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Richard Gere, Wyclef Jean hounoured at One X One

A-list celebrities were honored Sunday in Toronto for their humanitarian efforts at the annual One X One benefit gala hosted by Oscar-winner Matt Damon.

This year's gala took place at the Four Season's Centre for the Performing Arts and paid tribute to a slew of activists.

First Nations National Chief Phil Fontaine, Golden Globe winner Richard Gere, Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson and supermodel and philanthropist Petra Nemcova were honoured.

Hip-hop artist Wyclef Jean was also recognized with a special American Express humanitarian award for his commitment to providing aid in his native country through the Yéle Haiti movement.

Jean moved from Haiti to the U.S. when he was 10-years-old. He told CTV News he was astounded by the grandeur of America when he first arrived and hopes to inspire other Haitian children through his success story.

"For the first time we were on an airplane, and when we arrived in New York City it was night and all we saw were lights. I looked at my brother and I said, 'Look at all the gold, we're rich, we're rich,'" Jean said on Sunday.

One-X-One is a nonprofit foundation committed to preserving and improving the lives of children in Canada and around the world. Last year's gala, also hosted by Damon in Toronto, was hailed as a success after it filtered more than $1.3 million to Canadian charities.

"I've seen solutions to these very real problems and I've seen these things working and it's exciting for me," Damon said on Sunday.

"To be here and kind of share what I've seen with people and share with some of these programs is a great chance for me to get other people excited about it."

For the second year, CTV is the exclusive media partner for the One-X-One gala event.