A Saugeen Shores woman is the recipient of the King Charles III Coronation Medal for her work in bringing a group of Afghan women soccer players to Canada when that country fell to the Taliban.
The medal was created to recognize outstanding citizens who have made a significant impact in their communities and it commemorates the coronation of His Majesty King Charles III as King of Canada.
In 2021, when the Taliban rapidly took over Afghanistan from the government of the day, they began to restrict the rights of Afghans, especially, but not limited to, women.
Laura Robinson, who lives in Southampton was nominated by Senator Marilou McPhedran, with whom she worked to get over 30 women and some family members out of Afghanistan to safety. 17 of them were in Saugeen Shores for a few months in 2021.
On Monday night, council took a moment to recognize Robinson for her work, and celebrate her medal which was presented late last month by Huron-Bruce MP Ben Lobb.
In a brief speech, Robinson thanked members of Saugeen Shores council, including Mayor Luke Charbonneau for helping to supply food for the women, and Councillor Cheryl Grace and her husband Mike for picking up the Afghan women after their time in quarantine hotels and driving them to the area.
She said, “I really felt that they needed to have the wonderful healing feeling that comes from Lake Huron and the beach and generally this community. They’d been through immense trauma and this was a place that I knew they could start to heal in.”
She continued, “So sure enough, Cheryl and Mike get down to Toronto along with a number of other people after the two weeks quarantine and brought a number of families up. Wonderful generous people– gave their cottages and added money and food and help. Cheryl and also Margaret Whitley —If you’ve ever tried to fill out a Canadian federal form and English isn’t your first language— they were so helped by Cheryl and Margaret,” said Robinson.
Robinson said they had a big response to a quick email that went out from the Canadian Federation of University Women (CFUW) and one through the Southampton Residents Association, explaining, “We had just an immense show of love and one of the CFUW members told me once that ‘love is action’ and that’s what we saw in a world where there’s way too much hate—-we saw this wonderful love here.”
Robinson noted some close bonds have been formed between some of the women and the people in Saugeen Shores.
Meanwhile, she notes one of the women is set to start a master’s degree in immigration and diaspora studies at Carleton University on a full scholarship. “She came as not just a soccer player, but as a lawyer. Almost all the women were also lawyers who had prosecuted the Taliban. The Taliban knew what they looked like and we had to get them out,” said Robinson.
Robinson noted another woman has a scholarship with the Canadian Association of Journalists and is an intern now.
She said they got her sisters out a couple of years later, one of whom was an Obstetrician-Gynecologist (OBGYN) doctor who advocated for birth control, noting, “So she was also on this death list. Another person who absolutely had to be removed.”
During her speech, Robinson thanked the local CFUW and noted she made a lot of cold calls to CFUWs across Canada. “I just said, well I’ve got these women athletes coming, like tomorrow to your community. Do you think you could meet them at the airport? And they all stepped up.”
Robinson notes another woman who worked for Right to Play (an Canadian NGO that works at home and internationally to give kids safe places to play and learn) “She worked for them out in the very conservative provinces. Another person we had to get out.” Her daughter is in her second year at Centennial College. She’s doing aeronautical engineering with the goal of being an astronaut. “She’s getting straight As” says Robinson.
She added, “It’s a giant plus for Canada that we have these wonderful human beings with us.
Robinson told council, “As of today, I’m still working. There’s 240 that courtesy of Elon Musk and his cuts to USAID their scholarships right now have ended immediately in the Middle East and they are going to be sent back to Afghanistan very shortly if there isn’t an international intervention so we’re working on that right now and just praying really that something can be done.”
She added, “Thank you for this honour and to all the good hearts and open doors from Saugeen Shores.”
