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Bruce McDonald honoured with Freedom of the City Award

2023 Mayor's Achievement Awards announced
mayor-and-council-with-bruce-mcdonald
Delta council presents former Coun. Bruce McDonald with the Freedom of the City Award.

His years of dedicated political and community service has once again recognized by the City of Delta with their highest honour.

On Thursday night former Delta Coun. Bruce McDonald was presented with the Freedom of the City Award, one of several awards presented to outstanding Deltans at the inaugural Mayor’s Achievement Awards at Tsawwassen Springs.

McDonald is only the fourth recipient to receive this award in the history of Delta. The previous recipients were The Hon. William Andrew Cecil Bennett in 1969, Edgar C. Dunning in 2004, and Arne F. Knudsen in 2006.

“It was an exceptional privilege for me to present my esteemed former colleague Bruce McDonald with the Freedom of the City Award,” said Mayor George Harvie. “As only the fourth person in Delta's history to receive this prestigious award, Bruce is in good company as he has selflessly dedicated his time, influence, leadership, and commitment to our city.

“It was a great honour for me to have worked collaboratively with him for so many years and I want to thank him for his long-standing service to making Delta the best community in B.C.”

The Freedom of the City Award is the highest honour that the City of Delta can bestow and is restricted to only very exceptional cases of exceedingly high merit where council wishes to honour a distinguished person or a distinguished unit of the armed forces of Canada.

McDonald was first elected to Delta council in 1988 where he served nine terms before retiring last October. As a long-standing member of council, he has worked on every municipal committee or commission and acted as a strong community advocate with an immense knowledge of local issues.

He has been a resident of Delta for 50-plus years and together with his wife, Barbara, they raised their three children in North Delta. In addition to serving on council, his professional experience includes 41 years in air traffic control both as an operational controller and senior manager.

Last November he was named Citizen of the Year by the Delta Chamber of Commerce.

The list of winners for the 2023 Mayor's Achievement Awards are as follows:

Outstanding Volunteer Award: Jeremy Stam, Kathy Lane, Sheryl Gray, and Don Sangster

Environment Leadership Award: Deborah Jones

Different Maker Award: Nathan Wilson and Alex Sangha

Arts & Culture Award: Warren Dean Flandez and Angela Rebrec

Special Achievement Award: Jane Devji

Long-term Contribution Award: Steve Krawchuk, Bill and Tracey McKnight

Special Sports Teams Recognition: Ladner Pioneers Senior B Lacrosse Team and Delta Blue Jays Bantam Team

“Our city has so many incredible individuals and organizations who have contributed an outstanding amount of their time and passion towards achieving great outcomes for our community,” added Harvie. “It was an honour to present these awards to all the very deserving people who have made it their goal to make a positive impact in our community.”