King Charles III Coronation Medal

CSL Mayor, longtime volunteers awarded King Charles III medal

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , ,

By: Joel Goldenberg
The Suburban

Côte St. Luc Mayor Mitchell Brownstein and longtime volunteers Susie Berkson-Schwartz and Joy Rodgers were presented with the King Charles III Coronation medal during a ceremony at the Harold Greenspon Auditorium recently.

The award is given for outstanding achievement in public service to the community and to Canada.

The medals were presented by Mount Royal MP Anthony Housefather. CSL council was on hand, as well as longtime councillor Glenn Nashen, the founder of volunteer Citizens On Patrol and Emergency Medical Services, and Brownstein’s wife Elaine.

Brownstein, who was first elected to CSL council in 1990 and became Mayor in 2016, was honoured for his achievements on council, including establishing the CSL Dramatic Society, co-chairing the CSL Demerger Committee, promoting Canadian unity through a Staying Canadian resolution just after the 1995 Quebec referendum, and introducing the Fun Card providing access to recreational facilities. His was also the first city to legislate that masks be worn in public places during the COVID pandemic in 2020. Brownstein has also called on Montreal to take strong action against anti-Israel agitators.

Brownstein said Elaine has always been there for him, whether for personal, health and business issues.

“If anybody needs an advocate, just call her,” the Mayor added, to loud applause.

Brownstein also thanked his parents for instilling in him the value of community and becoming involved at a young age.

“Whether it was with Federation CJA, or politics at the federal, provincial or municipal level, I was always inspired to do more….I always say ‘enjoy every moment of life.’ That’s all we can do and do the best we can by trying to make other people happy.”

Brownstein said the award also goes to the CSL council and city directors.

“I can’t be a good Mayor without the staff and the council behind me. I am really lucky because all the directors who were there are still with me nine years after I became Mayor.”

Berkson-Schwartz was honoured for being a part of the volunteer Citizens On Patrol since 2006. She is also at almost all CSL council meetings.

Housefather said that in her role with vCOP, “Susie has taken on many important tasks, including organizing the vCOP presence at major events such as the Winter Carnival, Ruth Kovac Blood Drive, Canada Day celebrations, and Remembrance Day activities. She also coordinates the vCOP representation at local events in places like Trudeau Park and Ashkelon Gardens. Susie works closely with city staff to make sure these events run smoothly and are enjoyable for the public, making her a key figure in the community.

“Susie’s exceptional service and commitment to her community make her a very deserving recipient of the King Charles III Coronation Medal.”

Rodgers was honoured for her 26 years at CSL’s Emergency Medical Services, having joined at the age of 18 after working at local pools.

“She’s always had service to her community in her blood,” Housefather said. At EMS, “she is an experienced medic, driver and instructor. She led the quality assurance team and was in charge of recruiting, all while continuing to dedicate hundreds of hours of volunteer service to help others. While not on shift at EMS, Joy is an active mom of two, a wife, an elementary school first aid coordinator, a CPR instructor and a cancer survivor and advocate.” n

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Rotrand awarded King Charles III Coronation Medal

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , ,

By Joel Goldenberg
The Suburban

Marvin Rotrand, the longtime Snowdon councillor, former head of B’nai Brith’s League For Human Rights and now director general of the group United Against Hate Canada, was awarded the King Charles III Coronation Medal last week.

Rotrand was nominated for the award by his municipal successor Sonny Moroz, and the medal was awarded virtually via Zoom by Mount Royal MP Anthony Housefather. The award is given for outstanding achievement in public service to the community and to Canada. Numerous political and community leaders spoke and were on the Zoom call, amongst them Luzviminda Mazzone, President, Federation of Filipino Canadian Associations of Quebec and Cynthia Waithe, President of Barbados House. The MC was new EMSB commissioner Chelsea Craig.

Rotrand, speaking from Indonesia, told the Zoom call, “I believe in good government and that government can do good for people, gives opportunity, lifts people out of poverty, prevents hate and discrimination and fosters peace and cooperation.

“It was a privilege for me to be the city councillor for Snowdon for 39 years, and in all that time, those were the issues I championed. I continued doing that in my role at B’nai Brith Canada and it’s what I’m doing now with United Against Hate Canada. There are common themes in all these positions — building solidarity, harmony and cooperation, understanding and promoting diversity as an asset.”

Housefather said Rotrand is a “very special person,” with whom he has worked for 30 years — “30 years of trying to build a future for the English-speaking minority of Quebec at a time when the English-speaking community was greatly threatened by many actions of the provincial government.

“The diversity on this call is a tribute to the kind of person Marvin is because, whatever the community, Marvin has tried to be a beacon for inclusivity of all communities. We want to be judged as people and Marvin’s been an inspiration in making sure that everyone is treated as an equal individual.”

Rotrand’s son, Graeme, speaking for the family, said his father’s most important work “has been his career-long fight for a more just and a more equitable Canada and Montreal. That’s a fight he continues today.”

Côte St. Luc Mayor Mitchell Brownstein said Rotrand “is an example of a grassroots politician who, more than any other that I know, has been appreciated by people of all backgrounds, and he’s done so much.”

Moroz told Rotrand he is someone “who goes above and beyond, in terms of the hours of commitment, but also to the detail that you put into your work. It’s unbelievable and more than what a medal can properly signify because you’ve had an impact with your actions over time.”

English Montreal School Board chairman Joe Ortona thanked Rotrand for his support of the board, particularly as regards Bill 40, the provincial law seeking to abolish school boards.

“There were very few elected officials who understood what Bill 40 was all about, and he always wanted to know where we were at with the court cases. He still asks me to this day.”

Lac St. Louis MP Francis Scarpaleggia told the meeting there was a reason Rotrand was Montreal’s longest serving municipal councillor.

“To experience the success and longevity Marvin did in the lion’s den of politics, you need to be true to your constituents and be true to yourself. Short-term success may be possible without these, but not long-term success….You have and continue to inspire me and others in political life, as well as those contemplating how they can make a difference in their community and by making their communities stronger, they make the country better.” n

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Mount Royal riding residents receive King Charles III Coronation medal

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , ,

By Joel Goldenberg
The Suburban

Twenty-one Mount Royal federal riding residents were honoured with the King Charles III Coronation Medal during an Aug. 29 ceremony hosted by Mount Royal MP Anthony Housefather and held at the Ashkelon Gardens behind Côte St. Luc city hall.

The honourees were recognized for outstanding achievement in public service and volunteerism. Mount Royal includes Côte St. Luc, Hampstead, Town of Mount Royal and part of Côte des Neiges-NDG.

More than 100 people were in attendance at the ceremony, including the recipients, Housefather, D’Arcy McGee MNA Elisabeth Prass, CSL Mayor Mitchell Brownstein and other elected officials, as well as numerous community notables. The medal is awarded to those who have “made a significant contribution to Canada or to a particular province, territory, region of, or community in, Canada, or attained an outstanding achievement abroad that brings credit to Canada.” Community members nominated recipients and 30,000 people are receiving or have received the medal.

The honourees included Town of Mount Royal councillor Antoine Tayar, who is involved in numerous community organizations; Côte St. Luc councillor, and longtime lawyer and activist Dida Berku; Nida Quirapas, president of the Filipino community organization FAMAS, a long-time educator and a helper of the needy and bereaved;; and Hampstead councillor and Dawson College president Michael Goldwax, who started Hampstead’s annual blood drive and has volunteered in the community since the 1990s.

Other honourees included financial security advisor and founder of the Montrealers Helping Montrealers group Leah Lipkowitz; Côte des Neiges-NDG councillor Stephanie Valenzuela; longtime dentists and community volunteers Andrew Toeman and Peter Safran; chartered accountant Ariel Sabbah, a leader in the Sephardic community; Natalie Olarte Pelausa, 97, creator of the Philippine Benevolent and Scholarship Society of Quebec; longtime community activist Maria Peluso; TMR entepreneur Tania Naim; Federation CJA president and CEO Yair Szlak and Eta Yudin, vice-president, Quebec of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, recognized for their tireless fight against antisemitism, particularly after the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel; Mount Royal Volunteer Centre president Caroline Emblem; former Hampstead councillor Lillian Vineberg, who is deeply involved in community organizations and in activism; Brian Blumer of the Knights of Pythias; Sharon Nelson, first vice-president of the Jamaica Association of Montreal; student activists Jamie Fabian, also an EMSB commisioner, and Nicole Nashen, who have also been countering anti-Israel protests; and former Côte St. Luc councillor and longtime St. Richard’s Church volunteer Joe Panunto.

Tayar, who was born in Lebanon, came to Canada in 2015 and became a citizen in 2019 and a TMR councillor in 2021, is very active in the community, including with the Saint Joseph of Mount Royal parish where he is involved as warden and extraordinary minister of communion; with the Breakfast Club of Canada, which provides students with free meals as one in three children in Canada do not eat regularly; mentorships for students; and being in leadership roles of several chambers of commerce across the country.

“I really believe in giving back,” he told The Suburban. “I’m committed to working with people in the community. You have to be an active part of where you live. I was always active, even before coming to Canada, in every community in which I lived, including Lebanon and Dubai. This is because of my education, personality and values.”

Regarding the honour bestowed upon him last week, “I’m very excited, thrilled and honoured. It sends a good message for everyone who comes to Canada that, if you are part of the community, you do the necessary things for people and you share their concerns and you help them — if your values are the same as that of the host country, the sky’s the limit.” n

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