2015 Order of New Brunswick recipients

Camille Albert has contributed to the economic, social and cultural development of New Brunswick for more than 50 years.

A graduate of UNB with a bachelor of Science in Engineering in 1963, he joined the Association of Professional Engineers in 1965 who granted him the status of Life Member in 2000.

Mr. Albert started his career at NB Power in the field of construction. He joined Delta Electric Ltd in 1960. He became a minority shareholder of the company in 1974. He was an active participant in construction associations representing the interest of Electrical contracting. He is past president of the Fredericton Construction Association and the Fredericton Electrical Association. He is currently a director on the Merit New Brunswick Association.

In 1987 he incorporated Nova Electric Ltd and was president and General Manager for 27 years. He retired in May 2014.

Mr. Albert was active in the cooperative movement. He is a past president of the Fredericton Direct Charge Coop and the York Credit Union. Both of these enterprises are community supported. The later one has merged with Omista Credit Union.

Mr. Albert has also been very active in the Order of the Knights of Columbus. He is a founding member of the Council 8409 where he served in numerous capacities including Grand Knight. He serves the Order as District Deputy. Finally he served as Master of the Fourth Degree for the District of New Brunswick. In 2008 he received the Order’s Medal of Merit, the highest distinction in the order within the province. He is a firm supporter of the Pro-Vie movement. Mr. Albert participated actively in the campaign to build a new church to serve the French speaking community in Fredericton. He has served the community of Sainte-Anne-des-Pays-Bas as part president of the Pastoral Council and is involved in various lay ministries including Sunday school teaching.

Mr. Albert has been at the forefront of the providing services to the Fredericton French community with his involvement in numerous organizations coordinated by the Centre Communautaire Ste Anne. Amongst them he was a founding member of the scholarship foundation Objectif 2000, the establishment of a local French radio station, the organization of the regional and provincial Jeux d’Acadie. He is a member of the Club Richelieu Fredericton since 1963 having served as president in 1969.

He was awarded the Ordre des Batisseurs by the community in 2004.

Mr. Albert was also active in the greater Fredericton community and the province of New Brunswick. He was a member of the board of the local Junior Achievement, a member of the Dr. Everett Chalmers Foundation, a member of the Iron Ring ceremony for future Engineers, a founding member of the Conseil Economique du Nouveau Brunswick.

Camille Albert is receiving the Order of New Brunswick for his leadership as an Entrepreneur, his support for the French speaking community, his involvement in the cooperative moment and his activities in the Knights of Columbus all summarized as a dedicated New Brunswick in action.

Sister Arleen Brawley has given hope to women trying to overcome substance addiction.

Sister Brawley, a member of the Sisters of Charity order in Saint John, spent many years as a nurse. She could easily have taken retirement when she reached 65. Instead, she enrolled in an addictions counsellor mentor course, to become a Certified Alcohol and Drug Abuse Counsellor (ICADC). She established the Sophia Recovery Centre, a non-residential treatment centre in Saint John which helps women of all ages and stages recover from a variety of addictions, including alcoholism.

One Saint John woman who has been sober since 2011, describes Sister Brawley as “her guardian angel,” adding, “I have seen in Arleen understanding, loving, caring and compassion. She is stubborn and never gives up on anyone, even when it looks hopeless.” Another woman, struggling with depression, anxiety and alcoholism, remembers the “unconditional love” she received from Sister Brawley when they first met. This woman was among numerous whom Sister Brawley introduced to the 12-step Alcoholics Anonymous program.

Sister Arlene Brawley is receiving the Order of New Brunswick for her selflessness, humility, love and wisdom and for helping women regain their lives from addiction.

Gary Gould is a man of conviction, fighting for non-status and off-reserve aboriginal peoples for more than four decades.

Mr. Gould is a member of the Maliseet nation who has lived off-reserve for 64 years. He was born in Saint John, the son of a non-status Aboriginal mother.

His name was long synonymous with the New Brunswick Aboriginal Peoples Council. He was an executive officer of the New Brunswick Association of Métis and Non-Status Indians, later known as the New Brunswick Aboriginal Peoples Council (NBAPC) from 1973 to 1990. While president of the council from 1976 to 1990, he built NBAPC’s office building on St. Mary’s Street in Fredericton. He also oversaw the construction of the council’s summer camp at Little Lake.

Mr. Gould’s dedication, conviction and business acumen have resulted in tens of millions of dollars invested in social economic development for and on behalf of the off-reserve aboriginal peoples of New Brunswick. In 1985, he founded Wabanaki Development Corp., a for-profit company. Since 1990, he has been general manager of the Skigin-Elnoog Housing Corp., a non-profit housing society that today owns or manages nearly 500 units of social housing across the province. Under his leadership, Skigin-Elnoog entered into a partnership with Gignoo Transition House to build affordable housing in Fredericton. He also sponsored an agreement with the Government of New Brunswick to allow for the inclusion of three Second Stage housing units at Gignoo Transition House.

Mr. Gould participated in all of the negotiations that led to the entrenchment of the aboriginal sections of the Canadian Constitution in 1982. He was a participant during the Aboriginal Constitutional Conferences from 1982 to 1987. He was chief negotiator for the Native Council of Canada during the Charlottetown Accord negotiations in 1992.

Mr. Gould co-authored Our Land – the Maritimes, which explains the history and legal basis for aboriginal title in the Maritimes, as well as Broken Promises, a historical account of the first two years of the Aboriginal Constitutional Conferences. He has been published in the University of New Brunswick Law Journal and by the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples.

Mr. Gould received the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in recognition of his contributions to Canada.

Gary Gould is receiving the Order of New Brunswick for advocating on behalf of non-status and off-reserve Aboriginal peoples in New Brunswick and in the rest of Canada.

The Rev. Dr. Brent Hawkes, CM, personifies New Brunswick’s motto, Spem Reduxit (Hope Restored). He has been changing and saving lives for four decades, advocating and fighting for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual (LBGT) rights.

For the past 38 years, Dr. Hawkes has been senior pastor and chief executive officer at the Metropolitan Community Church of Toronto (MCC Toronto). Under his leadership, MCC Toronto introduced the unique Triangle School program for LBGT youth across Ontario who are unable to attend school safely. It is the only program of its kind in Canada and the first of two such high school programs in the world. MCC Toronto has responded to the AIDS crisis, providing home hospice care for hundreds of persons. It has since expanded the program to help persons with varying illnesses and needs.

Dr. Hawkes has been  a strong activist. In 1981, he undertook a hunger strike to protest bathhouse raids by the Toronto police. The same year, he protested when the Government of Ontario balked at including sexual orientation among prohibited grounds of discrimination under that province’s human rights code. He performed the first legal gay wedding in the world, in Toronto in 2001.

In 2011, hundreds of thousands of people across the country watched Dr. Hawkes officiate at the state funeral of Jack Layton, leader of the federal New Democratic Party. His moving eulogy and loving sermon touched the hearts of Canadians everywhere.

Although he has lived and worked in Toronto for 38 years, Dr. Hawkes remains a proud son of New Brunswick. He speaks of his hometown of Bath with great pride and credits his commitment to social justice to his upbringing in this province. He has mentored New Brunswick youth and has encouraged their efforts to promote human rights.

Dr. Hawkes has continued his relationship with his alma mater, Mount Allison University. He chaired the Mount Allison Alumni Task Force Committee and served on the university’s board of regents. In 2010, Mount Allison awarded him an honorary Doctorate of Laws.

For his continuing work in activism and human rights in Canada, York University presented Dr. Hawkes with an Honorary Doctorate of Laws degree in 2009 and he received an Honorary Doctorate of Divinity from The University of Trinity College in 2011.

Dr. Hawkes received the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal and the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal. In 2007, he was named a Member of the Order of Canada. The New Brunswick Human Rights Commission granted him the Pioneer of Human Rights Award for his contribution to the advancement of human rights. He received a Global Citizens Award from the Toronto committee for the United Nations 50th anniversary for his support of human rights.

The Magna Carta Exhibit touring Canada in fall 2015 will include historic artifacts related to the ideal of equality under the law. The exhibit will include the bulletproof vest Dr. Hawkes wore when he performed the first legal same-sex weddings. He is a speaker at the TedX 2015 conference held this October in Toronto on the theme of Thresholds.

Brent Hawkes is receiving the Order of New Brunswick for his tireless devotion to social justice and for his outstanding efforts in support of human rights.

New Brunswick is infinitely richer for the commitment, spirit and talent of Thaddeus Holownia,an internationally renowned photographer.

Mr. Holownia grew up in England, Ontario and New Brunswick. Graduating from Rothesay High School, he returned to New Brunswick in the late 1970s, to become a professor of fine arts at Mount Allison University, where he is currently head of the department.

Mr. Holownia has produced many impressive bodies of work that push the boundaries of his art form while documenting this region’s natural and cultural history. Through exhibitions and books he is known for his Dykelands series chronicling the vast Tantramar marshes at the head of the Bay of Fundy and Silver Ghost series exploring the salmon river landscapes of Atlantic Canada. The Jolicure Pond series, in which he photographed the same subject in different seasons under different lighting conditions, was exhibited alongside the paintings of Claude Monet in the exhibition Monet’s Legacy, Series: Order and Obsession at the Hamburger Kunsthalle in Hamburg Germany.

His photographs and book works have been acquired by some of the finest museums in Canada. His work has been shown in the United States, France, Germany, Belgium, Mexico and the Czech Republic. Mr. Holownia is a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Fine Arts (RCA) is a Fulbright Fellow and is a recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal.

Mr. Holownia has also made significant contributions to his community as a teacher and a mentor. He has twice received the Paul Paré Medal from Mount Allison University in recognition of excellence in teaching, creative activity, research and community service.

Thaddeus Holownia is receiving the Order of New Brunswick for producing a constantly evolving body of visual art that has been celebrated both nationally and internationally.

Carol Loughrey, OC, has been a trailblazer and role model for all New Brunswickers, especially women, for the last 40 years.

At the University of New Brunswick, she was the first woman to earn a tenured position in the Faculty of Business Administration, and she was the first woman to hold an academic administrative position in the faculty.

From 1996 to 2006, she was as a deputy minister in the Government of New Brunswick.  She was the first woman in Canada to serve as provincial comptroller. She was subsequently the first woman deputy minister (anglophone) in the Department of Education.

Mrs. Loughrey was the first woman chair of the board of governors of the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants in its 92-year history.

Mrs. Loughrey was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1992. She recognized the need for a network in New Brunswick to provide support to breast cancer survivors. The following year, she co-founded the first New Brunswick breast cancer support group, Breast Cancer Survivors – Fredericton. In 1995, she co-founded the New Brunswick Breast Cancer Network Inc.

As president of the Muriel McQueen Fergusson Foundation, she launch a successful fund-raising campaign that led to the establishment of the Muriel McQueen Fergusson Research Centre at UNB. She was founding president of the Kings Landing Foundation, which supports Kings Landing Historical Settlement. She has also supported the Grace Campaign, which established a shelter for homeless women; the Fredericton Emergency Shelter; Meals on Wheels; and the Stepping Stone Centre for seniors in Fredericton. She was recently appointed to the National Capital Commission.

In 2005, Mrs. Loughrey was named an Officer of the Order of Canada. She has also received the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal and the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal.

Carol Loughrey is receiving the Order of New Brunswick for her leadership as a champion of and role model for women in business, academia and government.

Sister Adèle Morin has made New Brunswick a far better place for children with intellectual and physical disabilities.

She has devoted much of her professional life to improving education and community services and overall quality of life for persons with intellectual and physical disabilities living in the Chaleur area and throughout the province.

Sister Morin established l’Association des enfants arriérés à Petit-Rocher Nord, which later became known as l’Association pour l’intégration communautaire de Petit-Rocher (AICRPR). Today, she serves as its secretary.

Under her leadership, the AICRPR transformed a former school in Petit-Rocher Nord into a training centre for children challenged by intellectual and physical disabilities, serving the greater Chaleur region. The centre has since become known as l’Atelier Edouard-Roy, named after a founding volunteer.

Sister Morin entered the Religieuses de Notre-Dame-du-Sacré Coeur in 1952 and started her professional career as a teacher in 1955. She started teaching children with intellectual and physical disabilities in the mid-1960s in Petit-Rocher. In 1980, the Government of New Brunswick asked her to develop and establish an inclusion program for intellectually and physically challenged students in the school system. She is credited for establishing the “Cadre Program” and for promoting inclusion in northern New Brunswick. For her efforts, Sister Morin received the President’s Award from the Canadian Association for the Mentally Retarded (now Canadian Association for Community Living), New Brunswick branch.

Sister Morin has been involved in the Peace and Development movement and has supported the Common Front for Social Justice and French. She has belonged to a coalition seeking salary equality between men and women. She has been part of a committee that planned a special care home for persons with AIDS. She has also been a member of the Georges L. Dumont Hospital board of directors.

Sister Adèle Morin is receiving the Order of New Brunswick for her decades of devoted service to her province and especially, to children with intellectual and physical disabilities.

Dr. Réjean Thomas, C.M., is a physician who has never stopped being engaged in health promotion, including sexual health relating to HIV, hepatitis, and other STDs, as well as in the fight against prejudice and discrimination and advocacy for the rights of vulnerable persons and their access to quality health care. Dr. Thomas is well known in his adopted province of Quebec, but he remains a New Brunswicker at heart.

In 1984, he, along with three colleagues, founded the Clinique l’Annexe, which in 1987 became the Clinique médicale l’Actuel. Located in Montreal, this centre of excellence in HIV, hepatitis, and STDs has earned an international reputation for its holistic approach to medical management. L’Actuel is one of only a few community-based clinics that treat patients with HIV and/or hepatitis C, who often have multiple problems, including mental health and addiction issues.

A family physician at l’Actuel, of which he is the president and CEO, Dr. Thomas is also a medical advisor at the Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal and a member of the McGill AIDS Centre. In addition, he sits on a number of research review committees in Canada and abroad.

In 1994, Dr. Thomas was appointed by the Quebec government to be its special advisor on international humanitarian action. In 1999, he became the founding president of Médecins du monde Canada, a position he held until 2007. He has contributed to establishing a humanistic approach to medicine in Canada and abroad by participating in humanitarian missions in Afghanistan, Zimbabwe, Haiti, Malawi, and Vietnam.

In 2009, Dr. Thomas was named a member of the Order of Canada.

Dr. Réjean Thomas was awarded the Order of New Brunswick for his global, humanistic approach to the health of vulnerable populations, his advocacy for human rights, and his involvement in humanitarian work internationally.

Marlene Unger has been resolute in her fight against anti-Semitism. New Brunswickers, especially our children, benefit from her bravery and conviction.

Mrs. Unger led opposition against Malcolm Ross, a school teacher who publicly denied the Holocaust and for his anti-Semitic views were removed from the classroom. She challenged the New Brunswick Teachers’ Association (NBTA) to act. Mr. Ross was later transferred to a non-teaching position. She was also instrumental in having William Ross, Mr. Ross’s brother, removed from the New Brunswick Curriculum Committee because he, too, denied the Holocaust. Later, she worked with the NBTA to introduce Holocaust education in the public schools, making New Brunswick a leader in this field in Canada.

For many years, she chaired the Holocaust Education Committee of the Atlantic Jewish Council. She served as a member of the Canadian Jewish Congress Holocaust Remembrance Committee. For these efforts, Mrs. Unger received the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Award.

Mrs. Unger worked with others to develop An Act to Proclaim Holocaust Memorial Day Yom haShoah in New Brunswick, which the Government of New Brunswick proclaimed in 1999.

Mrs. Unger taught at Fredericton High School for three decades. Shortly before her retirement, she worked on a permanent memorial to commemorate 63 students from the school who had died in war. One of those students was Mrs. Unger’s uncle, Major Willard Parker, commander of B Company with the North Shore (New Brunswick) Regiment, who died in action in February 1945.

Marlene Unger is receiving the Order of New Brunswick for her tireless work for human rights, social justice and education.

Canadians will long remember Kevin Vickers for his courage and humility in bringing to a swift end the attack on Parliament Hill in October 2014. He will also be known for his dedicated service to the people of New Brunswick and Canada as a leading member of the RCMP.

Mr. Vickers grew up in the former town of Newcastle. He had recently graduated from the RCMP training academy when he saved his younger brother, Willie, from drowning in the Northwest Miramichi River.

Mr. Vickers served 29 years with the RCMP, reaching the rank of chief superintendent. He developed and maintained a solid working relationship with provincial, municipal and First Nations authorities while serving on the Acadian Peninsula. He is remembered for being dispatched to Burnt Church wharf, keeping the peace between native and non-native fishers. Mr. Vickers is also credited for promoting dialogue between the two linguistic communities.

During his career, Mr. Vickers was called upon to successfully lead several high-profile investigations, including homicides, national criminal investigations, international drug importations and a national investigation into those responsible for the safety of Canada's blood supply. He was the RCMP lead in the early development of its "Bias Free Policing" policies, working extensively to reach out to the leadership of Canada's Muslim community.

Mr. Vickers provided personal security for a number of high-profile visitors to Canada, including Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Andrew, Duke of York. He served as aide-de-camp to Marilyn Trenholme Counsel, OC, ONB, former Lieutenant-Governor of New Brunswick.

Following his career with the RCMP, Mr. Vickers was hired as the director of security operations at the House of Commons. He was named Sergeant-at-Arms for the House of Commons in 2006.

In the wake of the events of October 22, 2014, the Miramichi Leader praised the hometown son: “Mr. Vickers is a symbol of Canadian heroism for his actions in a dangerous situation, but he is also a symbol of why Miramichi has always been a resilient community.”

In November, Mr. Vickers travelled to Israel, where he met with that country’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and was formally recognized by the Knesset, Israel’s legislative body. He has received honorary degrees from the University of Regina and Mount Allison University. He has also received the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, the Canada 125 Medal and the RCMP Long Service Medal.

In January of this year, Mr. Vickers was appointed Canada’s Ambassador to Ireland. It was an appropriate appointment for a man whose family has deep Irish roots and grew up in a community calling itself “Canada’s Irish Capital.”

Kevin Vickers is receiving the Order of New Brunswick for his bravery,dedication and service to his community, his province and his country.