Calgary Checker Cabs driver Iqbal Alimohd awarded Queen’s Jubilee medal for community service
“We are incredibly proud of Iqbal and his entire family,” says Checkers’ president Kurt Enders. “He is so deserving of such an honour.” Photo: Checker Cabs
Checker Cabs driver Iqbal Alimohd was awarded the Queen’s Jubilee Platinum Medal on March 10th for his decades of volunteer work shopping and delivering groceries for senior citizens.
“We’re incredibly proud of Iqbal and his entire family, who have dedicated their lives to helping others in the community,” Checker Transportation Group president Kurt Enders told Taxi News. “When he told us he won this prestigious award we were thrilled for him. He is so deserving of such an honour.”
Alimohd has driven for Checker Cabs for more than 40 years. He arrived in Canada from Pakistan in 1973, moved to Calgary in 1974 and met his wife Mumtaz in 1976; they have two sons.
Iqbal and Mumtaz have been shopping and delivering groceries for Senior citizens in Calgary for about 30 years. “The seniors, they are so friendly and appreciative. It is easy to be around them,” Alimohd told Taxi News in an interview in July, 2021.
Alimohd and his wife Mumtaz dedicate every Saturday to the project, and over many years, they have the division of shopping labour down to a science.
“We take separate carts,” Iqbal told Taxi News in an interview in July, 2021. “I do the produce aisle; my wife does everything else.”
The Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal was created in honour of the Queen’s 70th anniversary as regent; it is being awarded to Albertans in recognition of “significant contributions to the province.” One of Alimohd’s customers or community members must have nominated him for the Queen’s Jubilee Platinum Award.
Anyone being nominated for the medal must have a direct connection to the province and must have made a significant contribution to the province.
Most medals are officially presented to recipients at presentation ceremonies organized by program partners. The Lieutenant Governor will also be holding medal presentation ceremonies throughout the year.
The eligibility criteria for this medal recognizes a wide range of accomplishments in many areas.
A nominee must:
- be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident with a tangible link to Alberta at the time the medal is granted
- have made a significant contribution to Canada, Alberta, or to a particular Alberta region or community
- have been alive on February 6, 2022, the 70th anniversary of Her Majesty’s accession to the throne
