Kevin Vickers, Rev. Brent Hawkes among 2015 Order of N.B. recipients

FREDERICTON – For the past 15 years, the Order of New Brunswick has recognized individuals who have demonstrated excellence, dedication and bravery.

This year’s list of ten recipients were recognized Wednesday for their huge contributions socially, culturally and economically, for the well-being of New Brunswickers and Canadians.

This year, one recipient, who’s life changed overnight a year ago, was among those recognized.

“I’ve always said I’m a poor boy from the north shore of New Brunswick and to come back home to New Brunswick is always a wonderful feeling,” said Kevin Vickers after receiving his Order of New Brunswick.

Premier Brian Gallant admitted to having a hand in Vickers’ nomination. Gallant said so did Beauséjour Member of Parliament and now Government Leader in the House of Commons, Dominic Leblanc.

“I won’t do this every year but I made an exception this year. I was very pleased to be the one that nominated Mr. Vickers, we had too many people that wanted to write letters to support him,” he said.

Vickers has a new job.

The New Brunswick hero, who hails from the Miramichi, otherwise known as the “Irish Capital of Canada,” is now serving as Canada’s Ambassador to Ireland.

READ MORE: Sergeant-at-Arms Kevin Vickers ‘already’ Miramichi’s hero

He says the year has been one of transition.

“I’m very proud to have been on a great security team at the House of Commons and I realize it’s one of those things you don’t dwell upon.

“We do our duty and we move on.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "We do our duty and we move on."

‘To come back and be honoured for my work is amazing’

In all, ten passionate individuals were honoured during a ceremony at Government House in Fredericton.

Another recipient says he cannot believe the province of New Brunswick has changed to the point where he is being honoured for his work.

Rev. Dr. Brent Hawkes, born in Bath, N.B., left for Toronto so that he could be safe living as a gay man.

“That coming out to my family, my friends, it wouldn’t be possible to have a job, in those days gay people were routinely fired from their jobs for being gay and we had no equal rights in terms of access to our partners in hospitals,” he said.

Since then, Hawkes has fought for the rights and safety of the LGBTQ community. He performed the first legal gay wedding in the world, while wearing a bullet proof vest.

“It was terrifying, honestly, and exciting. I called my family the night before to say, ‘I love you, if anything happens please know that I love you,'” he said.

He also officiated at federal NDP leader Jack Layton’s funeral. Hawkes says he’s incredibly proud to see how far New Brunswick has come.

Carol Loughrey, another recipient, has had a lot of “firsts” throughout her career.

At the University of New Brunswick, Loughrey was the first woman to earn a tenured position in the Faculty of Business Administration.

She was a deputy minister in the Government of New Brunswick for ten years. She was the first woman in Canada to serve as provincial comptroller. She was also the first female deputy minister in the Department of Education.

She took the opportunity to speak on her hope, now that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has acknowledged the importance of having a gender equal cabinet.

“You assume that brains and ability are distributed equally right? If you just ignored that 52 per cent, well, we’re not going to have the best Canada, we’re not going to have the best New Brunswick,” she said.

The 2015 Order of New Brunswick recipients: