Claire Kennedy, Law’94, is an enthusiastic supporter of the veterans’ charity True Patriot Love (TPL), but volunteering to join a mountaineering expedition to Antarctica – the organization’s signature fundraising event in 2016 – took her involvement with TPL to a whole new level. One that definitely was outside her comfort zone.
“By nature, I’m a methodical person,” she says. “What quickly sold me on getting involved in this initiative was the fact it was dedicated to supporting mental health and well-being and transition services for military veterans, which is what TPL does.”
Kennedy isn’t a mountaineer, but she is a self-described arctic enthusiast whose bucket list includes her own “polar quest”: she aspires to travel north of the polar circle in each of the seven countries where you can do so. Having already been to three of them, she figured a visit to Antarctica “would offer an interesting symmetry.” It did. However, there were myriad complicating factors in such a trip.
Kennedy’s schedule is hectic and demanding. She’s the mother of two active youngsters – ages 11 and 14 – and has a busy professional life as a tax specialist and partner in the Toronto law firm of Bennett Jones LLP and as a director of the Bank of Canada. In addition, she recently became chair of the University of Toronto’s Board of Governors, and she continues to support Queen’s Law after having served six years on the Dean’s Council (2009–2015).
Regardless, once Kennedy volunteered for the TPL expedition, there was no turning back. She began training, lugging around a backpack filled with 25-kilogram weights while watching as donation pledges poured in. Friends and her colleagues in the legal community pledged about $120,000. “That was more than double my original fundraising goal,” says Kennedy.
Thus it was that one day in early January 2016, she, 15 other Canadian business leaders, eight ill or injured military veterans, and five team specialists found themselves aboard an old Russian military cargo plane that was winging its way southward from Patagonia. Their destination was Union Glacier Camp, the only privately owned, seasonally occupied facility of its kind in Antarctica. The remote venue would be the base for TPL’s expedition to scale Vinson Massif. At 4,900 metres, the peak is Antarctica’s highest, and it’s one of the world’s Seven Summits.
The entire 10-day TPL experience, which raised $2.46 million for TPL, was intense and emotional. “This was one of the most difficult things I’ve ever done, but it was also one of the most unforgettable and rewarding,” says Kennedy. “I came home with a very healthy respect for Mother Nature, a sense of awe at the isolation and grandeur of Antarctica, and a renewed affirmation of the best of the human condition after seeing what team work can accomplish. The level of camaraderie that quickly developed among a group of strangers was astounding.”
In that way, it was reminiscent of the bonding Kennedy experienced in first-year studies at Queen’s Law. “I made friendships for life in Antarctica, as I did in Kingston,” she says. Kennedy’s respect and support for Canada’s military veterans also endures. “They’re tremendously skilled and have a lot to offer in civilian life.”
Read more about the Antarctic expedition and view photos at the TPL website.
By Ken Cuthbertson