Toronto: The July 5th, 2004 Canadian edition of TIME Magazine (on newsstands this week) marks the launch of the magazine’s new annual special editorial package profiling some of the country’s most remarkable citizens. The large cover package, entitled Canada’s Heroes, “selects a cross-selection of Canadians, famous and not famous, whose actions have gone beyond what might normally be expected of anyone in their positions and as such have accomplished extraordinary, positive things,” says TIME Canada editor Adi Ignatius.
“From people like Vancouver mayor Larry Campbell, who is shattering the status quo in his effort to introduce dramatic new measures aimed at turning around the city’s festering problems, to people like Monia Mazigh, a relative small-fry, whose battle for her husband’s freedom reminded the nation of what human rights are all about. Then there are people like Mike Myers, who in addition to being a world-famous film star, is a true champion of Canada and who worked to revive travel to Toronto after the SARS outbreak.” While TIME leveraged its international and local networks of writers, bureau chiefs, and photographers to create the package, the magazine also used some of the country’s most renowned commentators to pen some of the profiles:From acclaimed humorist and CBC personality Rick Mercer writing on Auditor General Sheila Frasier, to Amnesty International Canada’s Secretary General Alex Neve profiling Monia Mazigh, to Canada’s UN Ambassador Allan Rock writing on Stephen Lewis.
LARA ROXX: “From the ashes of her three-month L.A. porn career (in which she contracted HIV during a pressured sex scene), Roxx returned to Montreal determined to start anew. She founded the Lara Roxx Foundation to raise moneyfor HIV-positive children and teens and plans to visit schools to warn youths about unsafe sex. Modest donations began to trickle in, but then Roxx’s story took another grim turn. In May, her mother threw her out of the home where she had taken refuge, says her lawyer Daniel Lighter. Roxx ended up in a women’s shelter for several weeks, and then in a hospital, where she spent her 22nd birthday. She’ll remain there until her health improves, Lighter says. ‘Hersituation is almost a result of her naivete,’ he says. ‘But she’s come out of this with a plan.’ The porn industry should be grateful.”