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Jennifer Robinson is not your average figure skater.

The Olympian and six-time Canadian champion is going from TV personality to politician to mother of two all in the same day, but she says that she ‘likes to be busy.’

Mrs. Robinson, born in Goderich, Ont., moved to Barrie, Ont. at the age of 13, by which time she had already been skating for five years. Training at the Mariposa School of Skating, she had won her first major title by the age of 16.

She won her first Canadian Championship in 1996, and went on to win it for five straight years between 1999 and 2003. Not only that, but she had three top 10 finishes in nine World Championship appearances. In 2002, she represented Canada at the Olympic games in Salt Lake City, and made Canada proud.

In 2002, Jennifer joined a group of many other talented skaters and toured Canada with Sears Stars on Ice for seven years after retiring from her professional career. She also attended Elvis Stojko’s Tour of Champions and the Skate the Nation tour.

The skater and icon married Eganville Figure Skating Club alumni Shane Dennison in 2002, and they have two daughters, two-year-old Reese and 10-month-old Rilyn to keep them busy.

Looking back on her career, there is so much to be proud of, and it’s hard for her to pick what the most important times in those 10 years were, but she said winning her first and second national title really resonate.

“Winning my very first national title, because a professional skater had been reinstated so everyone was just aiming for second and considering that gold, but I really wanted to win the real gold. I just decided that this is what I wanted to do and I did it,” Mrs. Robinson said. “I think that, tied with the first time I was able to repeat as champion, because human nature, everyone cheers for the underdog, myself included, and to be able to repeat as champion and stay on the top is one of the most difficult thing I’ve had to do.”

Not only does she skate, but she also commentates. During the 2006 Olympics in Torino for CBC during the women’s event, and the 2010 Olympics, she helped CTV with the women’s and ice dance events.  She was even late to the latter with the early birth of her first daughter while still in Barrie. She arrived in Vancouver a week later than expected, but was still able to commentate for CTV.

She was not only the voice, but also the image of news for Rogers TV in the Barrie area. She first helped co-host the First Local News show, and had now moved onto Daytime from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m., where they cover ‘anything and everything,’ from light to solemn.

“I like having people laugh, and having that interesting reaction. There are some serious interviews that you end up doing – we were raising money in awareness for a woman who was dying of cancer, and she came on with her best friend and she started talking about her family, she has two young kids, and she started crying, and her best friend started crying, and I was trying to keep it together and I was kind of teary,” Mrs. Robinson explained. “We talk about serious things and issues that are affecting the community, but as well we try to have a good time and make it as entertaining as possible.”

The aspect of being live is one that she enjoys and does not shy away from.

“It’s a really fun opportunity, because one it’s live, you have to react at a moments notice. Our set has been on fire, the lights have gone out, microphones don’t work – anything and everything can happen. We have animals and kids and food on our show, we have performances – I like that opportunity to have to react to something in a moments notice, that’s my favourite part.”

As if that wasn’t enough, she ran to be the councilor of Ward 8 in Barrie in 2010. It’s the same ward that encompasses the Mariposa School of Skating where she used to skate.

“I ran [for city council] because I basically used my name and reputation for charities, and I’ve been able to raise some funds and awareness for certain groups, mostly United Way Greater Simcoe County, and now that my whole entire family lives in Barrie, I thought I could do it on a grander scale, so I ran for the election.”

She won by 23 votes, and shortly after found out that she was 12 and a half weeks pregnant. While figure skating and politics are two very different things, she believes that everyone has seen a little bit of politics in their life.

“They have their differences because politics, policy and formalities when it comes to council is something that I’m obviously not used to. I learned the politics behind the sport of figure skating, but I think all sports in general, I think, is something that everyone is used to, because there are politics in whatever you do.  There’s job politics, there’s office politics, there’s sports politics, school has politics, there’s cliques in schools – everybody is a politician, they just don’t know it.”

Working with the city of Barrie has helped her to give back to the community that gave her so much, and since coming on with council, she has been doing great things.

“We’re very focused on trying to increase the intensification numbers that are mandated to us by the province, because of the urban sprawl. We are a primary settlement node in Barrie, and we need to work on trying to create an opportunity to live, work and play in our downtown core,” she said. “That process has been ongoing which is really exciting, and I think the best part about what is happening in Barrie is that our council is really willing to work together. There were previous councils that had not as much chemistry that this current council has – there’s a willingness to work together to see what we can do as quickly as governmentally possible.”

Not only is Jennifer Robinson an icon, but she is has been involved in non-profit organizations and is always looking to help out her community in any way she can, even being a Canadian World Vision Ambassador. And as far as skating is involved, she may be retired, but she always looks to help out those who look to move to skating in the future. She coaches and trains, including many clinic such as the one that the county got to take part in this weekend. Since marrying Dennison 10 years ago, many of her in-laws live in Bonnechere Valley Township, so this feels like a home away from home.

“When this opportunity came up, I was pretty excited,” Mrs. Robinson said.

The last time Mrs. Robinson preformed on ice in Eganville was at a carnival in 1997, so her return was much anticipated.

This Canadian icon and role model never stops, between council, her children, her television show and teaches the sport that she loves, her goal is to do all of the things she needs to well.

“It’s trying to keep that balance which is really challenging sometimes, but I try not to take on too much,” Mrs. Robinson explain. “I like to be busy, but they all fit very well, and they all have a purpose and I enjoy doing all of them.”