Five individuals have been named to receive the Anglican Award of Merit, the Anglican Church of Canada’s highest award for lay people.
Council of General Synod voted March 7 to approve the names of those the Anglican Award of Merit Committee had recommended receive the award in 2025: Canon (lay) Ian Alexander, Nancy Hurn, Teresa Mandricks, Jane Osler and Suzanne Rumsey. General Secretary Alan Perry said Alexander, who is a member of the committee, had recused himself and was not present at the meeting when it discussed the nominees.
Alexander has served on General Synod, including as prolocutor since 2023; Council of General Synod (CoGS) and the communications committee. He worked at the CBC for 25 years in a variety of roles, including as on-air presenter and chief of staff for English services.
Today Alexander maintains a freelance consulting practice that specializes in strategic planning, policy and communications. He remains an active member of Christ Church Cathedral in Victoria, B.C.
“I am surprised to be named a recipient of the Anglican Award of Merit, grateful to receive this honour, and humbled to find my name alongside those of so many other lay people who have devoted so much time and effort to our beloved national church,” Alexander said.
“Being called as a volunteer for the Anglican Church of Canada is a tremendous privilege,” he added. “I have particularly appreciated the opportunity to get to know, and work alongside, some very gifted and dedicated individuals, both clergy and laity, who serve the church from coast to coast to coast.”
Hurn served as General Synod archivist for 14 years—following a stint as archivist for the diocese of Toronto, during which she served on the General Synod archives committee and material heritage committee. Hurn led the digitization of General Synod Archives to make them available online.
She played a leading role in making archival records and photos available to residential school survivors and researchers. Hurn presented these archival materials at conferences of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada and organized displays to educate the public about residential schools at national and regional events. At the international level, she served as a board member of the Historical Society of the Episcopal Church.
Hurn said she was honoured to receive the Anglican Award of Merit, which she described as “shared with the courageous and resilient survivors of Anglican residential schools whose information and photographs are held in the General Synod Archives.”
“Opening up these collections and making them available during the Truth and Reconciliation events across Canada was a privilege,” Hurn said. “Meeting the survivors and hearing about their experiences was filled with tears and laughter. Putting the scanned images online so local access would help with healing from these experiences made the efforts the most important work of my 45-year career as an archivist and Anglican.”
Mandricks worked for 35 years as program assistant in Indigenous Ministries, starting in 1989. In that role she supported the work of Indigenous Ministries, planning logistics for gatherings including the Anglican Council of Indigenous Peoples and Sacred Circle.
Mandricks said she was surprised and humbled to learn she would receive the Anglican Award of Merit, highlighting the support she has received from General Synod colleagues, bishops and others. “The support that I received from everybody around—and the elders, especially the Indigenous elders—really was very important to me,” she said.
Jane Osler has been a member of the Vancouver School of Theology Board of Governors since 2023. A life-long Anglican, Osler served at the national level as a member of the Anglican Church of Canada’s Vision 2019 implementation team, a participant in the primate’s consultation “Embodying God’s Call—Aligning General Synod Structures for God’s Mission Today,” co-chair of the CoGS planning and agenda team and an elected member of the pension committee.
In the diocese of New Westminster, where she is an active volunteer, Osler was chair of the diocesan communications committee; co-chair of a number of other diocesan committees; and administrator of the Anglican Initiatives Fund to support diocesan ministry.
Learning she would receive the Anglican Award of Merit left Osler in “complete shock,” she said. “When Alan told me I could not even speak. I never imagined receiving such an honour.” She expressed gratitude to Anglican leaders who had requested and encouraged her involvement in the church at the parish, diocesan and national levels.
“I never imagined this involvement would result in meeting and developing relationships with so many amazing people across this country,” Osler said. “I give heartfelt thanks to this church that has provided me with a wonderful community; a family I love and to whom I am happy to give of my talents.”
Suzanne Rumsey is the public engagement program coordinator for Alongside Hope, formerly the Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund (PWRDF). She first joined PWRDF in 2001 as Latin America and Caribbean program coordinator before moving to her current position in 2010.
Originally from British Columbia, Rumsey served as a World Council of Churches commissioner on the Commission on the Churches’ Participation in Development, an ecumenical group, from 1984 to 1991. A fluent Spanish speaker, she worked for a decade for the Inter-Church Committee on Human Rights in Latin America, one of numerous ecumenical coalitions that served as a predecessor to KAIROS Canada. Rumsey has worked on multiple national church committees dealing with, among other things, youth ministry, ecumenical and interfaith relations and partnership consultations.
Rumsey said she was at a loss for words when Perry reached her by phone to tell her she would be receiving the Anglican Award of Merit.
“My first reaction was, ‘Wow.’ Then I wondered, ‘Why me?’ Then I thought what a wonderful thing it is to have not myself so much, nor even my colleagues, but our collective work of partnership and solidarity over 35 years acknowledged and affirmed. I’m humbled, grateful and glad to have this lay ministry recognized by the church.”
Established in 1986, the Anglican Award of Merit was presented annually until 1994, when the church began naming recipients at the last meeting of CoGS before General Synod. Recipients are each presented with the award in their home diocese.
