Thirty-three citizens awarded Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medals

For Immediate Release 

September 28th, 2012

Toronto, Ontario

Thirty-three citizens awarded Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medals for their contributions to advancing the inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities The Canadian Association for Community Living (CACL) is pleased to announce that 33 citizens were honoured with The Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medals during a recognition ceremony on September 28th, 2012 in Winnipeg Manitoba, at the CACL National Conference: The Choice is Ours. These are awarded in addition to three recipients who have already received their medals.These 33 citizens are self-advocates, family members, artists, researchers, educators, and others, being recognized for their achievements and contributions in advancing the inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities and helping to create communities in which everyone—of every race, religion, gender and ability—feels that they belong, are supported to contribute and valued for their presence.Their work has been in diverse areas such as human rights advocacy, legal issues, deinstitutionalisation, education, volunteerism, and personal support. Many were critical in the development of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Through their efforts in their own communities, provinces and territories, they have also raised public awareness, changed preconceptions and challenged stereotypes about people with disabilities, allowing more Canadians to live inclusive lives in their communities. Nominations were done collectively by CACL and the 13 provincial/territorial Associations for Community Living, with an emphasis on recognizing the contributions of self-advocates—people with intellectual disabilities who speak for themselves. The Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal was created in celebration of the 60th anniversary of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s ascension to the throne, to recognize 60,000 Canadians of all ages, regions and walks of life who have helped to build a caring society and country.

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The Canadian Association for Community Living is a national federation of 10 provincial and three territorial associations, comprising 420 local associations and over 40,000 members, working to advance the human rights and inclusion of persons of all ages who have an intellectual disability.

For more information, please contact:
Michael Bach Executive Vice-President mbach@cacl.ca

You can download the original press release here