Members of the Order of PEI
2026 Recipients of the Medal of Merit
Dr. Scott Cameron
Dr. Scott Cameron’s many contributions to ambulance services and emergency department medical services have been crucial in creating the emergency medical care system in operation on the Island today.
In 1978, Dr. Cameron participated in delivery of the Illinois State Emergency Medical Technician curriculum with a small group of local prehospital care providers, one of the earliest organized efforts to improve skills to aid in the professionalizing of local ambulance services. After undergraduate studies at UPEI and completing a medical degree at Dalhousie University in 1987, Dr. Cameron worked as a family and emergency physician in New Brunswick before returning to the Island in 1991 to continue his medical practice.
His participation in updating and formalizing emergency treatment procedures continued when he became the first full-time emergency physician at the Prince County Hospital in 1999. While in the position, Dr. Cameron provided consistent leadership in the development of emergency medicine standards of care for the region. He also served as the Chair of the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Board, guiding emergency medical services through its transition to a province-wide, professional ambulance service.
Dr. Cameron has been instrumental in the implementation of emergency medical clinical practice guidelines, contributing such programs as the Community Paramedic Response Units (CPRUs), the Paramedics Providing Palliative Care at Home, and the Designated Acute Rapid Transfer (DART) units for critical care transport, and serving as the Provincial Medical Director of Emergency Health Services.
His advocacy work and guidance of paramedicine over several decades culminated in the establishment of the College of Paramedicine of Prince Edward Island, the provincial regulatory authority for the paramedic profession, allowing the profession of paramedicine to take its rightful place among other self-regulated health professions.
For his early and continued involvement in all aspects of emergency medical care throughout the province, Dr. Scott Cameron is a most deserving recipient of the Order of Prince Edward Island.
Eileen Chiasson-Pendergast
Eileen Chiasson-Pendergast has been instrumental in preserving and revitalizing the Acadian and Francophone community of West Prince.
A resident of Tignish all her life, Eileen has worked tirelessly to give others in her community the opportunity to learn, experience, and take pride in their Acadian and Francophone roots.
The push for modernization of Prince Edward Island in the late 1960s led to a centralized school system and the closure of many small French-language schools, removing the option of French-language schooling for many Acadian and Francophone families. Wishing to see French language and culture return to the school system, Eileen became a teacher and was actively involved in implementing the Island’s French immersion program.
Eileen also played a decisive role in establishing French first-language education in west Prince, working tirelessly with the community to advocate for a permanent building for the French-first school, and for a French community centre. Initially opened in 2000 as a collection of trailers, enrollment grew rapidly enough that École Pierre-Chaisson, a permanent school, opened its doors in 2007, along with the Centre acadien de Prince-Ouest, a community centre dedicated to hosting and celebrating French culture.
Eileen’s dedication to her culture is not limited to the classroom and she continues to innovate ways to share and grow French culture. For more than 25 years, she has written plays and music involving students, seniors, and women’s groups, and has created a choir and a dance troupe. Both Eileen and her plays are known outside of region, as she has contributed works to, and performed at, the World Acadian Congress.
Eileen has assisted numerous organizations and organized countless community events, all with passion and dedication, and has received Prince Edward Island’s Volunteer of the Year award, Senior of the Year award, and the Golden Apple award for French teachers, and is a member of the l’Ordre La Pléiade, governed by l’Assemblée parlementaire de la Francophonie.
For her undeniable generational impact on the Acadian and Francophone culture of the Island, Eileen Chiasson-Pendergast is a most deserving recipient of the Order of Prince Edward Island.
Dave Stewart
Dave Stewart is known throughout the arts and 2SLGBTQIA+ communities of the Island as a talented, multi-disciplined creative who dedicates his time and energy to building connection and community.
Moving from Nova Scotia as a small child to his parents’ home province of PEI, Dave has spent his life as an integral part of Island culture and community. His interest in creative culture was professionalized through his studies at Humber College’s Film and TV Production Program, and in his career at long-standing Island design, marketing and web company, Graphcom.
His creativity has not been restricted to his day job, as Dave has made his mark on the Island’s arts and culture scene through his writing, popular cartoon strip and film making. He has co-produced, co-developed and written a comic book series, Dark Sanctuary, co-edited and contributed to the anthology, Fear from a Small Place, and written a collection of short stories published in his book Monster Man. In addition to a two-decade run of his film review comic strip And Yet I Blame Hollywood which made its way to national CBC television, Dave has produced two “talkumentaries”, Before Grindr: The Secret Social History of Gay and Lesbian PEI and POSITIVE: When HIV/AIDS Hit PEI, giving voice to and preserving the history of a marginalized community.
Dave’s passion for connection extends to building a welcoming and caring 2SLGBTQIA+ community on PEI. Through his volunteering with PEERS Alliance, Dave has had a voice in accessible sexual health programming, supporting social events for 2SLGBTQIA+ elders, and as a facilitator of the award-winning Queer Youth Writing Club. With Pride PEI, Dave has served on its board, and contributes to events in and around the Pride Festival.
Dave has also written for and appeared with the Queer Songbook Orchestra and, as a founding member of Friends of the Guild, worked with artists and administrators on the successful campaign to save The Guild, a Charlottetown arts and performance venue, when it was under threat of closure.
For his substantial contributions to, and continued support of, the arts, his significant accomplishments in preserving 2SLGBTQIA+ Island history, and his ongoing support of all generations of these communities, Dave Stewart is a most worthy recipient of the Order of Prince Edward Island.