A High-Flying Career and a Love of Soccer Set This Grad Apart
Helping injured workers and making workplaces across Ontario safe for everyone were the driving forces behind Peter Augruso's impressive career accomplishments.
Born and raised in Thunder Bay, Peter studied labour and industrial relations at Lakehead, where he benefited from the depth of the education he received. "Dr. Jerry Phillips and Dr. Ken Hartviksen, in particular, stood out because they always made time for me," he says.
Lakehead also gave Peter the opportunity to play on its varsity soccer team, which won the Great Plains Athletic Conference during the 1981-82 season. "As an Italian-Canadian, soccer is part of my culture," Peter says. "My wife and I coached soccer when our kids were little, and one of my sons earned a soccer scholarship to an American university."
Peter during his time on Lakehead's varsity soccer team in the early 1980s.
After graduating with a Bachelor of Administration in 1988, Peter worked briefly as a junior executive at Zellers in Winnipeg. His career, however, really got kick-started when he became a vocational career counsellor with the Workers' Compensation Board of Manitoba. Peter returned to Thunder Bay a few years later to take the same position with the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB), remaining there for 19 years, assisting injured workers seeking to retrain in new careers.
Although the work was gratifying, Peter began to realize that it wasn't enough for him. "I wanted to prevent injuries, rather than help people get back to work after they'd already been injured. Some people thought I was crazy because, by that point, I was in my mid-forties and had a good career."
Undeterred, he successfully applied to become the district manager – operations division, with the Ontario Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development in 2007. Two years later, Peter was promoted to regional director of the northern region. By 2015, he'd climbed to the highest reaches of the ministry after being chosen as assistant deputy minister (ADM), moving to Toronto to take on this new role.
As assistant deputy minister, Peter administered a 130-million-dollar budget and was responsible for employment standards, occupational health and safety, and radiation monitoring.
"I'm proud to say that as ADM, employee engagement and morale were high. I wasn't afraid to answer questions, and I knew many of my 1,100 staff members." During his tenure, Peter also incorporated new sexual harassment legislation into the Occupational Health and Safety Act to strengthen protections for workers.
The Beautiful Game
Joining Canada Soccer has turned Peter into a globetrotter, "I get to watch the men's and women's national teams compete around the world—I've been to Bangkok, Amsterdam, and the 2024 Paris Olympics." He's also recently returned from the FIFA World Congress in Paraguay and is gearing up for the men's Gold Cup in Vancouver and the 2026 World Cup.
Peter played soccer with men's recreational leagues throughout his adult years. Then, in 2014, he became reengaged with youth soccer as a volunteer with Ontario Soccer, serving as their president from 2018 to 2024.
With more time available after retiring from government in 2021, Peter intensified this focus and, last year, successfully ran for president of Canada Soccer—eager to promote the growth of the game from the grassroots to the Olympic level.
Peter envisions a future for Canada Soccer where every child is given the opportunity to play, including talented Indigenous athletes in remote communities, through the "Soccer for Life" initiative. "It's based on the belief that soccer should be a lifelong passion—uniting communities, fostering talent, and making the game accessible to all, regardless of where they live. I want to create an inclusive, thriving soccer culture that leaves a lasting impact across the country."