Lauren started the CJPA Facebook group after getting the chance to compete in the World Jigsaw Puzzle Championship in 2019, and wanting a way to connect Canadian puzzlers and build a strong puzzling community in Canada. She has been very excited to see the group grow over the past few years and has teamed up with a fantastic group of avid puzzlers to create the Canadian Jigsaw Puzzle Association. She loves both competitive and recreational puzzling, alone or with friends. She lives in Victoria, BC.

Born and raised in the Montreal area, Karine loves social activities and travel. Although the puzzle is an activity often practiced alone, Karine likes to do it in pairs or in small groups. When she learned in 2022 that there were puzzle competitions, she did some research to find out what was happening in Canada. One thing leading to another, she joined forces with the other founding members to offer Canadians unifying activities around this hobby that drives us.

Russell has been doing jigsaw puzzles for as long as he can remember. Growing up in a large family, money was tight and jigsaw puzzles were inexpensive and made great gifts for birthdays and Christmas. In 2019 Russell discovered that there was a world championship for jigsaw and was quick to join the join the Canadian Jigsaw Puzzle Association Facebook page which was started by Lauren Zolpys. Along with Amanda and Karine, they worked together to try to create an online place for puzzle lovers to meet and talk puzzles. In January of 2022 Russell ran a pilot project of an online puzzle competition. It was a huge success and has led to regular competitions for members being run by all 4 admin throughout the spring. Russell is retired and lives on Georgian Bay during the summer months, with his wife Noon. Together they have 4 children and 6 grandchildren.  In the winter they spend their time in Thailand with Noon’s family. Russell is hoping to go the World Puzzle Championships in Spain one year. If you wish to see more about Russell and his puzzling exploits you can, check out his YouTube channel PUZZLING IN 2 WORLDS.

During the pandemic, Amanda turned to puzzling to fill the quiet times.  As a teacher and someone who thrives off of relationships and social interactions, virtually meeting new friends through puzzling kept her going.  

When she realized how quickly she could complete puzzles, she began to explore speed puzzling, which led to seeing videos about Worlds and then led to stumbling upon the CJPA facebook group.  The rest is history.