South Algonquin discuss 2022 Ontario Senior of the Year Award

By Mike Riley

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

At their April 20 Human Resources, Administration and Public Relations committee meeting, South Algonquin Township council discussed the 2022 Ontario Senior of the Year Award, spurred by a letter they received from the Ontario Minister of Seniors and Accessibility Raymond Cho. After discussing it, and noting the impending deadline of April 30 for nominations, they decided to remand the request to the township's recreation committees and have council approve any nominee recommendations for this year or perhaps even next year due to the tight deadline.
South Algonquin Township council discussed this letter dated April 5 from Minister Cho at their April 20 HR, Admin and PR committee meeting, inviting them to put forth nominations for the 2022 Ontario Senior of the Year Award.
Noting the hard work that Ontario's seniors have put in to make the province successful in a myriad of ways, Cho explained that the award allowed each municipality to nominate one senior for the contributions they've made “to enrich the social, cultural and civic life of their community.” The deadline for the nomination is April 30, and he said that more information on how to submit said nomination could be found at the Senior of the Year website at www.ontario.ca/page/honours-and-awards-community#section-3.
Once a nomination has been submitted, Cho says that a personalized certificate with the nominee's name will be sent to the municipality in question.
“I encourage you to present it to your nominee in conjunction with Seniors' Month. The Ontario government is delighted to celebrate Seniors' Month with municipalities across the province. Seniors have generously given their time, knowledge and expertise to make this province the best place in this country to live and work. It is important that we take the time to celebrate our older population and their valuable contributions,” he said in his letter.
The theme for this year's Seniors' Month is Stay Active, Connected and Safe. Cho asked South Algonquin to help promote Seniors' Month in their community by visiting the Seniors' Month webpage at www.ontario.ca/page/celebrating-seniors-ontario. For any further queries, Cho asked them to get in touch with the Volunteer Recognition Unit at [email protected], and thanked them in advance for their support of Ontario's seniors and their contributions.
At the April 20 HR, Admin and PR committee meeting, councillor Sandra Collins, the chair of the committee, brought up the subject of the 2022 Ontario Senior of the Year Awards and invited discussion on Cho's letter.
Councillor Bongo Bongo said he was supportive of such an initiative, and wondered if it would be appropriate to refer to either the seniors' centres or recreation committees to pursue.
Bryan Martin, the CAO/clerk-treasurer, clarified the age of the potential nominees to be 65 years and over, and the other guidelines to be selected while selecting someone for the award.
“And certainly, if council wish to redirect that to the seniors or another organization to make that on their behalf, I'd he happy to pass that along if that's what council chose,” he says.
The committee mentioned the tight deadline this posed as the award nominees were due by April 30 and that there may not be enough time to refer it to the recreation committees and get a reply back for council to submit a nomination in time. Therefore it may have to be deferred until next year's awards.
Collins asked Martin to pass along the information on the awards to the recreation committees in case they had somebody in mind right away for this year or even for next year's awards.
“Maybe we have to have another meeting if we do get any applicants come through before April 30. I think it's quite nice to recognize someone that's been outstanding and we've not done this in the past,” she says. “So, I think it's a fantastic opportunity, although the timeline may be prohibitive this year.”