On September 15, 2012 the Ambassador of Mexico in Canada H.E. Francisco Barrio, on behalf of the Government of Mexico, awarded Gilda Pontbriand the "Premio Ohtli".
The prize called Ohtli
is awarded by the Government of Mexico to Mexicans who have dedicated their lives, as
volunteers, to promote their culture and who have opened the way for other
Mexicans who have arrived in Canada. For
the aboriginal people of Mexico
called Nahuas, the words Melahuac Ohtli meant the “right way”; the one that your
heart asks you to follow and the one that would take you to your destiny.
Gilda started
promoting Mexican and Latin American culture 25 years ago by organizing over
150 exhibitions of paintings/photography and dozens of concerts, gastronomic and
film festivals, conferences, workshops, etc., etc. She was the founder of the first Association
of Latin American Artists in Canada,
member of the first Mexican folkloric ballet in Ottawa, first Mexican who offered cooking
classes at the Ottawa Carleton Board of Education and first curator and organizer of annual Latin
American art exhibitions for over 12 years.
For many years she devoted herself to find a place in Ottawa
to install the sculpture of Mexican artist Leonardo Nierman and in 2007 the Embassy
of Mexico unveiled the sculpture at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa.
She has donated more than 50 pieces of art and helped in the organization of
fundraising events to help organizations such as the Ottawa General Hospital, the Canadian Leukemia
Study Group, the Lung Association, the Ovarian Cancer Society, Children’s Aid
Foundation, The National Arts Centre Dance Group, Doctors Without Borders, etc., as well as to help
people in Peru, Mexico, Bolivia,
Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala,
Niger,
etc. when those countries have been affected by natural disasters.
Gilda with Maruka Comtois
Gilda with Nora Bustamante
