Capt. Megan Couto
Richview Graduate 2010
Commencement Address 2021
After graduating from RCI, Megan went on to graduate from the Royal Military College of Canada with a degree in Military Psychology and Leadership with a minor in Political Science. An Infantry Officer by trade with experience in both garrison (2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Light Infantry) and on military operations (Operation LENTUS, Operation IMPACT Canadian Training Assistance Team – Jordan).
Megan is currently employed as Aide de Camp to the Governor General of Canada. Megan made history as the first women in the infantry to Captain Queen’s Guard. Her Canadian unit The Second Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry (2PPCLI) - known as The Patricia's - has been invited to the UK to mark the 150th anniversary of Canada, which was celebrated in 2017.
Megan has also earned prestigious awards: PPCLI Regimental Commendation, Operational Service Medal – Expeditionary, Task Force Middle East Commander’s Commendation, MacArthur Leadership Award, Capt. Dawe Memorial Sword, RMC Exchange Cadet and Top of Program In Royal Military College of Canada.
The Darcys - Art Rock Band
Jason Couse & Wes Marskell
Richview Graduates 2004
Commencement Address 2019
The Darcys are a Canadian two-piece Art Rock Band from Toronto, Ontario. The band’s name came from Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Jason Couse and Wes Marskell began The Darcy’s here in Etobicoke. Jason and Wes both graduated from Richview C.I. in 2004. Jason and Wes have known each other since they were 10 years old. They were making music together in University where they ‘started playing for beer, trying to meet girls’. Jason and Wes both provided the Alumni Address to our 2018-2019 Graduates in June 2019.
Jason and Wes gradually transitioned into a full band in Halifax, Nova Scotia with the additions of Dave Hurlow and Kirby Best. After 2007 the group returned to Toronto and Michael le Riche was added to the band. Towards 2011 the band re-created to 4, Jason Couse, Wes Marskell, Michael le Riche and Dave Hurlow. In 2014, the band announced The Darcys would move forward as a duo consisting of founding members Jason and Wes.
Studio albums: Fear & Loneliness 2020, Centerfold 2016, Warring 2013, Aja 2012 and The Darcys 2011, Endless Water 2007. Other Releases: Another Log on the Fire 2017, Hymn for a Missing Girl 2014. Singles: Off the Deep 2020, Look Me in the Eyes 2020, Boys Don’t/Change 2020, Melodramatic 2019, Better Days 2019, Hurt 2019, Hurt Piano Version 2019, Ocean Eyes 2019, Chasing the Fall 2018, Just Here with My Friends 2018, Arizona Hwy 2016, Coming Up for Air 2016, Miracle 2016, Miracle 2016, The River 2013, House Built Around Your Voice 7, 2010.
Bruce Boyd
Richview Graduate 1963
Commencement Address 2018, 2020
Entered Richview as a Grade 9 student in September 1958.
Football Manager 1958 and 1959
Played football for Richview 1960, 1961 and 1962.
Named 2nd team All-Star Centre by the Toronto "Telegram" in 1963.
Entered Victoria College at the University of Toronto in September of 1963. Played Centre for the "Baby Blues" in the fall of 1963 and for the "Varsity Blues" in 1964, 65 and 66. Member of the 1965 team that won the inaugural Vanier Cup.
Graduated with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Geography in 1966. Spent the 1966-1967 school year taking additional Geography courses and the 1967-1968 year at the Ontario College of Education.
Captained the Victoria College football team to victory in the 1967 Mulock Cup (the oldest football trophy in Canada) emblematic of the UofT Intramural Championship, in his last game as a player.
Returned to Richview in September of 1968 as a member of the Geography and Physical Education Departments. Retired from full-time teaching in 2000 as Head of the Geography Department.
Between 1968 and 2000 coached Football, Wrestling, Shot Put and Discus, Soccer and Gymnastics and in his "retirement" years continued to substitute teach at Richview and coached Soccer (2000-2008) and Junior Football (2000-20??)
Married to Nancy (RCI 1966). Coached and taught son Cameron (RCI 1994) and daughter Laura (RCI 1997).
It can truly be said that Bruce "bleeds Scarlet and Gold".
John Cruickshank
Richview Graduate 1969
Commencement Address 2014
Publisher (retired 2015) of the Toronto Star, Canada’s largest newspaper, and President of Star Media Group. Mr. Cruickshank is the 9th publisher in the newspaper’s 120-plus year history.
Mr. Cruickshank has enjoyed a distinguished career in newspapers and television in both Canada and the United States.
Prior to his appointment as the Star’s Publisher in November, 2008, he served as Publisher of CBC News since September, 2007, where he was responsible for all English language television, radio and online news. Before joining the CBC, he was Publisher of the Chicago Sun-Times and Chief Operating Officer of the Sun-Times Media Group, based in Chicago, from 2003 to 2007. Prior to being named Publisher of the Sun-Times, he was Vice President, Editorial, from 2000 to 2003.
John is also a former Managing Editor of The Globe and Mail and former Editor-in-Chief of The Vancouver Sun. He has also worked for The Montreal Gazette and started his journalism career with the Kingston Whig Standard.
Born and raised in Toronto, Mr. Cruickshank is a graduate of Trinity College at the University of Toronto. He was honoured with a Doctor of Sacred Letters from Trinity College in 2013. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto.
Janice Kulyk Keefer
Richview Graduate 1970
Commencement Address 2016
English Creative Writing Janice Kulyk Keefer has lectured on Canadian writing and given readings from her work across Canada and Europe, as well as in Australia, Japan, New Zealand and the United States. She is the author of three books of short stories, three collections of poetry, five novels, two works of literary criticism, a family memoir, and a children’s book.
Among her awards are First Prize (twice) in the CBC Radio Literary Competition and The National Magazine Award; the Canadian Authors’ Association poetry award, the Marian Engel Award and the $25,000 Kobzar Award. She has been awarded several Canada Council grants for the Arts, and two awards from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, most recently an Artist/Researcher grant 2005-2007.
A frequent reviewer of literary books for The Globe and Mail, Janice Kulyk Keefer has judged numerous Canadian literary competitions. She has taught at creative writing workshops across Canada, including Banff, Sage Hill and the Humber School for Writers. Recently, she participated in the creation, and staging of, and acted in Judith Thompson’s play Body and Soul. She is currently at work on a book of poetry on post-Orange Revolution Ukraine and on a novel based on the interconnected lives of painters Vanessa Bell, Duncan Grant and their servant Grace Germany. Among her research interests are ekphrasis and the relationship between verbal and visual imagery: she is currently working on a collaborative project with Toronto painter Natalka Husar.
Her teaching interests have ranged from literature and ethnicity to the short fiction of Katherine Mansfield and Mavis Gallant; most recently she has focused on the impact of today’s political, environmental and economic crises on works of fiction and non-fiction, and on the literary representation of Domestic Service. Dr. Kulyk Keefer’s main supervisory duties are devoted to Masters’ theses produced by students enrolled in the Guelph-Humber Creative Writing program. Her pedagogical philosophy can be summarized as the stimulation of critical consciousness and aesthetic awareness vis-a-vis the reading of literary texts and an insistence on grammatical accuracy and stylistic competence in written assignments. The creation of opportunities for the interplay of literary study and creative writing is one of her special interests.
Stephen Harper
Richview Graduate 1978
As a Conservative candidate, and with a minority government, Harper was sworn in as Canada's 22nd prime minister in February 2006.
Born in Toronto in 1959, Stephen Harper earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in economics at the University of Calgary. Following multiple terms in the House of Commons. Stephen Harper has been a proponent of lower taxes, Arctic sovereignty and an enlarged military, his standing strengthened when his Conservative Party earned a majority in the 2011 federal election.
He has proven a staunch proponent of laissez-faire capitalism, smaller government and social conservatism.
Paul Watson
Richview Graduate 1978
Commencement Address 2015
Paul Watson, a desk job at the Los Angeles Times or Toronto Star would not hold him. He’s logged significant mileage between his Master’s Degree in International Affairs from Columbia University to foreign affairs correspondence from Bosnia, Sudan, Iraq, Rwanda, China, Afghanistan, Albania, India, Cambodia and others.
We continue to appreciate Paul’s work with his most recent efforts covering the search and discovery of the ill-fated Franklin Expedition in Canada’s Arctic. Like Franklin himself, we are proud and grateful for Paul’s indefatigable insistence- for Paul Watson, whether in war, peace, exploration or otherwise, journalists make no compromises to ensure that a voice is given to the voice-less, the power-less and that the whole truth prevails- even at the cost of personal wellness, pain and suffering or the risk of death- no stranger to a war correspondent.
Paul Watson has, as an award winning journalist and photographer not so much covered world events as he has uncovered what those events have wrought on the state, it’s people and our psyche. Long before Paul was awarded the 1994 Pulitzer Prize for a searingly visceral photo of Sgt. David Cleveland’s lifeless body being dragged through a street in Mogadishu,- a copy of which is mounted in our Hall of Distinction, Paul delivered the Valedictory address to his fellow graduates on October 27, 1978 in which he stated:
I decided I could deliver a special message since I had come to Richview not because I lived in a certain school district but because I knew there was a tremendous feeling of purpose in this school which I owed thanks for making me realize how precious it is to be an individual.
Bob Weekes
Richview Graduate 1979
Commencement Address 2017
As fate would have it, Bob Weeks, as Students' Council President of 1978 counted among his "Cabinet" two peers who themselves made a bit of splash in this country: Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Paul Watson and the 22nd Prime Minister of Canada, Stephen Harper.
Bob graduated from the University of Windsor in 1983 with a degree in Communications and is in his 31st year working as a sports journalist. He is perhaps best known as the golf reporter and host for TSN, where he's been on the air since 1998. Bob has been inducted into 5 halls of fame including the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame and continues to make his home in Etobicoke. Thank you Bob for a most memorable Commencement Address to the Class of 2017.
Scott Mellanby
Richview Graduate 1984
An Assistant General Manager with the Montreal Canadiens, Scott has enjoyed a long, productive and successful hockey career. A second round draft pick of the Philadelphia Flyers in 1984, he went on to also play for the Oilers, Panthers, Blues and Thrashers. Scott has not won the cup as a player but has been very close playing in two Stanley Cup finals with the Flyers and Panthers.
He has accumulated an impressive 840 points in 1400+ regular season games and was of course a member of the 1986 World Junior Hockey Team that won silver- to which Scott contributed 9 points in 7 games. The Canadiens are fortunate to have him in management.
Gurdeep Ahluwalia
Richview Graduate 2002
Commencement Address 2013, 2020
Gurdeep graduated from Richview in 2002, before spending four years at McMaster University completing a double major with Mass Media Communications and Sociology. Gurdeep was heavily involved on campus. He was the Sports Editor at McMaster’s campus newspaper, The Silhouette, and hosted/produced a weekly show on campus radio, CFMU 93.3.
Upon finishing university, Gurdeep started behind the scenes positions as a writer/intern at TSN, The Score, and The Hockey News. After learning the ropes behind the scenes for a couple of years, Gurdeep began his on-air career as host of Daytime on Rogers TV Peel Region. Following a season there, Gurdeep spent a year as host of Toronto Sports Show and sideline reporter for the AHL’s Toronto Marlies on Rogers TV Toronto.
Gurdeep’s BIG break came in 2009, when he was hired as a weather/traffic reporter at Toronto’s number one news station, CP24; Toronto’s Breaking News. He gained immediate and widespread popularity there, winning multiple awards and receiving recognition and accolades from various community organizations. During his five years at CP24, Gurdeep progressed seasmlessly to news reporting, news anchoring and eventually, co-hosting CP24 Breakfast Weekend with Pooja Handa from 2011-2013. The two became a branded and extremely lovable duo that drew in 1,000,000 viewers to their hit show every weekend. The show combined the usual CP24 fare of news, weather, and traffic, but added in guests, witty banter, sketch comedy and an undeniable chemistry between the pair.
In late 2013, Gurdeep was offered the rare opportunity to take his career national – and full circle – with an offer from TSN; Canada’s Sports Leader. He accepted and became a national network host for TSN’s SportsCentre, where he remains today.
Some of Gurdeep’s career highlights include hosting the CP24 Olympic desk, doing a sit down feature with his boyhood idol Doug Gilmour, interviewing a 15-year-old Connor McDavid prior to him joining the OHL, hosting the NCAA’s March Madness coverage on TSN, covering municipal, provincial and federal elections, reporting from the streets of the G20 in Toronto, and waking up with Torontonians, making them smile every weekend during his time on CP24 Breakfast.
In his spare time, Gurdeep enjoys his hanging out with his three young nephews, and is involved with various charitable endeavors, including Sick Kids Hospital, Camp Oochigeas, Wellspring, and is an Ambassador with World Animal Protection’s #CollarsNotCruelty program.
Joey Votto
Richview Graduate 2002
A Canadian treasure, Joey is a professional baseball first baseman for the Cincinnati Reds of Major League Baseball. He made his MLB debut with the Reds in 2007. Votto is a four-time MLB All-Star and a five-time Tip O'Neill Award winner.
Incredible facts about Joey Votto’s historic 2015 season:
1. Votto broke his own Reds record for most times on base in a season.
In 2013, Votto broke Pete Rose’s Reds record of 311 times on base in a season, which was set in 1969. Votto finished the year by reaching base 316 times. Votto broke that this season by reaching base 319 times. An impressive thing about that is that Votto had 31 more PA in 2013.
2. Votto tied Rose with 48-game on base streak
Joey Votto reached base in 48 consecutive games between August 11th and October 2nd. That tied the Reds record which was set by Pete Rose in 1978 (the same year that Rose had his 44-game hit streak). It was also the longest streak in the MLB since Kevin Millar’s 52-game streak in 2007 with the Orioles. It was the longest streak in the NL since Barry Bonds’ 58-game streak in 2003.
3. Votto broke his own Reds record for walks in a season
Joey Votto broke his own Reds record of walks in a season with 143. Votto had 135 walks in 2013. Votto’s 143 walks are the 27th most in MLB history. The only players to walk more than 143 times in a season since 1970 are Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, and Jeff Bagwell. Bonds did so six times, while the McGwire and Bagwell only did it once.
4. Votto’s second half OBP was the fifth best in MLB history
Joey Votto finished the second half with a .535 OBP. There have only been four players in MLB history to have a higher OBP in the second half of a season (minimum 300 PA). Those guys all ended up with pretty nice careers:
Ted Williams: .583 (1941)
Babe Ruth: .552 (1923)
Barry Bonds: .547 (2001)
Rogers Hornsby: .541 (1924)
Joey Votto: .535 (2015)
5. Votto’s career .423 OBP tied for 14th best in MLB history
According to the Fangraphs’ leaderboard of qualified players, Joey Votto’s career .423 OBP is tied for the 14th best in MLB history. Votto’s 157 career wRC+ is tied for the 12th best in MLB history.
6. Votto finished with a 1.000+ OPS for the third time in his career
Joey Votto walked in his final PA of 2015, and that bumped his OPS to a cool 1.000 for the season. Here is the short list of Reds players who had a 1.000+ OPS (minimum 475 PA):
Joey Votto: 2010, 2012, 2015
Frank Robinson: 1960, 1961, 1962
George Foster: 1977
Joe Morgan: 1976
Ted Kluszewski: 1954
7. You could argue that 2015 Votto was better than 2010 Votto
Joey Votto had an incredible 2010 season, and ended up winning the MVP. In 2015, Votto had just as good of a season, or maybe even better:
2010: .324/.424/.600, 37 HR, 172 wRC+, 7.0 fWAR
2015: .314/.459/.541, 29 HR, 172 wRC+, 7.4 fWAR
8. Votto vs other Reds legends through first 9 seasons:
Joey Votto (4,757 PA): .311/.423/.534, 192 HR, 633 RBI, 156 OPS+, 43.2 bWAR
Pete Rose (6,224 PA): .309/.371/.438, 103 RH, 529 RBI, 124 OPS+, 40.0 bWAR
Johnny Bench (5,194 PA): .271/.342/.487, 240 HR, 855 RBI, 131 OPS+, 49.8 bWAR
Barry Larkin (4,424 PA): .296/.330/.431, 87 HR, 471 RBI, 115 OPS+, 38.6 bWAR
Frank Robinson (5,734 PA): .304/.390/.566, 291 HR, 896 RBI, 150 OPS+, 58.8 bWAR
Tony Perez (4,572 PA): .284/.344/.483, 183 HR, 713 RBI, 129 OPS+, 31.1 bWAR
9. Votto just missed leading the league in OBP for a fifth time
Joey Votto finished with an incredible .459 OBP (the 9th best non-Bonds of this millennium). Votto was just one point behind Bryce Harper’s .460 OBP for the best in the MLB. If Votto would have finished ahead of Harper, he would have lead the NL in OBP for an incredible fifth time in his career so far.
10. Joey Votto is a speed demon
Votto is certainly not known as a speed threat, but in 2015 he stole the exact same amount of bases as Mike Trout and Andrew McCutchen. He had a much better success rate too.
Joey Votto: 11 SB, 3 CS
Mike Trout: 11 SB, 7 CS
Andrew McCutchen: 11 SB, 5 CS