"Queen's Diamond Jubilee medal still missing, MPP investigating"

BRANTFORD - Brant MPP Dave Levac is backpeddling as he acknowledges the role his office played in Turtle Island News Publisher Lynda Powless's missing Diamond Jubilee Medal fiasco.

The MPP's office sent the the medal to band council in a package informing The Turtle Island News owner and editor she had won the award.

Levac, who is also the province's Speaker of the House, has not responded to requests for an interview about the debacle, but his communications officer Chris Yaccato said in an e-mail, "MPP Levac feels Ms. Powless is such a deserving recipient of this prestigious award, so it's incumbent upon us all to make sure she be fully recognized for her community spirit."

"We've been trying to locate the missing medal," he continued. "We've spoken with Ms. Powless and we acknowledged oversights were made by all parties, so at this point we have no further comment as we are in the stage of trying to help locate the medal and/or trying to find a replacement."

Powless was nominated for the medal by local Six Nations community members. One of the nominators, was informed in early November that Powless had been approved for the award, created in 2012 to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II's accession to the throne.

In a Nov. 5, 2012 email from Brian Beattie, a director from the Ontario Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration, he says the Ministry will be in touch with Powless "shortly" to notify her of the medal presentation.

That notification never came. It was not until two weeks ago on Feb. 12 that Powless found out she was to receive an award.

She had opened a package forwarded from Six Nations Band Council containing a letter from the Ministry and former Premier Dalton McGuinty indicating she won the award. But there was no medal inside the package. The letter had also been stamped indicating band council received the package on Jan. 22. Two days before elected chief Bill Montour received his medal at a luncheon in Toronto.

The Turtle Island News learned that Levac's office had sent the package to band council with the intent and hope that elected Chief Bill Montour would present the award to Powless. Levac's staff were adamant the medal was inside the package before they sent it band council.

Elected Chief Montour had presented medals to several Six Nations people in a ceremony at Brantford's Sanderson Centre last October.

Yaccato says he is not sure when Levac's office received Powless's medal package but says it was probably over the Christmas holidays. He says Levac could have presented the medal to Powless himself but thought Chief Montour would since she is a member of the Six Nations community.

Montour did not present Powless with the award; he did not notify her of the award; and, he now denies ever seeing a medal at his office.

Montour had told The Turtle Island News that he saw the package on his desk and asked that it be forwarded to our office.

But at last Tuesday's band council meeting Montour angrily said the situation "had nothing to do with me" and that "I'm not Lynda's damn mailman."

Montour was awarded a Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal and quietly slipped away to a ceremony in Toronto on Jan. 24 to accept it. When he learned afterward that Binbrook agitator Gary McHale received one for bringing "law and order" to Caledonia by organizing contentious rallies. Montour announced he was returning his medal to the Governor General's office, which handed out the medals.

The Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration has not responded to numerous questions from The Turtle Island News.

The Governor General's office said they are looking into the matter.

The Diamond Jubilee Medal was supposed to be awarded to 60,000 Canadians for making "significant contributions" to the country or their communities. All of the medals must be handed out by Feb. 28 (tomorrow), according to the rules set out by the Diamond Jubilee Medal Program.