The following is the Address given by Michael Jackson, Chief of Protocol and Honours for the Province of Saskatchewan, at a spectacular banquet given by Premier Lorne Calvert, held at the Hotel Saskatchewan, Regina, prior to the 20th Investiture on November 16, 2004 of the Saskatchewan Order of Merit to Suzanne Claire Olaski, the Administrator of Cedar Lodge Hotel and Convention Center on Blackstrap Lake, Saskatchewan …
Suzanne Claire Olaski has been called “a voice for those who have no voice”. She has given of herself to comfort the afflicted, feed the hungry, rescue the addicted and bring hope to those in despair. Her own journey has taken her from a successful paralegal career in Toronto to a dangerous urban ghetto in California to a street ministry in Saskatchewan.
In 1995 Ms. Olaski opened a soup kitchen in Saskatoon. Her clientele expanded exponentially from 5 families to 1200 and she founded Community Alive, a non-profit organization which distributes food to outreach ministries and first nations reserves. Distressed by her encounter with so many lost souls on city streets, Suzanne Olaski determined to find a safe haven for those, especially women and children, suffering from addictions and abuse.
With minimal funds, but armed with faith and optimism, she found a way to purchase Cedar Lodge on Blackstrap Lake. Through her blend of compassion, leadership and business acumen, Ms. Olaski has turned this vacant property into a thriving Hotel and Convention Center operated by volunteers, sought after by conference organizers across Canada and beyond. The hotel income subsidizes shelter and treatment for those suffering from drug, alcohol and gambling abuse, dysfunctional families and crime.
Suzanne Olaski has experienced the dark side of society at first hand. She is committed to the rehabilitation of its victims. She is an innovator whose charisma inspires others to follow her example and join in her cause. Non-judgemental, she seeks out the strengths in the individuals for whom and with whom she works and inspires them to change their lives. Your honour, I present to you for investiture with the Saskatchewan Order Merit an exemplary entrepreneur whose guiding motivation is social justice.
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