Ladner’s Michelle Wilson has received a provincial honour for her outstanding service and commitment to helping others.
Wilson was among 18 people throughout B.C. who received the Medal of Good Citizenship at a ceremony in Vancouver last week.
Launched in 2015, the Medal of Good Citizenship recognizes individuals who, through exceptional long-term service, have made outstanding contributions to their communities without expectation of remuneration or reward. The medal reflects their generosity, service, acts of selflessness and contributions to community life. Recipients were nominated by members of their communities.
“It was quite a surprise when I was nominated by a friend of mine, who didn’t let me know until it happened,” said Wilson. “It was really wonderful to be acknowledged and the group of people I was nominated with are outstanding. There are so many opportunities to give back and I feel what I do is very simple, just to share a story and give people an opportunity to see how easy it can be to love your kids and the impact that can have, so to be nominated for that is just incredible.”
Since her eldest child Tru came out as transgender at the age of nine, Wilson has been an advocate for transgender rights.
When Tru’s school refused to accommodate or support her transition, Wilson and her family filed a human rights complaint against the school, and the Catholic Independent Schools of the Vancouver Archdiocese, for not supporting her gender identity. In response, and after two years of mediation, in 2014 the Catholic School Board became one of the first in North America to develop a policy to support gender expression. It paved the way for other denomination-based independent schools in B.C. and across Canada to create such policies.
Since then, Wilson spends countless volunteer hours speaking at conferences and supporting other families going through their own struggles. She has provided numerous interviews on TV and radio, and been asked to speak at events and conferences such as Gender Odyssey in Seattle and Proud2Be in Vancouver, teacher training sessions at UBC, and social events such as Grace Club where she shares her story of love and acceptance, reinforcing the importance of supporting queer kids.
Wilson is a board member of G Day for Girls and Out On Screen. At every chance she encourages young people to be who they are, and parents to simply love and accept their kids. She teaches them all that by spreading acceptance and love we can make the world better.
This year’s recipients were selected from more than 100 nominees.
“To be in the class of someone like Joe Average, who I admire and respect so much for his work with HIV/AIDS community, is amazing,” added Wilson. “To be alongside others that are doing so much for their communities is really inspiring to see how people are giving back and the impacts that can have. I hope when people hear these stories it will also inspire them to give back.”
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