Two well-known Albertans have obtained the Order of the Pink Cross, member degree, the group’s highest award.
Dr. Tom Jackson, musician, activist, and philanthropist, and Charles Weaselhead, former Grand Chief and former Chancellor of the College of Lethbridge, obtained the distinguished honour at separate ceremonies in Calgary and Stand Off in October.
“We really feel extraordinarily grateful to have two excellent individuals from Alberta among the many Order of Pink Cross recipients this yr,” says Thu Parmar, Canadian Pink Cross vice chairman for Alberta and the Northwest Territories. “They’re true humanitarians who’ve devoted themselves to supporting and strengthening their communities, and it’s due to their extraordinary efforts that they’re each being acknowledged with this honour.”
Jackson is a beloved musician and actor, however is also called a humanitarian, activist, and philanthropist, lending his skills and time to quite a few causes for the betterment of communities. He turned an official Pink Cross Ambassador through the 2013 southern Alberta floods however had been a supporter for a few years earlier than that. As an Ambassador, Jackson has visited quite a few communities providing his assist, hope, and care to communities throughout Canada and to Pink Cross groups throughout very difficult occasions together with through the COVID-19 response, the Humboldt bus tragedy, wildfires in British Columbia in 2017 and 2018, and the northern Alberta fires that induced 80,000 individuals to flee Fort McMurray in 2016.
“This award is humbling to say the least,” says Tom Jackson. “The reward is an acknowledgment of labor that you’ve got impressed in my life to assist the weak, whomever and wherever they might be. I’m addicted to like, not the phrase, however the verb. You might be my oxygen. With out you I’d stop to exist.”
As a collaborative associate, Charles Weaselhead has been instrumental in serving to construct the sturdy relationship the Pink Cross has as we speak with the Kainai-Blood Nation. Because the Kainai Nations’ Well being Director, he spearheaded the preliminary Memorandum of Understanding with the Kainai Nation that continues to advertise the mutual assist and programming comparable to creating secure environments, danger and laborious discount, first assist and water security, volunteer coaching, youth engagement, and emergency helps to the individuals of Kainai Nation. Moreover, Charles Weaselhead supported Pink Cross groups through the catastrophic floods of 2013 and attributable to his relationship with the Pink Cross, our groups have been requested to assist the Kainai Nation’s Well being authority throughout COVID-19.
“It’s my honour to be acknowledged for the service award from Pink Cross and it actually marks a big milestone in my profession. Sincerely and humbly, I want to thank my household and friends for believing and empowering me to proceed the work I do for Indigenous communities,” says Charles Weaselhead. “Thanks to my friends who’ve shared their experiences and instructing with me. My grandfather taught me to comply with my ardour and desires. He used to inform me to consider within the Creator, consider in your self, consider in household.”
Annual appointment of the Order of the Pink Cross is proscribed to 25 members and solely has greater than 400 members in complete.
Associated:
Musician Tom Jackson companions with Pink Cross to encourage change
Interview with former Grand Chief Charles Weaselhead
A phrase with Pink Cross Ambassador Tom Jackson
