Don Alder, a musician who grew up in Williams Lake, was recently awarded a Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Lieutenant Governors 2022 award.
The one-time art and music awards were given out by Janet Austin, Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia to a broad range of recipients.
Alder joins six fellow musicians in being awarded a certificate and monetary award for having “demonstrated exceptional leadership, creativity, community engagement, and commitment through fostering and mentoring others in the fields of Visual Arts, Music or Performance.”
Alder adds the award to his list of accolades, which include winning a worldwide Guitar Idol contest in 2011, being inducted into the BC Entertainment Hall of Fame, and becoming Artist of the Year at the 2017 Vancouver Island Music Awards.
While Alder moved away from Williams Lake in 1980 to begin a life of music, starting out as a studio musician, he still has strong ties to Williams Lake.
For one thing, Alder said one of his main mentors and supporters who helped get him on the right path was Brian Sawyer.
It was after taking an evening course Brian Sawyer taught on guitar Alder really got into the instrument.
Nominated for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Award by fellow Williams Laker Ellen Kowalski, Alder was surprised by the win and said it meant more than most of his previous accolades because this one was not a result of some subjective assessment but more of having done things over the years to hopefully make a difference.
It was in the 80s when he first began to try to help people through music, while on the Man In Motion Tour with his friend Rick Hansen to raise money for spinal cord research, Alder was given a guitar after telling the CEO of MacDonald’s Canada at the time he hoped to try and make a difference with music.
Since then, so many decades ago, Alder has done a project, appearance or been involved in an event every year to try and help and inspire people through the power of music.