King Charles III Coronation Medal

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