazines and catalogues. No adult material, newspapers or eBooks on CD/DVD, though.

Students in need of software should check out Microsoft initiative DreamSpark. Verified students can gain access to licensed Microsoft products, including XNA Studio 4, Visual Studio, Expression, Robotics Developer and more. You now have fewer reasons to not get out there and create something. Go, go, go!

Microsoft Canada also offers assistance to small-medium businesses with volume licensing programs designed to save money and get companies creating. It’s worth your time to check out what is available for you.

On Saturday March 19th, let the games begin as YTV WOW! Let it rip with non-stop action and adventure with Hasbro’s Beyblade: Metal Fusion Battle Zone. Beyblade fans can come out to the Real Canadian Superstore at 51 Gerry Fitzgerald Drive in Toronto and battle it out for prizes and gift packs from 10am until 4pm.

Speaking of availability, the Government of Canada has launched its Open Data Pilot Project, which is designed to improve the ability of the public to find, download and use Government of Canada data. You are invited to search the catalogue, download datasets and explore the possibilities of Open Data. This project could go a long way towards helping businesses gain access to research data they may require for such activities as market research or even finding new business partners.

As part of the Government of Canada’s efforts to drive innovation and economic opportunities for all Canadians, the Honourable Stockwell Day, President of the Treasury Board and Minister for the Asia-Pacific Gateway launched the pilot project for an online Open Data Portal following public consultations on the digital economy strategy which saw Canadians asking for open data to be made available in more usable and accessible formats.

“The Government of Canada is launching its Open Data Portal to make a large amount of data accessible through a single window,” said Minister Day. “With this portal, application developers can reuse data for commercial or research purposes to benefit all Canadians in a variety of ways. We want to continue to make Canada one of the best places to do business by ensuring that Canadian entrepreneurs, researchers, academics and voluntary organizations have access to government data in useful formats to help foster innovation, job creation and community services for Canadians.”

This pilot portal will make more than 260,000 datasets from the following ten participating departments available to all Canadians: Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada; Citizenship and Immigration Canada; Environment Canada; Department of Finance Canada; Fisheries and Oceans Canada; Library and Archives Canada; Natural Resources Canada; Statistics Canada; Transport Canada and the Treasury Board Secretariat. The pilot phase will take place over a 12-month period, during which the government will continue to increase the number of datasets available to users.

I just found out about this service today, when the company began following me on Twitter, so I haven’t really had a chance to look very deep into the site and get all of the details, but Get George, which is based in Vancouver, looks like it may be a program that is advantageous to smartphone users. Get George is a free download in the iTunes and Android shops, and looks like it could end up saving people some serious money – but as I don’t have a smartphone, and haven’t yet investigated the services offered, please be sure to read the application’s FAQs and service conditions before use.

With the August 23rd release of Deus Ex: Human Revolution drawing nearer every day, Square Enix is looking for a location to open another Canadian studio. Personally I’m rooting for Vancouver, but Toronto and a second Montreal location are also in the running. I imagine that the publisher will be looking closely at incentives offered by each province, and while another studio in Montreal would be convenient for the Eidos Montreal crew, I’m hoping that the proximity of Vancouver to the Square Enix headquarters in Tokyo will give the city an edge in the running. The time line for the new studio looks to be for a 2012 opening, with an initial staff of 100.

Big Blue Bubble’s original, award winning and massively fun rhythm game Thumpies is now available in Apple’s Mac App Store. Now Mac owners can test their skills in correctly matching the beat of bouncing Thumpies, and those with the beat skills can progress through songs and the current 15 game levels, unlocking new Thumpies along the way. Suitable for all ages and already available in the iTunes App store, Thumpies uses a mechanic of bouncing in time instead of just a series of notes. The game features a quirky art design accompanied by a unique musical score composed by award winning industry veteran David Kerr sets Thumpies in a genre all its own.

Hoard™ from Big Sandwich Games will release via Steam for your PC and Mac on April 4^th, and will retail for $9.99USD. Pre-sales will begin on March 21^st with a limited time “fire-sale” discount of 25%.  In addition, sharing with your friends is rewarded, as a 4-pack of HOARD™ can be purchased for the low price of $28.00.  Steam Play is supported, meaning Steam users who own both a PC and a Mac only need buy the game once.

The Steam version includes the same fire-breathing fun as the PS3 console release plus some brand new features.  The game has 4 modes, over 35 levels, leaderboards, full multiplayer suites (4-player co-op and competitive), and 100+ Steam achievements. In addition, never seen-before features such as Night Mode (for vibrant fiery goodness), a Winter tile set, and new maps are added as a reward for PC and Mac fans’ patience.  Finally, cross-play allows PC and Mac users to compete or cooperate in their quests for gold.

zinc Roe’s latest release is now live. Created for the Family Channel, Hot Ticket is a game of musical and economic strategy. Players drag and drop locations onto a map to create “Famburg”, a rocking little town that plays host to shows by a wide variety of fictional acts. “The Temper Tantrums”, “Vagablonde”, and “The Jazz Hands”, are among dozens of hilarious characters created to animate locations like “The Golden Cocoon Mall”, The Hideaway” and “Das Beats Dance Club”. The game features colourful artwork, catchy melodies and an appropriate level of economic complexity for school-aged children. There is a demo version available to try out, and if you like the game, you can register to play the full version. Judging from comments posted on the game’s page, Hot Ticket is on its way to becoming a hit casual title.

D-Box has announced yet another expansion for this week, citing a new agreement with Germany-based FTT (the company’s first European distributor for its commercial theatre expansion) for two new theatres with Netherlands-based Jogchem’s Theatres known in the market as JT Bioscopen. JT Hoogezand and JT Arnhem will each equip its theatres with respectively 20 and 21 D-BOX MFX Seats. With the introduction of D-BOX at these newest locations, Jogchem’s Theatres will have a total of four movie theatres that offer D-BOX’s motion experience. In addition to the sale of these systems, this deal will also generate licensing fees payable to D-BOX in accordance with the systems’ utilization.

Conservatory Canada invites piano students from across Canada to put their compositional skills to the test for the first annual Creative Composer’s Competition. Launched as a partnership between Conservatory Canada, Mayfair Music Publishing and Long & McQuade Music Stores, the contest is a unique opportunity for budding composers of all ages to let their talent shine, says Conservatory Canada national executive director, Victoria Warwick.

“There are many students across Canada who love to compose music in all styles,” says Warwick. “We hope this competition will inspire and encourage them in this creative pursuit.”

Piano students of all ages have until May 31 to submit entries through the Conservatory Canada website. Submissions should be written in a contemporary musical style – Jazz, Country, Latin, and Broadway – as included in Conservatory Canada’s Contemporary Idioms Syllabus for Piano.

All submissions will be reviewed by Conservatory Canada examiners with compositional skills, Warwick says. Winners will be announced at Conservatory Canada’s national convocation ceremony in November, and winning compositions will be included in a new Mayfair Music Publication.

“Composition is a natural part of our Contemporary Idioms program,” notes Warwick. “The Creative Composer’s Competition will allow students to showcase their fine work, and by compiling the best-of-the-best in a new publication, teachers and students across Canada will be able to enjoy them.”