With 79 days until the start of the Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, Ottawa Mayor Larry O’Brien announced that Orleans resident and University of Ottawa student Mélissa Brunet will carry the torch for Ottawa’s portion of the Olympic relay.
On Dec. 12, Brunet will carry the torch through downtown Ottawa, ending at Marion Dewar Plaza.
Brunet is a biomedical science student at the University of Ottawa and the recipient of the Citizen of the Year Youth award at the 2009 civic appreciation night. Brunet is an avid volunteer, working hard with the “exposé” program, a smoke-free youth project, initiated by the City of Ottawa’s Public Health Branch. She also does work with cancer fundraising, children with autism and the Special Olympics.
In addition to carrying the torch, Mayor O’Brien has arranged for Brunet to keep the Olympic torch as a keepsake.