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Dr. James Archibald receives the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal

Published: 1 February 2013

On December 10, 2012, Dr. James Archibald, Associate Dean of McGill's School of Continuing Studies and Director of the School's Translation & Written Communication unit, was presented the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal by Mont Royal M.P. the Honorable Irwin Cotler for work which has benefitted Québec and beyond.

The Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal marks the 2012 celebrations of the 60th anniversary of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s accession to the Throne as Queen of Canada. The Medal is being awarded to individuals who “have made a significant contribution to a particular province, territory, region or community within Canada, or an achievement abroad that brings credit to Canada.”

Below is the citation which the nomination was based on:

James Archibald holds a doctorate from the Université deLille (France). He has taught at McGill University on a full-time basis since 1985.

In 2003, Archibald was made a Chevalier in the Ordre des Palmes Académiques, and in 2008 he received the Francis W. Weeks Award of Merit from the Association for Business Communication in recognition of his contribution to the profession. He currently serves as one of the five members of the Office des professions du Québec. He has published extensively. His most recent books and articles focus on language policy, language and social cohesion, immigrant integration, and political and cultural diversity.
In 2011, he served as an external expert on the City of Montreal's consultative commission which reviewed the Charte montréalaise des droits et responsabilités. In this capacity, he has overseen the Spanish, Arabic, Mandarin and English translations of the Charter. He is currently working on the Italian translation with colleagues from the universities of Milan and Modena. In 2012, he was a guest lecturer at l'Institut de management et de communication interculturels (ISIT-Paris), the Lebanese American University, la Seconda Università degli Studi di Napoli (Facoltà di Giurisprudenza), l’Université de Franche Comté and l’Université Saint-Esprit de Kaslik  (Faculté de droit).This lecture series focused on the innovative aspects of the “right to the city” as embodied in Montreal’s Charter of Citizen Rights and Responsibilities.

His interest in the freedom of expression dates from his involvement as a member of the official Canadian delegation to the World Summit on the Information Society (Geneva 2003-Tunis 2005).  He is the out-going Vice President for Canada of the Association for Business Communication. More recently, he served on the committee struck to redefine the supervisory and monitoring functions of Quebec’s professional regulatory board where members advanced a proposal to modernize from a deontological perspective the societal role played by practicing professionals in Quebec.
Community and organizational service have also been hallmarks of his career. He has actively promoted certification in French in the network of Canadian schools associated with the Alliance Israélite Universelle, assisted in making French-language professional development in emergency care more accessible through his cooperation with the McGill University Health Centre, supported the dynamic development of Canada’s language industry through his participation on the board of the Canadian Association of Schools of Translation. In addition to his academic interests, he is the Honorary Parnass of Montreal’s Corporation of Spanish and Portuguese Jews, Canada’s oldest synagogue.
On several occasions, he has shared his expertise with government commissions and parliamentary committees in both Quebec City and Ottawa.

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