Local Queen Platinum Jubilee Medal recipients honoured

Twenty locals in the Lakeland area were recognized for their great work in the community last Thursday.

MLA David Hanson was in attendance to award the Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee Medal to people throughout the Bonnyville-Cold Lake-St. Paul constituency at The Neighbourhood Inn in Bonnyville.

The recipients included Colin Atkinson, Vicki Brooker, Pauline Cardinal Mawer, Penny Fox, Gregory Hamel, Shirley Hordal, larry Lambert, Pastor Dwayne Mitchell, Herman Poulin, Darren Robson, Vic Sadlowski, Margaret Schienbein, Dr. Alex Sheppard, Ted Skiba, Elsie Smith, John Trefanenko, Eva Urlacher, Irene van Brabant, Belvia Wrobel, and John Yewchin.

“I could have easily done two hundred,” Hanson told Lakeland Connect. “We have a great group of people up here. The hardest part was having the panel kind of choose amongst all the great people and come up with twenty.”

Nominations were called for in October to determine who residents believed were deserving of the honour, in recognition of significant contributions to the province.

There was a selection committee, with representatives from within our community, selecting the most deserving candidates for submission.

In total, 7000 Albertans will be honoured with these medals, the first of their kind since the Diamond Jubilee in 2012.