Editor:
The St. John Ambulance Burnaby Division held a full year of virtual events and meetings for both its adult and youth volunteer members. We have seen the importance of these engagements developed to create a positive environment while improving the mental health of our members, as well as being nurturing and inspiring. The Burnaby Division was actually among a handful of Brigade Divisions across Canada that hosted virtual meetings and events throughout this pandemic year.
Nearly a year and a half ago, the global pandemic put a hold on leaving the home for literally everyone of us, thereby any type of in-person engagements. This pandemic made many feel that it was the end of days, but lucky for us we weren’t living in 1918 and technology in some ways saved the day. We developed the Speaker Series with our leadership team to create a unique programme that would be engaging and well rounded in more ways than one, that was also outside the box. We also didn’t want to just see one subject area covered, so the Burnaby Division developed a full programme with 10 speakers, several commemoration ceremonies, in addition to holding regular meetings and training for its adult and cadet members, plus content for our growing Youtube Channel.
The Burnaby Division hosted community guest speakers once a month with special events sprinkled in for good measure, such as a virtual Commemoration for the 75th anniversary to the end of the Second World War and a Remembrance Day service which saw our three levels of government in Burnaby participate. One highlight for many was welcoming Kim’s Convenience actor, Mr. Sugith Varughese, who played Mr. Mehta, to speak all the way from Montreal during Asian Heritage Month of May, which was by no means, an easy feat.
We also virtually honoured our two dear Second World War veterans, Mrs. Peggy Lee and Dr. Po-Tin Chak, with 3 generations of their family in attendance. We are truly blessed they are both doing well in their respective care homes during this difficult time. Our efforts even crossed oceans by connecting with the SJA Brigade in Hong Kong and even hosted their Brigade Commissioner, Mr. Alfred Poon, CStJ, as one of our guest speakers this past year to broaden our knowledge and awareness of our international St. John Ambulance organization.
2021 is also a very special year as the St. John Ambulance family is having a double anniversary year with the 75th anniversary of Canada becoming a St. John Priory and the 110th anniversary for BC/Yukon as a provincial St. John Council. Mayor Hurley and Council proclaimed the month of June as St. John Ambulance Month; and we received special messages of congratulations from the Prime Minister of Canada, Her Honour Janet Austin, the Vice Prior of the St. John Council of BC and Lieutenant Governor of BC; and the Premier of BC to commemorate our double anniversary year. Members of the St. John Ambulance Burnaby Division, that includes our volunteer Medical First Responders, Cadets, and Therapy Dog Program; as well as members and dignitaries from across BC, Canada and Hong Kong, all came together at the end of June on St. John Day to virtually celebrate resilience for one full year of being online and the double anniversary year, with a keynote address by our SJA National Chancellor, Mr. Alain L.J. Laurencelle, KStJ, during the annual Burwell Spirit Awards.
We want to take this opportunity to thank our amazing community, The Burnaby Now; His Worship Mayor Mike Hurley; the City of Burnaby; our MLAs Hon. Raj Chouhan, Hon. Katrina Chen, Hon. Anne Kang, Janet Routledge; MPs Terry Beech, Jagmeet Singh, and Peter Julian; Hon. Carla Qualtrough, Hon. Harjit Sajjan; Senator Yonah Martin; Tourism Burnaby; the Burnaby RCMP, Burnaby Fire and Metro Vancouver Transit Police; SFU President Johnson and the SFU Pipe band, UBC President Santa Ono; the Consulate General of France in Vancouver, the Consulate General of the United Kingdom in Vancouver, the Consulate General of the Netherlands in Vancouver, the Canadian Consulate General in Hong Kong & Macau; Burnaby Village Museum, Nikkei Centre, PCHC-MoM, VAHMS, VAFF, the Chinese Canadian Military Museum, and many more for all their support this past year. But most of all, thank you to our SJA family, especially all our St. John Ambulance volunteer members who stayed the course and dedicated themselves to the service of humanity and pandemic service during this crisis, which we haven’t seen in well over a century.
St. John Ambulance is an international humanitarian organization in more than 35 countries around the globe with over 200,000 volunteers. And the Burnaby Division is very proud to be part of this global family and will be celebrating our Division’s 75th anniversary in 2023 which we look forward to celebrating in-person.
Stay Strong, One St. John.
Richard N. Liu, Honorary Brigade Division President
