ASK Skeena - Bulkley Valley NDP Member of Parliament Nathan Cullen what he thinks of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medals and he will tell you the following:
A bit of a gong show. Thousands handed out willy nilly. No clear pathway as to who qualifies and who does not.
Regardless of Mr. Cullen’s opinions, he was allocated 30 of the medals struck to commemorate the Queen’s 60 years on the throne and to recognize the individual achievements of those who received one.
Mr. Cullen received nominations to recognize 11 constituents. The nominations in turn were to be passed to the Governor-General’s office which administered the program for validation. And that’s where the trail turns cold.
Repeated requests made to Mr. Cullen’s office dating back to February of this year (the program ended Feb. 28) for a list of who received medals in his riding were initially met with promises it would be sent.
Those promises then turned into an admission from Mr. Cullen’s office that no medals were actually provided to any or all of the nominations received by Mr. Cullen.
Mr. Cullen and his office are now struggling to explain what happened.
No one’s perfect and things can – and do – go sideways. But 11 nominations were received from people who believe the intended recipients were worthy. Mr. Cullen owes both groups full and complete answers.