Curtis Miller Joe, Val Windsor and Alex Sangha were honoured for their contributions to the community
Youth worker and Indigenous artist Curtis Miller Joe, Delta school board chair Val Windsor, and Sher Vancouver founder Alex Sangha were presented with King Charles III Coronation Medals by Delta North MLA Ravi Kahlon during a small ceremony in North Delta on Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024.
Three people with ties to North Delta were honoured last Thursday (Sept. 12) for their outstanding contributions to the community.
During a small ceremony held at Tasty Indian Bistro, surrounded by a couple dozen family members and friends, youth worker and Indigenous artist Curtis Miller Joe, Delta school board chair Val Windsor, and Sher Vancouver founder Alex Sangha were presented King Charles III Coronation Medals by Delta North MLA Ravi Kahlon.
“The King’s Medal is something that is in recognition of the new king, but it is also in recognition of people who are making contributions to their community, people chosen by people in their community, people who are making lives better for people in our community,” Kahlon said in his opening remarks Thursday evening.
Curtis Miller Joe
Joe is a child and youth care worker at Burnsview Secondary where, on top of his work with at-risk students, he shares his culture with the school’s First Peoples’ Studies class and coaches several of the Griffins’ sports teams.
A recipient of the Courage to Come Back award in 2013, Joe overcame childhood abuse, drug addiction, gang life and periods of incarceration and homelessness to transition into his current vocation, sharing his past to help local kids reclaim their future.
At Thursday’s ceremony, Kahlon said Joe’s name was one that kept coming up when he asked people to suggest recipients for the medal, and among the first to suggest Joe for the honour was Kahlon’s own son.
“I started calling people in the community to say, well, who do you think should get [the medal]? And as I’m having this conversation on the phone, my son and his friends are in the room and they’re just hanging out, (…) and my son said, ‘What about Curtis? He works with all the students, he supports us, everybody loves Curtis.’ And I said, ‘That’s a good idea, I’m going to put him on the list,” Kahlon said.
“There’s something special about an award that comes from youth,” he continued. “It’s one thing for adults to be having a conversation and say, ‘You know what? I think this person is great.’ It’s [another] thing for youth to say, ‘We think this person should be recognized because he’s making an impact in our lives.’ I think that’s pretty special.”
In accepting the medal, Joe said he does what he does because he wants kids to “have a good shot at life,” something that’s hard when youths don’t have someone in their corner.
“I had a rough life and I know that kindness, just somebody being there for you, makes a big, big difference.”
Joe said he was conflicted about accepting the award as an Indigenous person due to the Crown’s history of colonization and its treatment of First Peoples, and he used those concerns to foster a discussion with his students.
“I’m honoured enough to go into the [class] and share some Cree language with the kids, so that’s what we’re doing and we talked about how a language is lost every eight minutes in the world and how colonialism [impacts us here] and what we’re losing,” he said.
Ultimately, he said, his students convinced him to accept the medal as it was for the work he does with them.
“I talked to them about [receiving the medal,] and I said I thought maybe it wasn’t a good thing, but you’re a good thing, so I’ll accept the award for you.”
Val Windsor
Windsor has devoted more than 50 years to education, first as a teacher and later as a trustee on Delta’s board of education. Her “remarkable and visionary” advocacy work has led to improved graduation rates for Indigenous students and the building of Delta Community College.
“I think there are so many young people who have graduated and don’t know anything about the school board or who their [school’s] trustee is, but many of them know Val because in many cases Val taught them, and in some cases taught their parents too,” Kahlon said.
“When I told a whole bunch of folks that Val was getting [the medal], everybody was like, ‘Yay!’ because we know what Val means to the community, and the contribution you’ve made,” he said. “This is a lifetime of commitment to your community and a lifetime of commitment to young people. And we’re really grateful for that.”
Windsor dedicated her brief acceptance speech to heaping praise on her fellow honourees.
“Curtis is one fine example of our school system and the incredible work that’s being done in it,” she said.
“As soon as Ravi told me [I was getting the award], I said, ‘So who else?’ He said Curtis and Alex, and I said, ‘Such [amazing] company, it doesn’t get any better than that. I am not worthy.”
Alex Sangha
A registered clinical social worker and clinical counsellor, Sangha founded Sher Vancouver in 2008 to provide arts, cultural and social programs and services to Queer South Asians and their friends, families and allies in Metro Vancouver.
He also created Sher Films, produced the award-winning documentaries My Name Was January (2019) and Emergence: Out of the Shadows (2021), and co-founded the Sundar Prize Film Festival, which held its inaugural outing this past June.
“Alex is a special human being. Many people go through their life and maybe they just worry about themselves because life can be tough, there’s ups and downs and there’s challenges and barriers in your way. And then there’s people like Alex who say, ‘You know what? I’m going to make it through all of these things, but I’m going to make it better for everyone behind me as well. I’m going to make it better for people that are having a tough time. I’m going to make it better for people who need a voice, who need somebody in their life to be like, ‘Hey, I’m there for you,’” Kahlon said.
“Alex has been doing that consistently, not for any fame, not for any credit; he’s been doing it because he knows it’s the right thing. There’s a big part of our community that doesn’t have a voice, there’s a big part of our community that is looking for a champion, and Alex has naturally become that champion for so many people.”
Sangha shared his story with those attending Thursday’s ceremony, explaining how his work with kids in foster care and his own struggle accepting who he was led to the creation of Sher Vancouver.
“Some foster children were telling me they didn’t like themselves for who they are, and yet they were talking to me, and I was having a hard time accepting myself,” he said. “I remember how suicidal, how much pain I was in because I was dealing with internalized racism and I was dealing with internalized homophobia. I did not like myself for being gay. I wanted to be straight.”
Sangha said he founded Sher Vancouver because he wanted people not to be at risk like he was, and the move drew criticism and threats from within the Sikh community and around the world.
“I told my mom, do you really think I’m doing the right thing, or is this going to put our safety at risk? My mom took me to the Sikh temple and we prayed. She said, ‘You know what? I believe you are doing the right thing, because there’s already so many kids whose safety is at risk. We need to save their lives.’”
Sangha said the organization “has nothing to do with Sikhism, really,” and welcomes everyone as it aims to create safe spaces so South Asians in the Queer community can flourish in broader society.
“We have no ‘agenda.’ I always see all of these people protesting, with anti-SOGI and [the like]. In 16 years we’ve never pushed anything. We just want people to have the freedom to be themselves and to be accepted,” he said.
“Any one of you sitting in this room could have a gay niece, a lesbian daughter, a transgender child — don’t you want them to be happy? Don’t you want them to be supported and loved? Why would you want them to go to school where people hate them, the teachers don’t acknowledge them, there’s no curriculum to even support their identity? It’s just about loving each other and that’s all it is. It’s just about respecting and loving each other, and that’s all I ask.”
South Delta honourees
Three days later, on Sunday afternoon (Sept. 15), three South Delta residents also received King Charles III Coronation Medals.
During a similarly small celebration at Taverna Gorgana Greek restaurant in Ladner, Delta South MLA Ian Paton presented the medal to Delta Hospital and Community Health Foundation executive director Lisa Hoglund, third-generation local farmer Mike Guichon, and Judi Stene, the longest serving public servant in Delta.
“I am honoured to be able to present these medals that recognize Lisa Hoglund, Mike Guichon, and Judi Stene for their long-standing service to Delta. They have given their time, their energy, and their talents to making Delta a great place to live,” Paton said in a press release.
The medal, a Canadian honour created to mark the Coronation of His Majesty King Charles III, was launched by Mary Simon, Governor General of Canada, and recognizes those who have made significant contributions to Canada and their home province. The medal will be awarded to 30,000 deserving individuals across the country and is the first Canadian honour to mark a coronation.
Announced in 2023 and first awarded in May of this year, the King Charles III Coronation Medal is the first Canadian honour to mark a coronation and is being awarded to 30,000 deserving individuals across the country.
Other local recipients include recently retired Delta Police Chief Const. Neil Dubord, who received his medal from B.C. Lt.-Gov. Janet Austin during a ceremony at Government House in Victoria on July 18, and former Tsawwassen First Nation chief Kwuntiltunaat (Kim Baird), who received her medal from Austin during a ceremony at HMCS Discovery in Vancouver on Aug. 27.
Shared with permission from author James Smith
James Smith is the founding editor of the North Delta Reporter.
View original article on the North Delta Reporter website.