Meritorious Service Medal

• Awarded on: November 20, 2020
• Invested on: September 17, 2021

Jeremy Dutcher, M.S.M.
Montréal, Quebec

Operatic tenor and ethnomusicologist Jeremy Dutcher created the evocative album Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa with his people, the Wolastoqiyik First Nation—the People of the Beautiful River—at its centre. Guided by his nation’s song-carriers, he brought forgotten, century-old wax cylinder recordings of his ancestors to life through music, honouring the Wolastoq language. Challenging western musical structures, his artistry introduces the beauty of the language to a broader audience and raises awareness of its severely endangered status.