The Cross of Terra Mariana was awarded to Elmer MacKay and the MacKay family by Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves last February 24, Estonia's Independence Day.
The text of the honorary award states: ”The Republic of Estonia says ”thank you” to its supporters abroad. The honorary decoration is awarded to the legendary Elmer MacKay, whose family helped many of the people who escaped from Estonia at the end of Wold War II to build new homes and find jobs in Canada.”
Many Estonian-Canadians and the MacKay family and friends attended the ceremony Saturday during which Ambassador Kalmet praised Mr. MacKay's family for providing employment and comfort to the Estonian men whose families were brought to Pictou County in the fall of 1949 by farmer and educator David Wilson.
She said Estonia's Assistant Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, who was born in Canada, met last week with Canadian officials' in Ottawa and told them that Canada has been good home to Estonians, that the Estonian community in Canada is thriving and that she is glad that her ancestors came to Canada.
Ambassador Kalmet, who was born and educated in Soviet Estonia, said that all foreign countries were an unattainable dream in her early years, but she is now able to speak on behalf of all Estonians, including those in Canada ‘This, I think, can be taken as a sign that Estonians, wherever they live, once again feel themselves to be part of the same family, ‘she said.'
John Soosaar, Honorary Consul for Estonia in Nova Scotia, recalled the arrival of 37 men, women and children to Pictou County as a handicraft group and how, when that business failed, the MacKay family assisted with employment in their lumbering operations and helped settle other refugees in the county. He said the refugees had faced the harsh reality of unemployment and an uncertain future without knowledge of English and any resources.
Mr. Soosaar' s family was among those who became permanent residents of Pictou County in the town of New Glasgow.
Over the years Elmer MacKay, as a lawyer and parliamentarian, assisted the small Estonian community that remained in Pictou County to overcome many obstacles in their daily lives. Many of the original settlers moved to other parts of Canada to seek permanent employment.