Nova Scotia's Lynn Jones speaks on appointment to the Order of Canada

A well-known Nova Scotian human rights activist has been named to the Order of Canada.

Last week, Gov. Gen. Mary Simon announced the newest members that would be receiving the honour, including long-time educator and labour organizer Lynn Jones.

Jones is receiving the appointment for "her leadership in the Canadian labour movement, and in advancing equity, justice and human rights in her province and abroad," according to a statement released by Rideau Hall.

Jones recently spoke to Portia Clark on CBC's Information Morning Nova Scotia about what the honour means to her.

Their conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity and length.

Congratulations. How are you feeling about all this?

I'm still on a high, still quite seeming that it's unbelievable, but it has occurred.

When did you first hear, even in a hush-hush, keep-it-under-wraps kind of way?

I was called from someone in the Governor General department. They said, "Call us within the next two days. It's important." And I thought, "Oh my goodness, what could this be?" And then I said, "Well, you'll have to do it today, because I'm really tied up." So they called the same day and they said, "The Governor General would like to know if you would accept the Order of Canada." And I said, "Well, did you get the right person?" I was wanting to make sure.

I bet they get that a lot. People who receive this kind of honour often feel, I think, "Oh, me, really?" Even though you've received a lot of awards for your work already, Lynn, how is this one different for you?

There was a couple of reasons it was different. It's only in Canada that you can protest so many things that the government is doing and challenge them. And then after you do all of that, they turn around and say, "Oh by the way, would you accept this award for all you've been doing?" So it was quite incredulous that this was taking place.

It just took a while to sink in and also for me to decide. I didn't say, right away, "Yes."

Really?

Oh, no. Because I had to think about what I do. My protests, my activism. I'm thinking about things like reparations, [the government hasn't] made atonement for reparations. We're having problems with housing, affordable housing. 

I thought, yeah, it's OK. The acknowledging that you have been keeping at [these issues], you are doing this and maybe it does keep the government on their toes.

Fair enough, right? Because an award is nice, recognition is nice, but there's so many outstanding issues. So it sounds like you've reached a place of "I can accept the award and still hold the government to account and keep pushing."

Yes, that's exactly what I'm trying to say.

Do you think that the recognition for your work in the labour movement and extensively in equity, justice and human rights, as well as capturing African Nova Scotian history in your archives, do you think that that encompasses and properly recognizes the extent of your work? Even, as you say, the job isn't totally done?

It almost seemed like the first headline was [about] labour.

The person that called me said, "Oh, I did research and I'm quite amazed over all the different areas that you've been involved." I said to myself, "Yeah, when I think about it, I have been." There's the environmental, there's the archiving, the saving of the history, there's the gentrification, I'm trying to save what little is left in my community. I thought, they have all these different things that I'm involved in or have been involved in. They happen to highlight whatever it is that they felt [was important]. But it doesn't take away from all the other things that I'm quite passionate about. I was a little afraid of that at first, too, that the other concerns would get pushed to the wayside because the government concentrated on labour. But labour is good too.

Will you speak with the Gov. Gen. Mary Simon soon? When does the ceremony take place?

They said they're backlogged, in terms of presenting this certificate at Rideau Hall. In fact, they're years backlogged.

But that was OK with me, too. It wasn't high on my list. Fortunately, I've spent a lot of time at Rideau Hall during my trade union days. We often met there, so it's not like I've never been there. Also, the fact that there's some people that that would be really important to, I actually told her, "Look, if there's people ahead of me, let them go ahead and I can wait."

It'll maybe give you a bit more time to think about what you want to discuss with the Governor General in that minute that you have when she hands over your order of Canada.

I'm looking forward to that because of her Aboriginal background.

I went to Elder Danny Paul's wake last night and he, in the pictures there, was wearing his Governor General insignia that they use. I looked at him and I'm thinking, "You were such a giant elder, Danny Paul. And I feel so blessed and privileged to be following in your footsteps."

For more stories about the experiences of Black Canadians — from anti-Black racism to success stories within the Black community — check out Being Black in Canada, a CBC project Black Canadians can be proud of. You can read more stories here.