Among the names that joined the Canadian Walk of Fame this year are R&B vocalist Deborah Cox, retail executive Heather Reisman, and the late versatile athlete Lionel Conacher. The first round of the 2022 honors awards was selected at the annual fundraising gala of the Music Under the Stars Foundation on Thursday night at Casa Loma in Toronto.

The three influential Canadians joined the Just For Laughs comedy brand expansion and a special tribute to the Hamilton rock band Arkells, which received the Allan Slaight Music Impact Honor for their contributions to music.

Organizers say more inductees will be announced in the coming weeks. They will all be celebrated at an in-person ceremony held on December 3 at the Beanfield Centre in Toronto.

Among this year’s nominees, Cox is known for her 1990s musical hits, including the smash dance remix "Nobody’s Supposed to Be Here," while Reisman has been a rare female CEO in the Canadian business world for years.

Conacher, who died at the age of 54 in 1954, won the Canadian lightweight boxing championship in 1920, a year before leading the Toronto Argonauts to a Grey Cup victory, scoring 15 points in their 23-0 win over the Edmonton Eskimos.

Just For Laughs is an "international comedy foundation" with its festivals, television programs, and other projects. The Canadian Walk of Fame is a national non-profit organization that grew from honoring inductees with stars on the sidewalk in Toronto’s entertainment district to a national series of programs and celebrations year-round.