Jennifer Lynn McArton[3] was born on 2 February 1968[4] at the Ottawa Civic Hospital to parents Elizabeth and Ron[5] and grew up in Don Mills, Toronto.

[6] At a young age, she was a member of the Pointe Clare Swimming and Diving club and trained under the coaching of Don Webb.

[1] McArton lived close to the Pan-Am pool which had been built for the 1967 Pan American Games and her coach Jim Lambie supported the idea of her moving to Winnipeg.

Shortly after moving, McArton was a finalist in the open 10-metre event in Ecuador, before securing a silver medal at the 1982 Commonwealth Games in the 10-metre highboard.

[11] McArton won 3 gold medals in the 15-17 age group category during the annual national diving championships held in Edmonton during May 1984.

[4] During a practice dive in May 1985 in preparation for that year's national age group championships, she hit her right hand on her head and realised she had injured herself upon leaving the water.

McArton signed up for a psychology course during the summer of 1988, but changed to a religion course upon reading poor reviews on the quality of teaching, noting that she trusted the experiences of former students.

[1] Her mother Elizabeth (nee McColl) trained as a musician, graduating at the University of Toronto with an honors in languages, later travelling to Germany and France to study literature.