From the CBC:
“Some provinces to offer
medals to mark Queen's Platinum Jubilee after Ottawa opts out”
(Queen Elizabeth inspects the
Guard of Honour during Canada Day celebrations on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on
July 1, 2010. While the federal government has said it won't be offering medals
to mark her Platinum Jubilee and 70 years as monarch, they will be presented in
some provinces.)
Hello, royal watchers. This is
your regular dose of royal news and analysis. Reading this online? Sign up here
to get this delivered to your inbox. While the federal government has decided
not to offer medals to mark Queen Elizabeth's Platinum Jubilee, some provinces
will provide their own honours to recognize both her 70 years of service and
contributions of their residents. "This is no coincidence of course,"
said Michael Jackson, president of the Institute for the Study of the Crown in
Canada. "A number of the provinces have got together ... once they
realized that the feds weren't going to do a Platinum Jubilee medal."
That federal decision was a
disappointment for Jackson, who sees such medals as part of a well-established
tradition of Canadian honours and as a way to acknowledge the achievements of
ordinary Canadians. "They recognize citizens, grassroots ... not just the
bigshots," he said over Zoom from his home in Regina. "They are [a] golden opportunity for our
country through the sovereign to recognize the unsung heroes and
heroines," he added, and this year could "recognize all those people,
paid and unpaid, emergency responders, doctors, medical officers, nurses,
clinics, everybody who worked so hard to get us through the pandemic."
(Gov. Gen. David Johnston, left,
and Prime Minister Stephen Harper unveil the design for the Diamond Jubilee
medal presented to mark the Queen's 60 years on the throne in 2012.)
Among the provinces, Alberta,
Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia have announced plans for Platinum Jubilee medals. Others — including New Brunswick and Manitoba
— appear to be considering it. Still
others — including Ontario, British Columbia and Quebec — aren't offering a
medal but will mark the jubilee in other ways. In Saskatchewan,
7,000 medals will be awarded beginning later this spring. "The Government
of Saskatchewan recognizes the opportunity presented by the Queen's
unprecedented Platinum Jubilee year to celebrate Her Majesty's service, and also
the many people throughout the province who contribute positively to the fabric
of our society," Jason Quilliam, the province's chief of protocol, said
via email. "Given that there were medals in each of Her Majesty's previous
anniversary years, including her coronation, it was felt that it would be
appropriate to create the second-ever Saskatchewan commemorative medal — after
the commemorative medal for the centennial of Saskatchewan in 2005." In
Alberta, the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Recognition Act took
effect late last month. Along with
establishing a Queen's Platinum Jubilee medal to recognize 7,000 Albertans
"who have made significant contributions to society," it sets up
scholarships and awards for young Albertans who are leaders in their
communities and the arts. In Ontario, there are no plans for a provincial medal
to honour Elizabeth's reign. "Instead, the Queen's Platinum Jubilee will
be celebrated through Ontario's existing honours and awards programs and
ceremonies," a spokesperson for the Ministry of Citizenship and
Multiculturalism said via email. "For example, Ontario honours and awards
recipients will receive a commemorative Platinum Jubilee lapel pin during the
Jubilee year."
(Rower Natalie Mastracci, left,
and soccer player Diana Matheson display their Diamond Jubilee medals during a
ceremony in Toronto on Dec. 21, 2012.)
There are, of course, varying
views on the significance of medals, the relevance and appropriateness of them
now, at a time when there is a wider reckoning with the past, not to mention
the debate that recurs regularly about the role of the monarchy and Canada's
connections to it. "I have heard comments that some people think medals
are colonial," Jackson said. He
doesn't. "You could say our Parliament is colonial or the Senate is
colonial or the prime ministership is colonial, all because they came out of
that original British parliamentary monarchy system, but I would
disagree."
(John Blatherwick has received 11
medals, including ones for the orders of Canada and British Columbia.)
John Blatherwick also sees merit
in medals, and questions why — after having other national ceremonial and
jubilee medals for several decades — Canada would stop now and not have one in
connection with the Queen's 70 years as monarch. "This is not going to
happen again in our lifetime," said Blatherwick, a retired public health
leader who has 11 medals of his own, including the orders of Canada and British
Columbia. "It's not going to happen, probably in anybody's lifetime, that
a person is going to sit on the [throne] for 70 years," Blatherwick,
77, said over Zoom from his home in New
Westminster, B.C. "Whether you like the Crown or not, it's hard to dislike
this Queen. She's done her duty." And, as he sees it, "the thing the
politicians don't seem to understand is how valuable these [medals] are to
people." When Blatherwick received his Order of Canada in 1995, two former
prime ministers — John Turner and Joe Clark — were also getting the honour, as
was a Nobel Prize winner. But those aren't the people he recalls from the
occasion. "The people I remember from that ceremony were the people from
Saskatchewan and Quebec and Nova Scotia who had gotten it for something I had
never even heard about, but I thought it was marvellous." For Blatherwick,
medals are invaluable. "We don't talk a lot about citizenship for those
people who already have it. We talk about it for immigrants ... but we don't
talk about people being proud of their country.
But you pin a medal on from your government and you're very proud of it
— and [people] look for opportunities where they can wear it." While not all provinces and territories will
have Platinum Jubilee medals, they have found common ground in another way to
mark the Queen's milestone. "They are all doing some form of Jubilee
garden based on our Indigneous traditions and practices," said Jackson. "This is a great initiative. Quebec is
doing it slightly differently, as Quebec always does.... Again, the provincial
Crowns are doing it."
A Jubilee visit to Canada
(Prince Charles and Camilla,
Duchess of Cornwall, watch Canada Day celebrations on Parliament Hill in Ottawa
on July 1, 2017, during their last visit to Canada.)
The trip Prince Charles and
Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, are making to Canada next month may have a unique
purpose as part of efforts to mark the Queen's Platinum Jubilee. But the
three-day trip — with stops in Newfoundland and Labrador, Ottawa and the
Northwest Territories — is very much in keeping with the broad strokes of royal
visits in recent years: keep them short and tightly focused. Details of the
trip have not been announced, but it seems likely the couple will spend a day
in each of the three locations. "The visit is a chance for us to showcase
the evolution of our country, our diverse and inclusive society, as well as the
resilience of Indigenous communities," Gov. Gen. Mary Simon said in a
statement released this week. Charles has visited Canada 18 times, with the
first trip happening in 1970. Camilla has visited with him four times since
2009. That year, there were sparse crowds in some places and anxious moments in
another when riot police had to push back about 200 anti-monarchists before the
royal couple visited an armoury in Montreal. A visit to New Brunswick, Ontario
and Saskatchewan to celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee in 2012 was better
received. Previous trips have also focused on some of Prince Charles's
charitable interests through the work of Prince's Trust Canada, which welcomes
next month's visit. "The 2022 royal tour is meaningful to Prince's Trust
Canada, because it is an opportunity to highlight our work, creating employment
opportunities for young people and members of the military and veteran
community," CEO Sharon Broughton said in an emailed statement.
The trip comes as senior members
of the Royal Family travel throughout the Commonwealth to mark the Jubilee.
Princess Anne recently returned from a four-day trip to Papua New Guinea and
Australia, and Prince William and Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, undertook a
week-long visit that turned controversial in the Caribbean last month. Jackson
welcomed word of the upcoming visit and said it's "entirely appropriate in
the Platinum Jubilee year [that] the Queen's eldest son, who is going to
succeed her on the throne, comes to see us in her senior realm outside the
United Kingdom." But the scope of the visit leaves him disappointed. "It's
too short, three days, for a realm the size and importance of Canada, and where
the federal government has chosen that they should go also disappoints
me." Not that Jackson has anything against Newfoundland and Labrador and
the Northwest Territories, he said, "far from it," but why not also
take Charles and Camilla to "more populous parts of the country and give
them more time?" While no specific dates for the tour have been announced,
other royal visits in May have occurred around the Victoria Day long weekend.
In Canada, the Queen's official birthday is marked on Victoria Day. There was
more attention this week on time that two other members of the Royal Family
spent in Canada, as our friends in CBC's investigative unit delved into who
really owns the lavish Vancouver Island estate where Prince Harry and Meghan,
Duchess of Sussex, stayed in 2020 before they stepped back from official royal
duties.
Keeping close to home Queen
Elizabeth marks her 96th birthday on April 21, and it's likely she will spend
the day quietly at home, at Windsor Castle. Her attendance at a memorial
service for Prince Philip last month was a rare public appearance, and her
first in about five months. But she missed the Maundy Thursday service at St.
George's Chapel at Windsor Castle and is not expected to attend church with
other members of the Royal Family on Easter Sunday. As concerns over her
health and mobility have kept her away from public engagements, the Queen has
continued online meetings, something she took to and has seemed to enjoy since
the COVID-19 pandemic hit. The pandemic was front and centre as she met
virtually with staff of the National Health Service the other day. "It
does leave one feeling very tired and exhausted, doesn't it, this horrible
pandemic," said Elizabeth, who tested positive for COVID-19 herself in
February.
^ The Canadian Federal Government
should have a special 70th Anniversary Medal. Queen Elizabeth is the
first (and so far) only Monarch of Canada. She is the first Queen of Canada and
has been since 1952. That should be remembered and honored. This is a once in a
lifetime event. ^
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