TORONTO, ON–The Canadian Franchise Association (CFA) released the winners of the 2022 CFA Recognition Awards, which will be presented during a special awards luncheon on Sunday, April 10 at the CFA National Convention in Ottawa, Ontario.
CFA Recognition Awards honour individuals and CFA member companies for their outstanding achievements, philanthropic endeavours, and contributions to the Canadian franchise community. Nominations are solicited from CFA members across Canada and winners are selected by a committee based on merit.
“The CFA Recognition Awards are about celebrating individuals and companies for their extraordinary accomplishments and contributions to the franchise community, which is especially important during recent times,” says the CFA’s President and Chief Executive Officer, Sherry McNeil.
“Franchising is ultimately about people helping other people achieve their goals. Our prestigious CFA Recognition Awards honour each individual and company for their demonstrated commitment to Growing Together™ and for helping the Canadian franchising community become Stronger Together. We congratulate all the winners on their achievements.”
The recipients of the 2022 CFA Recognition Awards are:
Hall of Fame Award | Recipient: Wendy’s Restaurants of Canada
Since opening its first store in Canada in 1975, Wendy’s Restaurants of Canada now has over 400 locations across the country and recently opened its 1,000th location internationally. Wendy’s has demonstrated strong business performance with nine years of consecutive same restaurants sales growth, the addition of more than 50 new locations nation-wide in recent years, and plans to accelerate their growth in Canada to create more jobs and serve more customers. Wendy’s Restaurants of Canada is a long-time and active member of the CFA, participating in CFA’s educational and government relations programming.
About the CFA Hall of Fame Award:
Presented in recognition of outstanding performance by a franchise company over a significant period of time. Winners typically will have high brand recognition (on either a regional or national scope) and will be generally recognized for their solid business performance. They will exhibit leadership in the franchise community in many ways including helping to encourage excellence through sharing best practices, speaking engagements, being willing to mentor new franchisors, and raising the profile of the franchise business model.
Lifetime Achievement Award | Recipient: U. Gary Charlwood, Charlwood Pacific Group
U. Gary Charlwood is the founder of Charlwood Pacific Group, a holding company which owns the master and territory franchise rights to leading brands in real estate, travel, property management, and mortgage brokerage businesses in Canada and around the world.
At the age of 25, Charlwood arrived in Canada with a young family and a dream but very little to his name. Less than 10 years later, he took his first step into the world of franchising, purchasing the Canadian master franchise rights to real estate franchise Century 21 in 1974 and growing it into one of Canada’s largest and most-respected real estate organizations.
In 1980, Charlwood founded Uniglobe Travel, which went on to become one of the most recognized names in the travel industry, with 660 locations worldwide.
Today, the Charlwood Pacific Group includes Century 21 Canada, Century 21 Asia-Pacific, Uniglobe Travel, Centum Financial Group and Real Property Management. Collectively, these organizations have 1,857 franchised outlets with 24,714 support staff in 67 countries.
Gary is a sought-after, international authority on franchising and entrepreneurship, speaking often at international venues. He is the first-ever non-U.S. citizen to be appointed as the Chairman of the International Franchise Association (IFA) and was the first Canadian to win the IFA Entrepreneur of the Year award. Charlwood Pacific Group has been inducted into the Halls of Fame of the American Society of Travel Agents, the International Franchise Association, and the Canadian Franchise Association. His success comes from excellence in franchising and the desire to build successful business strategies. He believes in creating successful business relationships based on a win-win approach, and based on the needs of franchisees. Gary has brought together many people and organizations who have things in common, creating something greater than the sum of the parts.
About the CFA Lifetime Achievement Award
Recognizes exceptional achievement and contribution to Canadian franchising and the community at large through demonstrated excellence throughout one’s lifetime and career in franchising. This award typically honours an individual who may be a franchisor, franchisee, or a support services provider. Hallmarks of excellence include a significant level of profile and leadership recognition within the franchise community, speaking engagements, published articles, mentorship, and being an ambassador for franchising.
Outstanding Corporate Citizen Award | Recipient: KFC Canada
Through its KFC Harvest Program, KFC Canada has donated more than 182,000 pounds of food to over 240 unique charities across Canada to combat critical food shortages at food banks and help create a healthier and safer environment by addressing food waste.
About the CFA Outstanding Corporate Citizen Award
Given to a franchise system that has demonstrated genuine and ongoing concern and support for a community or social service group(s). Award recipients are selected based on their philanthropic innovation, support and impact to the community whether on a local, regional, national or global scale. Elements taken into consideration include involvement throughout the franchise system and integration into the corporate culture, profile given to the support recipient organization(s), sustainability, innovation in how funds are raised, demonstrated benefit to the community, and amount of funds raised.
Diversity and Inclusion Champion Award | Recipient: McDonald’s Restaurants of Canada
A pioneer in diversity and inclusion in Canadian franchising, McDonald’s Restaurants of Canada can trace its origins back to the early 1970s. Today, its Diversity, Equity & Inclusion program is deeply rooted in the values of McDonald’s and encourages the representation and inclusion of all genders, backgrounds, ages, abilities, languages, and more underrepresented groups within its employees and leaders worldwide. Moving forward, McDonald’s plans to increase its representation of women within leadership roles worldwide to 45 per cent by 2025, and aims to achieve gender equality in leadership roles globally by the end of 2030.
About the CFA Diversity & Inclusion Champion Award
Recognizes a company or individual for extraordinary leadership and contribution towards improving and promoting diversity and inclusion within their workplace and the franchise community in Canada.
Distinguished Franchise Support Services/ Supplier Award | Recipient: Sherrard Kuzz LLP
The team of Employment and Labour lawyers at Sherrard Kuzz LLP have worked tirelessly on behalf of not just the Canadian Franchise Association but the entire franchise community to fight common employer which has uniquely impacted the franchise business model in recent years. The Sherrard Kuzz LLP team have assisted the franchise industry, its members, and the Association, as well as more than a dozen organizations across North America.
About the CFA Distinguished Franchise Support Services/ Supplier Award
Recognizes a person or company for their efforts and contributions in supporting the franchise industry and the Canadian Franchise Association at large.
CFA Volunteer Leadership Excellence Award | Recipient: Rick Chittley-Young, MNP
With a longstanding history of service to the CFA as Treasurer on the CFA Board of Directors, Rick Chittley-Young has helped lead the Association through over a decade of growth and evolution. His continued volunteerism in all areas of CFA’s work, including educational programming, advocacy, and events, as well as his ambassadorship on behalf of the CFA community, have truly helped the CFA grow and develop.
About the CFA Volunteer Leadership Excellence Award
In the spirit of passion for franchising and the Association this award is given to an individual who, through their volunteer activities and work as an ambassador for franchising, helps the CFA grow, evolve and deliver on its Purpose and Mission.
About the Canadian Franchise Association
The Canadian Franchise Association (CFA) helps everyday Canadians realize the dream of building their own business through the power of franchising. CFA advocates on issues that impact this dream on behalf of more than 600 corporate members and over 40,000 franchisees from many of Canada’s best-known and emerging franchise brands. Beyond its role as the voice of the franchise industry, CFA strengthens and develops franchising by delivering best-practice education and creating rewarding connections between Canadians and the opportunities in franchising. Franchising is the 12th largest industry in Canada and franchised businesses contribute over $100 billion per year to the Canadian economy, creating jobs for more than 2 million Canadians.
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