In a virtual ceremony on April 13, the Ontario government awarded Sudbury medical student Emma Solar with an Ontario Medal for Good Citizenship.
The Ontario Medal for Good Citizenship is a medal of merit that was created in 1973 to recognize people who made exceptional long-term contributions to the quality of life in the province.
Solar’s years of humanitarian work as well as her current work with the Canadian Armed Forces were deciding factors in being given the award. With her background in international affairs, she travelled to Peru to do research on flood-affected communities and was employed in disaster response with the Canadian Red Cross for two years, continuing to volunteer with them for years afterwards as a disaster response volunteer.
“The work in disaster response and humanitarian crises was always something that called to me and I wanted to be able to help and I wanted to be there in person and contribute to that,” Solar told Sudbury.com in a phone interview. “So that's sort of what drove me to it and I really enjoyed the work and so I just continued with it.”
She worked overseas for three missions with Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) Canada and continued her work in medicine with the Canadian Armed Forces.
Currently a medical student at Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) here in Sudbury, she continues to work as a medical officer trainee with the Canadian Armed Forces.
Having moved to Sudbury in the summer of 2019, Solar is a relatively new resident to Sudbury.
“I'm a newer resident of Sudbury and I was presented as a resident of Sudbury when I received the award. Although the activities that I did weren't located here in the North, I’m very happy to have moved here and very proud to be part of the medical school here,” Solar said.
The ceremony was held virtually this year for the recipients of the award. While Solar accepted the award online, she has yet to receive the medal as it hasn’t arrived yet. Despite the changes with the award ceremony, Solar was just excited to be a part of it.
“I'm very proud. And at the same time, it's humbling. The recipients of the medal have accomplished amazing things,” Solar said. “A lot of them are doing really great things in their individual communities across Ontario. And so just to be a part of that group, obviously, it's humbling and I'm very proud.”
