Orléans, Ontario
Master Corporal Jody Mitic, who was sworn in as a Councillor for the City of Ottawa in October 2014, served in the Canadian Armed Forces for 20 years. In 2007, as a sniper team leader in Afghanistan, Master Corporal Mitic stepped on a landmine, losing both legs from the mid-calf down. Beating all the odds, just one year after his recovery and rehabilitation, he completed a five-kilometre annual charity run to raise funds for St. John’s Rehabilitation Centre, where he had received his treatment. In 2009, he completed his first-ever half marathon at the Canada Army Run, using two prosthetic legs. Master Corporal Mitic is the co-founder and President of the Never Quit Foundation, which raises money and awareness for adaptive living for wounded soldiers, police officers, fire fighters and paramedics to take them to special events. Through sponsorships, the Foundation funds these events and opportunities and, at the end of each event, donates money in the participants’ names to their charities of choice. Because of his “never quit attitude,” Master Corporal Mitic was a peer mentor and an outreach coordinator for Soldier On, a program that assists Canadian Armed Forces members with their physical rehabilitation.