King Charles lll Coronation Medals were handed out Wednesday, Feb. 19, to 20 well-deserving community members from Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows. 

Guests of honour, family members, and friends, packed a room at the Maple Ridge Public Library for the special event that was hosted by Pitt Meadows-Maple Ridge MP Marc Dalton.

The ceremony started off with the singing of the national anthem and then one by one the award recipients were introduced and their community contributions listed before Dalton presented each of them with the medal, which features an effigy of King Charles lll, as well as the royal monogram. 

Recipient Coleen Pierre, a Katzie First Nation elder, was emotional when her brother showed up to honour her and all the other medal recipients. 

“I classify this as probably the best Christmas present ever received, when I received notification from Chelsa, from Marc Dalton’s office,” said Coleen Pierre, about when she found out she would be receiving a medal.

She had to ask what receiving the medal meant. 

“It took the cake. I just sat there in tears,” Pierre said of when she learned it was for her decades of community service. 

Kevin Noseworthy, who heads up the Maple Ridge Community Foundation, said he was overwhelmed to be included with so many amazing citizens. 

“I’m so thankful,” he said. 

“It’s an honour to be even nominated,” added Maple Ridge Fire & Rescue assistant fire chief James Clelland. 

“I think I’m going to accept this on behalf of everybody else in the fire department. I know I was kind of singled out, but there are lots hard working men and women who do this non-stop, as you can see from the other service members here too. I think it’s just an honour. I really appreciate being nominated,” he said. 

RCMP Supt Wendy Mehat, who was the officer in charge of the Ridge Meadows RCMP detachment until November 2024, also received a medal and said it was “incredibly humbling” to see the late Const. Rick O’Brien be awarded the medal posthumously.

O’Brien, a 51-year-old Langley resident, who was an officer with the Ridge Meadows RCMP, was killed in 2023 when he and several other officers executed a search warrant in Coquitlam related to a drug investigation.

O’Brien’s widow Nicole Longacre-O’Brien and O’Brien’s three children were at the ceremony to accept the award on his behalf. 

“For him to be recognized like that is a huge honour,” said Longacre-O’Brien, who added she feels so much gratitude that he is being recognized for the contributions he made to the community. 

Mehat was also humbled to receive a medal with Const. Tisha Parsons, who continues to work at the Ridge Meadows detachment.  

“While I realize that I am the one standing here accepting this award, it is just not me that is deserving of receiving this honourable recognition. We are a team at the Ridge Meadows RCMP, and I would not be able to contribute the way that I do without the help and support of all of my colleagues,” said Parsons.

“I am so incredibly proud of the work that the Ridge FYRST team has done in the last year, and I know that we will continue to bridge the gap, and build positive relationships with members of this community,” Parsons added. 

Other recipients were: Wesley Shane Thomas Blackstock; Gerald Colgan; Judy Dueck; Brent Ellingson; Michelle Ellingson; John Jaisingh Jacob; Tina Kirkpatrick; William Li; Biju Mathew; Dryden McCloud; David William Saddler; Paul Savoie; Bev Schmahmann; and Robert Williams. 

Dalton congratulated all of the recipients and thanked those who nominated them. 

“Some of the recipients I know and some I don’t know, but this Medal publicly symbolizes the appreciation that we as a community have towards you and the service you have done,” he said.