A Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal will be given post-humously to the late Christa Daku, Former Executive Director of Envision Counseling and Support Centre.

Daku stepped down from her roll in 2021, as she battled brain cancer and Multiple Sclerosis. She passed away on August 31, 2022.

Her daughter Tanaya Daku said their family does not know who nominated Christa for the honour.

"It must have been someone that she worked alongside," she noted. "We were pretty shocked. I remember my stepdad texted it in our group chat, because we're all over the place, and we were all pretty excited."

She said (her stepdad) Deric Reaney of Weyburn will accept the medal on Christa's behalf. 

"So he'll go and accept the medal for her. He got some approval to do that due to the circumstances."

Tanaya said her mom was 'just the best'.

"She was super caring and involved. She had a silly, dry sense of humour. She was super motivated and hard-working. Often she was working long hours during the day, but when she'd come home she was still full of energy and bubbly. She was just the best."

She said Christa was heavily grieved when her illness caused her to leave the role she loved at Envision, as she was with the organization for 15 years, and at the helm for around seven years.

"I'm also a social worker, so absolutely, I followed in her footsteps," Tanaya shared. "I think what really stood out was the admiration that other people had for her because of her involvement in the community and just seeing the impacts of even the small changes that she made with the clients and the teams that she worked with. It just seemed super rewarding and I wanted to pursue a career like that."

She said she's been a social worker for five years.

"I do feel the rewarding part of it and I really enjoy it."

Tanaya said, "I would just like to pass on the thanks for my mom's behalf. I'm sure she would be super honoured and would be thanking everyone that kind of made it possible and whoever nominated her, it's a big pleasure to have this opportunity. So yeah, just passing on a big thank you."

She added that, of course, Christa would be crying as she thanked everyone, too.