 |
| Quesnel Mayor Mary Sjostrom & Prince George City Councillor Garth Frizzell |
Quesnel Mayor Mary Sjostrom is the latest proud recipient of
the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal.
She was presented with the medal
at a special ceremony this morning at City Hall. Sjostrom was nominated by the
Federation of Canadian Municipalities for her “exemplary efforts to make your
community a great place to live.” FCM Executive member and Prince George City
Coun. Garth Frizzell was on hand to present the medal.
“I am honoured to be recognized by my peers in local
government from across the country,” said Sjostrom. “I haven’t been involved in
community work to receive awards. I truly love Quesnel and believe that strong,
welcoming and vibrant communities are built by people who share a common vision
and are willing to work together to make things happen. But to receive an award
of this nature is humbling, and I am very thankful to the FCM for nominating
me.”
Sjostrom has been involved in the community since moving to
Quesnel in 1980. She was a Director on the Quesnel and District Chamber of
Commerce Board, a founding member of the Sunrise 2000 Rotary Club, and is a
member of the Quesnel Rotary Club. She has chaired the local fundraising dinner
for the Pacific Salmon Foundation for seven years, and has helped raise
awareness and funds for many other causes.
In 1999, Sjostrom was elected to City Council, where she
served three terms before being elected Mayor in 2008. During her time on
Council, she has worked on the executives of both the North Central Local
government Association and the Union of British Columbia Municipalities,
eventually acting as presidents in both organizations. She has been selected by
the provincial government to sit on various boards and advisory bodies,
including BC Transit, the Minister’s Council on Employment and Accessibility
and many others.
Sjostrom was also: the Chair of the local Communities in
Bloom committee, leading to a national first-place finish in 2007; the Host
Chair of the 2000 Winter Games organizing team; and the Chair of the Quesnel
Spirit of BC Committee working on the 2010 Winter Olympic activities in the
community, including the Olympic Torch Relay. In addition, she is serving as a
Community Ambassador of the 2015 Canada Winter Games.
The commemorative medal marks the 60th anniversary of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s accession to the Throne as Queen of Canada. Some 60,000 Canadians will receive it in honour of their significant contributions and achievements
6 comments:
Medals for politicians, from politicians???
Recognize politicians differently please. Allowing them to nominate one another for "medals"??? The mayor aside, this process debases longstanding traditions of awarding medals for acts of bravery or courage in the face of extreme physical danger, for service in defence of one's country,or posthumously for the ultimate sacrifice. Reserve the Sovereign's medals for these things, and let politicians create their own decorations that they can then go on nominating each other for whatsoever that realm does.
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/ottawa-valley-mayors-return-diamond-jubilee-medals-000459796.html
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/dailybrew/shame-queen-diamond-jubilee-medal-turned-farce-202424871.html
Get this Steve:
Gabriel Miller heads the Diamond Jubilee medal program at the FCM and said they decided to celebrate communities as a whole.
He said he agrees the message could have been clearer.
"You can’t nominate an entire community, so that’s why we decided to nominate mayors and heads of council," he said.
THE QUESTION IS STEVE, WHY DIDN'T THIS GET STATED IN ALL THE ANNOUNCEMENTS WHEN THIS MAYOR WAS PRESENTED WITH THE MEDAL? ASK YOURSELF IF THIS IS AN IMPORTANT DETAIL. THE FCM SEEMS TO THINK SO. THIS FCM PROGRAM REALLY APPEARS TO BE A MISUSE OF TIME HONOURED TRADITIONS ASSOCIATED WITH AWARDING THE MEDALS OF OUR SOVERIEGN, COUPLED WITH NOT SHARING ALL OF THE INFORMATION SURROUNDING THE AWARD OF THE MEDAL TO THIS MAYOR. WHAT WOULD YOU CALL THAT STEVE? PLEASE, MAN UP AND GIVE A RESPONSE.
Get this Steve:
Gabriel Miller heads the Diamond Jubilee medal program at the FCM and said they decided to celebrate communities as a whole.
He said he agrees the message could have been clearer.
"You can’t nominate an entire community, so that’s why we decided to nominate mayors and heads of council," he said.
THE QUESTION IS STEVE, WHY DIDN'T THIS GET STATED IN ALL THE ANNOUNCEMENTS WHEN THIS MAYOR WAS PRESENTED WITH THE MEDAL? THE ANNOUNCEMENTS CREDIT THE MAYOR, PERIOD. ASK YOURSELF IF THIS IS AN IMPORTANT DETAIL. THE FCM SEEMS TO THINK SO. THIS FCM PROGRAM REALLY APPEARS TO BE A MISUSE OF TIME HONOURED TRADITIONS ASSOCIATED WITH AWARDING THE MEDALS OF OUR SOVERIEGN, COUPLED WITH NOT SHARING ALL OF THE INFORMATION SURROUNDING THE AWARD OF THE MEDAL TO THIS MAYOR. WHAT WOULD YOU CALL THAT STEVE? INTERESTED IN YOUR RESPONSE.
Thanks for your comments and I agree - it looks bad for politicians to hand other politicians an civic award from Her Majesty. Typically, awards from Her Majesty thanks/praises those for public service outside of the political arena.
If I had it my way - people like Mayor Sjostrom, Councillor Rathor (Williams Lake), and Mayor Greg Moore (Port Coquitlam) would have not received the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Award but people like Gloria L in Quesnel/Jim Fraser in Williams Lake would and who volunteer plenty of hours in our communities to make our communities much more richer
http://www.equesnel.com/Cafe.asp?s=DEFAULT_SUBJECT&t=B2739292-9D49-408A-BD23-FA16E20F7B54&m=7C89D5ED-4AD4-460A-9452-CDA93C57A4BF&d=_TOPICALLINEAR&tpn=1&pn=3#7C89D5ED-4AD4-460A-9452-CDA93C57A4BF
There are more appropriate ways to honour volunteers Steve, all be they very important people. The military, the police, firefighters, ambulance personnel....these are not volunteers, and they are in harms way very, very often, frequently paying a high price with their lives or through grave injury. Volunteers are not in the same league as these people, and politicians aren't in the same league as volunteers. Because of this pathetically crafted program, and because politicians knew the program was to recognize communities and not mayors and chairs, there are now politicians who have slipped into the medals realm of the group of real heroes at the top of this comment, and will doubtless see themselves as standing shoulder to shoulder with other Sovereign's medal holders. That is terrible. What's worse, the politicians have slithered into this position by their own sneaky means, nominating one another, and presenting medals to one another. It is the most disgusting thing to ever happen in Canada where such medals of honour are concerned. Google this topic and you'll see the strong negative reaction across Canada....and that is an understatement. No less than 2 mayors and 4 councilors have returned these medals in Ontario, citing reasons that are discussed above, some stating they've received the medals only because they are in a certain position at the right time...this at least shows some politicians have some scruples. If I see one of these local politicians wearing one of these medals on 11 November, I will puke, and it may be on their feet. There are military regiments in Canada (Winnipeg for example) being awarded these medals in the appropriate manner, for honours earned in battle. How in God's name, knowing this, can a politician in any good conscience, have the unmitigated GALL to present one of these medals to another politician simply because they happen to be a politician at the time this program rolled out. What's worse is that the recipients all know the FCM's philosophy was for the program to recognize and celebrate communities, not mayors, yet, when received, this stated FCM philosophy is nowhere to be heard. I think I'll go and puke now.
Post a Comment