A more than three-decade-long tradition continued in Sarnia Thursday with the release of the Mayor’s 2015 Honour List.
Mayor Mike Bradley named 17 individuals and groups to this year’s list, continuing an annual tradition the late Marceil Saddy began while the city’s mayor in 1981.
“The list, as always, is a highly personal list, based on my own observations throughout the year in the community, nominations from citizens and media stories,” Bradley said in a letter accompanying this year’s list of honourees.
He described the list as a tribute to the unsung people and groups who make a difference by trying to create a good and just community.
“It is living proof that individual citizens and groups can make a difference,” Bradley said.
The recipients are scheduled to be formally recognized at a reception Jan. 28.
This year’s honourees are:
• Wendy Asher, who works at Lambton College’s Centre for Educational Pathways, is an active member of Lambton Circles, serves on the board of Sarnia-Lambton Rebound, is lead facilitator of Senior Women in Leadership in Sarnia-Lambton, works with the Children’s Aid Society and was the driving force behind a Crown Ward Education Championship Team.
• Peter Banks played a key role saving the Howard Watson Nature Trail years back when he led an information campaign to gather support for the trail concept, and developed a proposal with Lambton Wildlife that it would manage the trail for a three-year trial period at no cost to the former Town of Clearwater.
In the end, Clearwater council voted to keep the trail open to the public and with the signing of a formal agreement in 1988 with the former town and Lambton Wildlife, the Howard Watson Nature Trail was born.
• Tony Barrand who has worked with the Bluewater Trails Committee as chairperson and as a fundraiser, led an effort to work with local industry and the First Nations to establish a trail information gazebo near LaSalle Line along the St. Clair Parkway. He also worked to have a brochure and map produced for the public, and has been involved in other community work, including volunteering at the Judith & Norman Alix Art Gallery.
• Pearl Chafee is a founding member of the Lambton Seniors Association a group that celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2015.
Chaffee is also an active member of the St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church lunch program and a member of the Seniors Information Network.
• Patricia Davidson, a recently retired MP from Plympton-Wyoming, traces her long political career back to 1980 when she was first elected to the former Wyoming village council.
“With over three decades of public service as a councillor, mayor, warden and MP, Pat is respected for her personable, thoughtful approach to every office she held, and her deep and abiding commitment to Sarnia-Lambton,” Bradley said.
• Former elementary school teacher Thea deGroot is a founding member of the Sarnia-Lambton Food Coalition, a director with the Citizens for Public Justice and a recipient of the YMCA Peace Medallion.
• Jim Foubister, who served 26 years as a municipal councillor, has also spend many years volunteering with Huron House Boys Home, Circles, the Inn of the Good Shepherd and the Sunshine Foundation.
• The Golden Hawk Restoration Group began restoring the Golden Hawk F86 Sabre fighter jet mounted in Germain Park more than two years ago, with volunteers from the Canadian Owners and Pilots Association. Donations from businesses and individuals made possible the restoration of the 40-year-old memorial, one of the last remaining original jets from the Golden Hawk aerobatic team from the 1950s and 1960s.
• Katie Horvath and Kari Roos co-founded the Social Justice Club at Lambton College out of their concern about government funding cuts and other social issues in the community. The club was formed to empower students, and during the recent federal election organized an all-candidates’ meeting that attracted a capacity crowd.
• Mike Howell, a Sarnia Police detective, worked to establish a “patch-for-patch” Fentanyl program in the city to help control abuse of the prescription patches. In early December, Howell was in Toronto to watch as MPPs voted to make a Fentanyl patch exchange program law in Ontario.
• Lynn LeFaive was instrumental in establishing a breakfast program at the former Johnston Memorial Public School, works with the Sarnia Minor Athletic Association, and is actively involved with the Families and Schools Together Program (FAST) developed to help reduce social isolation and protect against bullying and substance abuse.
• Naima Raza, a student at Northern Collegiate, volunteers for the Bluewater Sustainability Initiative, teaches Arabic and has served as a student trustee on the Lambton Kent District School Board. She has also volunteered with food banks, Habitat for Humanity and Goodwill Industries.
The only recipient from Lambton County to receive the Libro Credit Union Student Award, Raza was also one of 25 students granted an eight-month fellowship at the MaRS discovery district in Toronto.
• The Sarnia Historical Society, led by Ron Reale Smith, Laura Greaves and Phil Egan, has renewed Sarnia’s interest in its own history by creative and educational programming and publications.
• Krystyna Stalmach has worked to preserve the history of the sacrifice made by Polish war veterans who settled in the Sarnia area. In 2014, she worked with a group of volunteers researching what became the Our History, Our Heroes Polish War Veterans, From Fighting Wars to Farming Fields in Lambton project.
It gathered artifacts from Second World War veterans from Poland who settled in Sarnia-Lambton, creating 22 shadow boxes to tell their stories.
• John Tidball, a Sarnia firefighter, volunteers with Scouts Canada and with the Salvation Army helping deliver Christmas hampers.
• Bob Vansickle is an advocate for the disabled and intellectually challenged in Ontario, and through his work has put together the largest summer job program in Ontario for individuals with disabilities. He is the architect of the Mayor’s Challenge, created to encourage municipalities to hire individuals with disabilities.
• Victim Services of Sarnia-Lambton, a group that marked its 25th anniversary in 2015, was established as joint project of the Salvation Army and Sarnia Police.
It answers an average of 150 calls a month helping citizens involved in fires, break-ins, assaults or sudden deaths. The agency also helps seniors facing abuse.
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