2023 Osprey Heritage Awards recipients recognized at city hall

3 Comments

• Joan Abernethy December 09, 2023
  Congratulations to Manvers and Boyd for their hard work and contribution to local heritage. It is lovely to see them recognized. I am unfamiliar with the work of the other two awards winners so make no comment. I have serious concerns about the heritage awards program. The original program, named the 'Osprey Heritage Awards' by the subcommittee of the Municipal Heritage Committee that I chaired with then member, Joan Skelton, was created to recognize disparate citizen and stakeholder contributions to the rich and diverse heritage of Kawartha Lakes. It was intended to be inclusive, inviting and fair, to grow and build the heritage community, and to celebrate our unique Kawartha Lakes heritage culture. The 2023 Heritage Awards committee called for public nominations but the judges were not independent members of the public. They were City councillors, City staff and Municipal Heritage Committee members. Putting aside any real bias, the appointment of interested judges creates the optic of myopic, self-serving, elitist, exclusive and unfair adjudication. It undermines public perception of the Osprey Heritage Awards as a serious, professional initiative. The awards committee didn't notify unsuccessful nominees but left them to learn the results on social media or by word of mouth. What would it have hurt the Committee to send an email to all nominees thanking them for their participation, sharing the results, and inviting them to the awards ceremony so they could congratulate the winners, be recognized for their participation, and be included in the celebration of local heritage achievement? The City says it wants to unite and grow our heritage community and to build a heritage economy. To succeed, the City must become far more warm, inviting, inclusive, and tolerant - if not actively appreciative - of differences and of change. Open the doors! Let the whole world in! Inclusion won't destroy incumbent heritage culture; it will enrich and grow it. Our heritage is not an 'Ode on a Grecian Urn' (poem by John Keats) but a living thing. Nothing Gold Can Stay Nature's first green is gold, Her hardest hue to hold. Her early leaf's a flower; But only so an hour. Then leaf subsides to leaf, So Eden sank to grief, So dawn goes down to day Nothing gold can stay. (Robert Frost)
• Roderick Benns December 13, 2023
  We reached out to the City for comment about this. Here is the feedback: The 2023 Osprey Awards were well received by the attendees and members of the public. The 2023 process was different from the original awards pre-pandemic and was structured to be appropriate for current day. Nominees that were not successful were notified prior to announcements. A judging panel reviewed each of the applications that were received. As shared at the awards ceremony, the submissions were strong and the community can be proud of this. As in all our municipal processes, judges removed themselves from the evaluations if they believed there to be a conflict of interest. If a member of the public has a concern about the process, they are encouraged to contact the municipality to share their concerns. Rebecca Mustard, Manager of Economic Development
• Joan Abernethy December 14, 2023
  I don't know who told Rebecca Mustard that nominees were notified prior to announcements but the Ottawa Huron Tract History Association was nominated for our book "A History of Pandemics in Kawartha Lakes" and no one notified us of the results. We found out by reading about the results on social media. Paulette Sopoci who was awarded the prize in the Heritage Restoration/Adaptive Reuse category for her work on Primrose Hill Manor endorsed Tracy Richardson's campaign for re-election in 2022. She made a video outside the Primrose Hill Manor in which she used her heritage manor brand to endorse Councillor Richardson's campaign for re-election. The media coverage showing the then deputy mayor giving her friend, Paulette Sopoci an award creates an optic of a quid--pro-quo conflict of interest. I contacted Laura Love, Rebecca Mustard and Mayor Elmslie with my concerns about a possible conflict of interest in the judging in that category but as no one responded, I contacted the Advocate. An investigation of the concerns I brought to the attention of Rebecca Mustard, Laura Love, and the mayor would require someone impartial - Rebecca Mustard, perhaps - to contact every judge on the panel to determine if the then deputy mayor recused herself from judging in the category and why. If the judges cannot verify that Councillor Richardson recused herself and why, then the City should give Councillor Richardson the opportunity to recuse herself in retrospect and apologize for her error in judgement. It should not fall on concerned citizens to get the authorities involved.