Top Awards Presented to Six Women in Aviation and Aerospace

The Northern Lights Award Foundation (NLAF) announces the six winners of its 2014 aviation and aerospace awards. Among the prestigious list of honorees is Dr. Roberta Bondar, the world's first neurologist in space and Canada's first woman astronaut.

Each year, the national not-for-profit foundation honors outstanding Canadian women in aviation and aerospace who have made a significant contribution in their field and who continue to lay the groundwork for other women to enter or excel in these industries.

The Foundation's award program, called the Elsie MacGill Northern Lights (EMNL) Awards, is named after aviation pioneer and human rights advocate Elsie Gregory MacGill. The world's first female aircraft designer, MacGill graduated from the University of Toronto's electrical engineering program in 1927 and later became pivotal in the design and production of the Hawker Hurricane in Canada during the Second World War. During her career, MacGill was appointed to the Canadian Royal Commission on the Status of Women, and was made an Officer of the Order of Canada.

Since its inception in 2009, the Northern Lights Award Program has received an overwhelmingly positive response from the industry, and as a result, has grown from one to six separate award categories.

The 2014 NLAF winners are:

• Pioneer Award 
Dr. Roberta Bondar, Canada's first woman astronaut and the world's first neurologist in space
 

• Flight Operations/Maintenance Award
 Nachelle White, Dash 8 pilot currently flying missions throughout Africa for the United Nations
 

• Government/Military Award 
Sandra McDonald, 34 year veteran of the Royal Canadian Air Force supporting its CP140 Aurora Fleet; currently government contractor at Maritime Proving and Evaluation Unit 
 

• Business Award 
Eva Martinez, Director at UTC Aerospace Systems, Landing Gear Systems
 

• Education Award
  Lynne McMullen, Chair of the School of Aviation and Flight Technology at Seneca College
 

• Rising Star Award 
 Danielle Metcalfe-Chenail, aviation author and historian and first female president of the Canadian Aviation Historical Society