The Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal (Manitoba) celebrates the 70th anniversary year of Queen Elizabeth's accession to the throne, which began on Feb. 6.
A total of 1,000 medals are being awarded.
The medal program is the focus of the Manitoba government’s jubilee year commemorations. Permission has been sought from the Office of the Governor General to have this medal included in the Order of Precedence with the other commemorative medals of the Canadian Honours System.
In Brandon on Tuesday 80 Westman residents were recognized for contributions to their community and the province.
Ann Kempthorne was one of two Boissevain residents to pick up a medal. “It was a real privilege and a real shock to win this. I think there are so many other people out there who are much more deserving than I am to win this.”
Kempthorne, a retired nurse, was singled out for her volunteer work and going back to work at the covid vaccine clinics in the area.
“These past two or three years have been quite busy, but you know it has been a real privilege to work with some wonderful people and I’ve met some wonderful people and heard a lot of different stories about what has happened to people during covid and the struggles they’ve had.”
Over the years Kempthorne said you did pretty much the same thing at the vaccine clinics but there’s more vaccines and it is more complicated. “It was a real honour to work with the people I got to work with.” Ann Kempthorne also keeps busy as a member of the palliative care group, helping with the congregate meals program and she’s a member of the Legion Auxiliary.
Another Boissevain resident also received a Queen’s Jubilee Medal on Tuesday. Phyllis Hallett was recognized for her decades of volunteer work as a board member with the Moncur Gallery. She has been an active member of that board since the mid 1980's.
The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Medal (Manitoba) program has a strong focus on community mindedness, service and reconciliation, and as such, a group of trusted partners has chosen each medal recipient. Recipients received a circular medal suspended from a ribbon using a new arrangement of the blue, red and white colours found on the other four medals issued during Her Majesty’s reign in 1953, 1977, 2002 and 2012.
Ann Kempthorne spoke with Barry Lamb of CJRB about being recognized for her work in the community.