Special Olympics Ontario: King Charles III Coronation Medal Honourees
The King Charles III Coronation Medal celebrates Canadians who have made outstanding contributions to their communities—and this year, several remarkable individuals from the Special Olympics Ontario community were among those honoured.
From program builders and longtime volunteers to passionate advocates and athlete leaders, each recipient has helped grow the movement across the province and championed the values of inclusion, empowerment, and civic service.
Below, we invite you to learn more about the Special Olympics Ontario recipients and their incredible contributions to building a more inclusive Canada.
Harvey Arcangeletti
Harvey Arcangeletti is the 2024 Athlete Lifetime Achievement Award winner, in recognition of the decades he spent not only competing in Special Olympics, but advocating for his fellow athletes through the Law Enforcement Torch Run. Playing in many sports—including swimming, athletics, floor hockey, softball, and bowling—Harvey has been to the World Games in 1983, 1991, 1995, and 2005. In an interview with the local paper in his town of Sault St. Marie, Harvey said, “The accomplishments are your skills, your goals, [and] the hard work you put into it.”
Stephanie Beuregard
Community Coordinator Chair of Kingston, Stephanie Beauregard remembers how the Special Olympics programming in her Ontario town blossomed from humble beginnings. In a news interview, Stephanie said the whole program started as a swim group in 1991, when a few parents wanted something to do with their kids. Nowadays, Kingston has over 250 athletes participating in a variety of Special Olympics sports.
John Bryden
National Director of Integrated Health Management at Sobeys, John Bryden has a personal connection to Special Olympics. A former Chair of Special Olympics Ontario’s board of Directors, John said the organization has had a huge impact on his daughter Carly. Having once been outspoken enough to be interviewed in a 2019 TSN broadcast, Carly’s anxiety grew worse during the COVID-19 pandemic to the point that she became non-verbal. Now that programs are fully up and running again, John is hopeful that being part of Special Olympics will help his daughter improve, just as she did in the past.
Don Burke
A business lawyer with over 25 years of experience, Donald Burke has spent just as much time helping to raise money for Special Olympics. He has been involved with the Ottawa Special Olympics Festival Breakfast, which has raised over $200,000 since its creation in 2005.
Duane Carson
With over 35 years volunteering in Special Olympics, Duane Carson is a highly seasoned swim coach from Newmarket, Ontario. He was Head Coach of Canada’s swim team in the 2019 Abu Dhabi World Games, and Head Coach of the country’s powerlifting team during the 2023 Games in Berlin. On his involvement in the organization, Duane told Special Olympics Ontario that he gets to be his true as a coach. “I enjoy creating a comfortable environment that is free from judgment,” he added.
Nicole Ferguson
In the over two decades that Nicole Ferguson has been competing in Special Olympics, she has gotten familiar with nation-wide competition. Having raced in the 2002 Summer Games in Track and Field, as well as speed skating at the 2016 National Games, Nicole’s biggest achievement in sports is powerlifting at the 2007 World Games in Shanghai, China. Her journey to reach that point was as incredible as it was heartbreaking, given she underwent two cancer treatments during her training. Now free of the disease, Nicole said she feels inspired by watching other athletes and what they can do. She also won Canada’s 2006 Athlete of the Year award.
Matthew Fields
Matthew Fields is an Ontario alpine skier, who won Gold for Canada in the 2017 Special Olympics Winter World Games in Austria. Matthew has done a lot to advocate for his fellow athletes, such as having worked for Deloitte in a program that helps people with disabilities work in hospitality. In his free time, Matthew likes to practice music, and he played the drums during the Special Olympics 50th anniversary special of TSN’s Jay and Dan show.
Margaret French
Community Coordinator Margaret French has a lot of responsibilities in organizing York South programs. However, that seemingly wasn’t enough for her, given that she is also actively involved in several local teams as either a head coach or manager. This includes The York South Gators (softball), the York South Superstars (basketball), York South 10 Pin bowling, and the Richmond Hill Strikers (5 pin bowling).
Sgt. Mark McGugan has spent over 36 years serving and protecting Canadians, ever since he joined the London Police in 1988. A year later, Mark became a member of the Law Enforcement Torch Run (LETR), and he continues to support Special Olympics Canada all these decades later. From 2021 to 2024, Mark served in the LETR’s International Executive Council, as a Regional Coordinator for all of Canada.
Stephen Graham
Having won 5 gold medals and 1 silver at the two World Games that he competed in, it is safe to say Stephen Graham is an accomplished Speed Skater. The Ontario athlete also participated in the Calgary Winter Games of 2024, and he still trains 5 days a week in a variety of different sports.
Lynne Houle
A long serving Community Coordinator for Sudbury, Lynne Houle won Ontario’s 2022 Volunteer of the Year award. Humble to the point of saying she didn’t deserve the award, people in her community strongly begged to differ, with Special Olympics Ontario calling Lynne the backbone of their programs in Sudbury. More recently, Lynne got to welcome many Sudbury athletes who returned from the 2024 Calgary Games with medals earned in a variety of winter sports. Lynne said that, in addition to normal practices, the athletes were also doing fitness-oriented exercises on dryland to help give them an edge.
Lisa Langevin
Being inducted into Special Olympics Ontario’s 2023 Hall of Fame for her generous sponsorship of our movement—including the annual charity breakfast run by Kelly Santini LLP, who she works for—Lisa Langevin is no stranger to charity. In 2018, the Ottawa mediator participated in a charity boxing match to raise money for cancer treatment, in honour of her father who she lost to the disease. “If I get my face pounded, I don’t care,” she said to a local paper, “I will have raised money for cancer.”
Glenn MacDonell
Glenn MacDonell’s King Charles award symbolizes the 35 years of hard work he dedicated towards running Special Olympics Ontario (SOO) as its former CEO. According to SOO’s website, the provincial chapter had 2,000 athletes and 1,200 volunteers when Glenn took over in 1988. Today, Ontario is proudly home to over 23,000 athletes as well as 12,000 volunteers/coaches, in large part thanks to Glenn’s excellent past leadership.
Tana Manchester
Credited with bringing Special Olympics programming to Sarnia, Tana—alongside other volunteers—managed to significantly improve the quality of life for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in the Ontario town. While children and young adults with IDD’s previously had very little community support after they aged out of programs, now Sarnia has eight Special Olympics sports being run all year round. Tana is currently the Community Coordinator for Special Olympics Sarnia.
Denita Minoletti
Denita Minoletti is a volunteer from Thunder Bay who has been essential to the growth of Special Olympics programming in her hometown. She has fostered relationships with businesses, service clubs, and other sports organizations to spread public awareness of Special Olympics Thunder Bay. In recognition of her efforts, Denita was given the 2024 President’s Award by Special Olympics Ontario.
Vice President of intellectual property at CGI Inc., Taje Mohabir is a former chair of The Special Olympics Ontario’s Board of Directors, whose legacy still earns him a deep amount of gratitude. Still finding ways to give back to the community through sports, Taje is the current board chair Bay Street Hoops, which hosts annual Toronto basketball games to raise money for various sports-based charities. Taje said that in the first few months his family lived in Canada after emigrating from Guyana, he didn’t have enough money to be as active as other children he grew up with. Nowadays, Taje loves being able to give back to other people who are in the same situation he once went through.
Bob Nicholson
Working as the Chief Operating Officer of Holy Trinity School, Bob Nicholson is a decades-long supporter of Special Olympics. 35 years ago, Bob and eight of his high school friends founded The Wizard Foundation to give back to the community, and over the years their organization has raised a cumulative $2.7 million for Special Olympics Ontario!
Tessa Trojan
Not many athletes can say they’ve been to multiple World Games, and even fewer can say they’ve won multiple gold medals at those games. A basketball player and golfer, Tess won a gold medal in the 2015 Los Angeles World Games, and again during the 2019 Abu Dhabi World Games. Outside of Special Olympics, Tess volunteers with a special needs program at Brock University, and is an usher with the Niagara IceDogs Junior hockey team.
