Stanley Diamond has been Awarded the Meritorious Service Medal of Canada

The following announcement has been posted to several of the Jewish Genealogy discussion groups:

On behalf of the Board of JRI-Poland, and bursting with pride, I am delighted to announce that JRI-Poland’s co-founder and Executive Director, Stanley Diamond, has been awarded the Meritorious Service Medal of Canada.

The letter from the Canadian Governor General’s Office informing Diamond that he had won this prestigious award noted he had received “ the Meritorious Service Medal for your work in documenting Jewish genealogy, and particularly for establishing and directing Jewish Records Indexing – Poland. The impact of your work has indeed been far-reaching.”

Diamond, 83, a Montreal resident, also serves as the founding president of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Montreal.

Dr. George F. MacDonald, CM, Director, Bill Reid Centre for Northwest Coast Art Studies in Vancouver, nominated Diamond for the award and emphasized that JRI-Poland has evolved into today’s “sophisticated and internationally acclaimed online resource with indices to five million Polish Jewish birth, marriage and death records. Reliable data has become accessible, affordable and highly effective in helping thousands of people gain access to historical evidence of their families”

He added, “Information from JRI-Poland’s efforts has been used to help reunite families torn by the ravages of World War II, has made it possible to quickly identify previously unknown family members who might be potential matches for those urgently needing bone marrow or tissue transplants, and has facilitated significant connections between the Polish and Jewish peoples.”

Diamond emphasized, “This is truly an honor that I share” with all JRI-Poland leadership and volunteers: “What we have accomplished has only been made possible through teamwork and a level of collaboration and dedication unmatched in the Jewish genealogical world. “

In honor of this award, I have just made a contribution to Jewish Records Indexing-Poland (at http://www.jri-poland.org/JRI-1.php)

Judy Baston, for the Board of Jewish Records Indexing-Poland