A series of northern Manitoba volunteers and community figures have been honoured with Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Medals.
The honourees were presented with their medals June 5 in a ceremony at the NorVA Centre, accompanied by MLAs Tom Lindsey and Amanda Lathlin and Manitoba Premier Heather Stefanson, who travelled north for the event.
Each candidate for the medals was nominated by a respective northern MLA - three for Lindsey, three for Lathlin - and confirmed individually by the late Queen Elizabeth earlier this year.
Selected by Lindsey were three long-time volunteers with the Royal Canadian Legion, including one from Flin Flon and a second from Snow Lake.
Bob Penner, the long-time president of the Royal Canadian Legion Branch No. 73, was the sole Flin Flonner honoured at the presentation. Penner received the honour for his work through the Legion, which he has done for several decades. Penner has served as the district commander for District 1 North of the Legion for three terms, on top of a whopping 13 terms where he has served as the local Legion branch’s president.
Carolyn Gibbons of Cranberry Portage also received the honour for volunteer work, done on her own and through the Legion. Gibbons is the president of the Royal Canadian Legion Branch No. 137 in in Cranberry Portage, serving in that role for the past 15 years.
Another Legion honouree was Bill Pleasance, the long-time head of Snow Lake’s Legion chapter, Branch No. 241. A veteran and a former town councillor, Pleasance has had a hand in community events and volunteering in Snow Lake and northern Manitoba for decades.
Lathlin, the MLA for The Pas-Kameesak, selected three regional volunteers, two of whom were honoured at the ceremony in person.
Murray Harvey of The Pas was also honoured for his work through the Legion and with organizations like the Rotary Club and the Civil Air Search and Rescue Association of Manitoba (CASARA). All told, Harvey has done volunteer work in his community for more than 65 years.
Gord Landriault was also honoured with the award, nominated by Lathlin. Landriault has served in several posts relating to the federal and provincial NDP dating back four decades, including as a constituency assistant, a campaign organizer and volunteer and as a close associate for Churchill-Keewatinook Aski MP Niki Ashton. Landriault, who lives in The Pas, often attends events around northern Manitoba held during legislative sessions in Ottawa as Ashton’s representative. Landriault retired last year - in a speech in the Manitoba Legislature last fall, Lathlin said Landriault had “been known to many in the north as ‘Mr. NDP’ for over 40 years.”
A sixth honour was bestowed on Winnipeg’s Edith “Edie” Turner. Originally from Grand Rapids and the daughter of a survivor of Canada’s residential school system, Turner began serving with the Winnipeg Police Service (WPS) in 1994 and has received several honours for her work with the WPS. Turner’s honours include the Order of Merit of the Police Forces, the Manitoba Excellence in Law Enforcement Award and the International Association of Women in Policing Leadership Award.
