Jon McCourt is to be awarded the Freedom of Derry after majority vote by local council
The Freedom of the City of Derry is to be awarded to historic institutional abuse and peace campaigner Jon McCourt.
"The council will organise a date and it will likely be four or five weeks down the line before it is official," he said. "I've said this in the past but this is not something I had gone looking for. For me, it's an acknowledgement of the work on historic institutional abuse and an awful lot of people had been involved in that.
He continued: "The three people I would mention are Danny Quigley, the iron man who got the Freedom of the City, Lisa McGee who got the Freedom of the City, and John Hume. For me, that was an acknowledgement of their contribution to this city and their contribution was all about the dignity of the people of this city. John Hume, certainly, Danny with his work on mental health and Lisa McGee who showed another part of Derry that helped a lot of people understand us and our sense of dignity.
"I know some people were unhappy that I turned down the MBE but that was a very personal decision for me, based on my life experience."
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