Our volunteers / Nos bénévoles
CJPA Lead Team

Amanda Belanger
Co-President, Treasurer
Event Organizer

Russell Walsh
Co-President
Virtual Competition Lead

Quebec Lead
Member Database
Karine Tremblay

Fawn Gillard
Secretary
Event Organizer

Meenah Saravanabavan
Virtual Competition Lead

Rebecca Waddell
Manitoba Lead
Puzzle Socials
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Jen Boucher
Social Media Engagement
CJPA TEAM
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Sandy & Duncan Foster
24-hour Puzzle Wave Organizing Team
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Allison Elgersma
CJPA Rankings
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Kyla Norris
Travelling Puzzles
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Lizabeth Stanley
Newsletter Lead

Lauren Zolpys
Puzzle Along
OUR HISTORY: A TIMELINE
(a work in progress)
Beginnings
Many of you will remember hearing:
"I watched 22 hours of competitive jigsaw puzzling so you don't have to" - Karen Puzzles
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Karen Puzzles on YouTube created a video of the World Jigsaw Puzzle Championship in 2022. It caught the attention of many people and was posted in several of the local swap groups. Little did we know the World Championship along with Karen's video would spark the start of something great in Canada.
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Russell Walsh stumbled upon a Facebook group that had been started but then was pretty much abandoned. He contacted the admin, Lauren Zolpz and asked if he could hop on as admin and try to make something of an association.
January 2023
This was the official launch of the CJPA. Aside from the Facebook page, we finally launched virtual competitions with help from our partners at Puzzles Canada. They helped us to secure competition puzzles and ship them out. Our first competition was a 10 participant, invitation only Zoom call as a trial run. Later that month, we ran the first official CJPA individual speed competition over Zoom with 40 participants. The following month, we ran a pair event, and then we began running two competitions per month.
We collected registrations using an online form, and collected funds via e-transfer to Russ' personal bank account.
October 2023
Our first Canadian Nationals competitions, which at the time was called "The Great Canadian Puzzle Challenge"
May 2024
Official website with our URL: CanadianJPA.ca
May 2024
Second Canadian Nationals Competition
January 2025
First jigsaw puzzle retreat
July 2024
First Alberta regional in Edmonton, AB
May 2025
First British Columbia regional in Burnaby, BC
Facebook Growth
May 2025: 4000 members!
Feb 2025: 3500 members!
Sept 2024: 3000 members!
Feb 2024: 2000 members!
Aug 2023: 1000 members!