Volunteer working OT

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This article was published 17/04/2019 (2660 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Now that he’s retired from a job that required him to hobnob with Queen Elizabeth, Prince Philip and other royal dignitaries, Dwight MacAulay finally has the time to be really busy.

MacAulay stepped down in May 2017 after 19 hectic years as Manitoba’s chief of protocol, a job in which, among other high-level tasks, he was responsible for overseeing roughly 12 Royal visits.

“The most memorable one, the one people identify me with, is when the Queen and Prince, sadly, got stuck on a water taxi in the middle of the Red River,” he recalled this week over a hefty lunch of ribs and hot turkey sandwiches.

“It’s only now that I can talk about it without getting a tightening in my chest and not going into the fetal position in the corner,” MacAulay, 66, joked, laughing at the memory. “I wasn’t driving the boat. There were two boats involved and I was in the other boat.”

In retirement, the man who spent more than 36 years as a provincial civil servant — starting out as a radio and TV co-ordinator in the information services branch — has arguably become the hardest-working man in the volunteer business.

Last week, he was one of five people honoured with community service awards for his volunteer work on the board of St. John Ambulance.

“I’m proud to be on the board of St. John Ambulance,” he told me. “They do a lot of good work helping a lot of deserving people and I’m delighted to be part of that. Getting awards for something like that — I wouldn’t say I’m uncomfortable with it, but I certainly don’t need it. I don’t volunteer to be recognized or get an award.”

It was just the latest honour for a charming and humble man who is running out of space for awards and plaques on his fireplace mantel.

In 2002, he was invested as a lieutenant in the Royal Victorian Order by the Queen during a visit to Manitoba. Eight years later, the Queen elevated him to the position of commander of the RVO — the only Manitoban to receive that honour. In May, he will attend a gathering at Windsor Castle to celebrate members of the order.

“I’ve been to it twice before. This would be my third time. It’s largely surreal for someone like me. I remember the first time I went — I thought, ‘I hope they don’t find out there’s a kid from Dunrea, Man., that’s snuck into Windsor Castle, and I’ll be thrown out and it’ll be embarrassing.’ “

The truth is, it would likely take less time to read the weighty novel War and Peace than it takes to peruse MacAulay’s impressive resumé.

Along with being president of the Winnipeg Press Club, vice-president of the Manitoba chapter of the Royal Commonwealth Society, president of the Manitoba Intrepid Society and serving on the senate of the Fort Garry Horse regiment, he finds time to sit on (you might want to take a breath here) seven charity boards — St. John Ambulance, the St. Andrew’s Society, the Winnipeg Art Gallery, the Children’s Hospital Foundation, the Mood Disorders Association of Manitoba, the Winnipeg Chinese Cultural Centre and the Manitoba Historical Society.

“It seems like I’m as busy as I was when I was working,” MacAulay agreed. “Often, a lot of days, I am busier. I like being busy. I like the causes. But the driving force behind all of it is I really like being busy and being on the go.

“I enjoy volunteering. I enjoy helping people. And I think, more than anything, I enjoy being busy, and maybe that’s a carryover from my job as chief of protocol for the province when you’re basically going 110 miles an hour all the time.”

Saying MacAulay has a lot on his plate is a huge understatement. About four years ago, he became a licensed marriage commissioner and has performed ceremonies everywhere from Government House and Shaw Park to a sidewalk in Assiniboine Park.

“I married my youngest son, Devin, and his wife, Carly,” said the father of two and grandfather to three, with a fourth on the way. “I was honoured like crazy to officiate at their wedding. They got married at the restaurant attached to the ballpark.”

While we chatted over lunch, Mac-Aulay received a phone call from the group overseeing celebrations for Manitoba’s 150th anniversary next year.

“I’m helping the Manitoba 150 committee,” he explained. “I’m helping to come up with ideas. I don’t know if I’ve got a big idea. There are a lot of little ideas — putting the Manitoba 150 logo on all government mail, putting it on all emails… There’s a torch in the middle of Memorial Boulevard right across the street from the legislature that I’d like to see lit for the entire year.

“I think it’s important to realize that next year is a big year for Manitobans. We have a very rich history. In the First World War, Manitoba had more casualties per capita than any other province. Manitobans have always punched above their weight.”

He’s also part of a movement pushing for a statue of Chief Peguis to rise on the legislative grounds. “I think it’s important for us to recognize the role of First Nations in the settlement of this province, and Chief Peguis is the person I think who played the most pivotal role in the early history of the province,” he told me.

And fighting for the creation of a Music Hall of Fame in Manitoba is also on his agenda. “I think the province deserves and should have it,” MacAulay declared. “It would honour all types of music and musicians that we have from Manitoba.”

Of all his volunteer activities — and we’ve only scratched the surface — MacAulay is most proud of his work as a presiding officer for the citizenship court, having sworn in more than 20,000 new Canadians at more than 200 ceremonies in the past seven years.

“Of all the volunteer things I’ve done in my life, I don’t think anything has been more personally rewarding than conducting citizenship ceremonies… I give them a bit of a pep talk as to how lucky they are, and we are, to be part of Canada,” he said with obvious pride. “I really believe that from the tip of my toes to the tip of my nose. We’re one of the luckiest peoples on Earth. It’s like we’ve won the lottery to become Canadians.

“In each ceremony, I always tell people that unless you’re a member of the First Nations, we’re all immigrants. We’re all from somewhere else, except for the First Nations who were here long before we were. Newcomers just enrich everything. We wouldn’t be the country we are without newcomers, without immigrants. This country was built by immigrants.”

MacAulay has enjoyed every job he has ever held, with one minor exception — he hated spreading manure on a hog farmer’s field when he was a teenager.

“At the end of the day, I told him I wasn’t coming back,” this longtime friend to royals told me. “It’s the only one-day job I’ve had in my life.”

doug.speirs@freepress.mb.ca