Revision 411771274 of "Sylvia Stark" on enwiki

{{Orphan|date=January 2011}}

'''Sylvia Stark''' is a [[Canada|Canadian]] businesswoman who was President and CEO of the Miss Canada International 1996 and Miss Teen Canada International 1998 competitions.<ref name=CTV>{{Cite news
 |url= http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/CTVNewsAt11/20030802/miss_canada_lawsuit_030801/
 |title=Former beauty queens sue Miss Canada Int'l 
 |work= CTV News|date= August 2, 2003
 |accessdate=22 December 2010
}}</ref> In 2003 Stark started a campaign to save a woman in Nigeria who had been sentenced to death by stoning for having a child out of wedlock after being raped. The petition which she organised result in the life of the woman being spared.

Inspired by the devastation of the [[2004 Tsunami]], Stark founded the ''Teddy Bears of Hope'' campaign which sends new and used teddy bears to children in areas affected by war and turmoil.<ref name=myk>{{Cite news
 |url= http://www.mykawartha.com/article/8660
 |title=Teddy Bears bring hope to children in need
 |work=mykawartha.com
 |accessdate=22 December 2010|date=17 November 2007|author=Debbie Bruce
}}</ref> Stark explained "We wanted to create something that didn’t cost money, that everyone could be involved in. Something to fill that emotional void in the children."<ref name=myk/> Pageant contestants collect teddy bears to be sent to given away.<ref name= ab>{{Cite news
 |url= http://www.canada.com/abbotsfordtimes/news/story.html?id=8f266627-4be4-464f-8011-0408741c38f9
 |title=Hoping for the best
 |work=Abbotsford Times|date= 13 June 2008
}}</ref>Since then, thousands of bears have been collected and sent to countries such as  Thailand, Cambodia, Guatemala, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Uganda.<ref name=myk/><ref>{{Cite web
 |url= http://www.teddybearsofhope.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=44&Itemid=5 |title=Testimonials |publisher=Teddybearsofhope |accessdate=3 February 2011}}</ref>

Several pageant contestants and winners have complained about Stark and the pageant organizations she has headed. Stark was successfully sued by former Miss Huronia beauty queen and [[Conservative Party of Canada|Conservative]] Member of Parliament [[Helena Guergis]] for overbilling on a national beauty pageant's entry fee.<ref name=CTV/><ref name=cbc>{{Cite news
 |url= http://www.cbc.ca/video/#/News/TV_Shows/The_National/1233408557/ID=1636462300
 |title=Beauty pageant fraud alleged
 |work= CBC News|date=7 November 2010
 |accessdate=22 December 2010
}}</ref><ref name=cbc/><ref name=maclean>{{Cite news
 |url= http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/03/12/a-power-couple-unplugged/2/
 |title=Jaffer & Guergis: a power couple, unplugged 
 |work=Macleans|author= Colby Cosh with Chris Sorensen and Aaron Wherry|  date=March 12, 2010
 |accessdate=22 December 2010
}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news
 |url= http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/political-career-goes-astray-for-guergis/article1530162/
 |title=Political career goes astray for Guergis 
 |work=The Globe and Mail|date=April 10, 2010|author=Anthony Reinhart and Gloria Galloway 
 |accessdate=22 December 2010
}}</ref>  In 1998 Stark pled guilty to attempting to obstruct justice when she faked a signature on a beauty contest document to avoid paying a fee.<ref name=CTV/><ref name=cbc/><ref>{{Cite news
 |url= http://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=84616&page=4
 |title=Married Beauty Queens Challenge Rules| author= Leela Jacinto| date= May 24, 2004 
 |work=ABC News
 |accessdate=22 December 2010
}}</ref>  In 2003, [[Julia Morley]], CEO of the [[Miss World]] organization said that she would not renew Stark's licence to provide contestants to international competitions because Stark had required her winners to pay for their expenses when competing.<ref name=os/> Later the same year, Stark resigned her position as CEO of Miss Canada International a few days before the organization was sued by former winners and contestants for fraud and deception.<ref name=CTV/><ref name=cbc2003>{{Cite news
 |url= http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2003/08/01/misscanmada030801.html
 |title=Contestants suing Miss Canada organizers
 |work=CBC News
 |accessdate=22 December 2010
}}</ref>  Stark denied any wrongdoing by the organization.<ref name=cbc2003/>
==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Persondata <!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]]. -->
| NAME              =Stark, Sylvia
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Stark, Sylvia}}
[[Category:Year of birth missing (living people)]]
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[[Category:Canadian businesspeople]]


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