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An honours system in the form the world keeps one: an order, decorations and medals, each with its own ribbon, its own post-nominal letters, and one occasion it answers to. A ribbon’s colours say which honour it is, so a person wearing it can be read across a room.
The order
The highest the Nation gives, in three grades, worn before all others.
The Nation’s own order, for service of the first rank to the Nation and its people.
- Companion — C.O.G.R.
- Officer — O.O.G.R.
- Member — M.O.G.R.
Who qualifies, and how it is judged
- Who may be considered
- Any person, of the Nation or not, living or within one year of death.
- The test
- Service of the first rank to the Nation and its people, sustained over years, whose effect is plain to those outside the circle of the person’s own work. Rank, office or descent is not a qualification and does not weigh.
- What the Register needs
- Two statements from people who can speak to the work, with dates and particulars; the Register’s own record of what was done where it touches the Nation.
- Who decides
- The Secretary-General, on the advice of an advisory council of three, no two of one family.
- How many in a year
- Not more than five in a year across all three grades, and not more than one Companion.
- After death
- Yes, within one year of death, on the same test.
The decorations
For a single act, or for a service the Nation wishes to mark in its own name.
For an act of courage in the face of danger, on the land or the water of the Tract.
Who qualifies, and how it is judged
- Who may be considered
- Any person, of the Nation or not.
- The test
- A deliberate act in the face of danger to the person’s own life or safety, on the land or the water of the Tract, or for the Nation’s people anywhere. The danger must have been real and known to the person at the time.
- What the Register needs
- An account from the person who was helped, or from a witness, and where there is one, the report of a constable, a doctor or a coroner.
- Who decides
- The Secretary-General, on the report of an officer who has spoken to a witness.
- How many in a year
- No limit. Courage is not rationed.
- After death
- Yes, without limit of time.
Given by the Nation for a service it wishes to mark in its own name.
Who qualifies, and how it is judged
- Who may be considered
- Any person or body, of the Nation or not, including a people, a town, an office or a company.
- The test
- A service to the Nation which the Nation wishes to mark in its own name, whether or not it was done for the Nation’s sake.
- What the Register needs
- A minute of the Secretariat saying what was done and why it is to be marked.
- Who decides
- The Secretary-General.
- How many in a year
- Not more than twelve in a year.
- After death
- Yes.
The medals
For what is done over years. A bar on the ribbon marks each further award.
For keeping, teaching or recovering Kanien’kéha.
Who qualifies, and how it is judged
- Who may be considered
- Any person who speaks, teaches, records or recovers Kanien’kéha.
- The test
- Ten years of the work, or a single contribution of like weight — a dictionary, a grammar, a body of recordings, a classroom carried through a generation.
- What the Register needs
- The Register’s own record where the work passed through it; otherwise two statements from speakers or from those taught.
- Who decides
- The Registrar General, on the advice of two speakers of the language.
- How many in a year
- No limit.
- After death
- Yes.
For the care of the Tract, its waters and what lives on it.
Who qualifies, and how it is judged
- Who may be considered
- Any person or body who has cared for the Tract, its waters or what lives on it.
- The test
- Ten years of the work, or a single act that preserved, recovered or recorded a part of the Tract that would otherwise have been lost.
- What the Register needs
- What the Map Room, the Atlas or the Million Acre Wall already holds, where it holds anything; otherwise two statements with dates.
- Who decides
- The Registrar General.
- How many in a year
- No limit.
- After death
- Yes.
For teaching the Nation’s own, in any subject, over years.
Who qualifies, and how it is judged
- Who may be considered
- Any person who has taught the Nation’s own, in any subject, at any level, paid or not.
- The test
- Ten years of teaching, or the founding of a course, a school or a body of teaching that outlived the person’s own part in it.
- What the Register needs
- Two statements from those taught, or from the body where the teaching was done.
- Who decides
- The Registrar General.
- How many in a year
- No limit.
- After death
- Yes.
For the care of the Nation’s elders, children and sick.
Who qualifies, and how it is judged
- Who may be considered
- Any person who has cared for the Nation’s elders, children or sick.
- The test
- Ten years of the work, or care given at cost to the person’s own health, livelihood or family. Care given within one’s own household counts; it is not lesser for being unpaid or unseen.
- What the Register needs
- Two statements from those cared for, from their families, or from a body that knows the work.
- Who decides
- The Registrar General.
- How many in a year
- No limit.
- After death
- Yes.
For long service in an office of the Nation.
Who qualifies, and how it is judged
- Who may be considered
- Any person who has held an office of the Nation, elected, appointed or commissioned.
- The test
- Ten years of service in one or more offices, counted together, whether or not continuous. A clasp at twenty years and another at forty.
- What the Register needs
- The Register’s own record of commissions and offices. Nothing further is asked, and nothing further is needed.
- Who decides
- The Registrar General, on the Register’s own record.
- How many in a year
- No limit.
- After death
- Yes.
The order of wear
Worn in this order, from the centre of the chest outward. Honours of the Crown and of other nations are worn after the Nation’s own, in the order their own authority sets.
| The honour | Letters | Grades and bars | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Order of the Grand River | O.G.R. | Companion · Officer · Member |
| 2 | For Courage | C.G.R. | One grade |
| 3 | The Thanks of the Nation | T.N. | One grade |
| 4 | Keeper of the Language | K.L. | A bar for each further award |
| 5 | Keeper of the Land and Water | K.L.W. | A bar for each further award |
| 6 | For Learning and Teaching | L.T. | A bar for each further award |
| 7 | For Care of the People | C.P. | A bar for each further award |
| 8 | For Service to the Nation | S.N. | A clasp at twenty years and at forty |
For a body, not a person
A body — a hall, a school, a town, a company, an office or a crew — which has done the Nation or its people a service.
- A plaque, in brass on tan, to be hung where those who did the work can see it.
- A streamer in the honour’s colours, to be borne on the body’s own flag, one for each award.
- An entry on the Roll of Honour in the body’s own name, with its Record Code.
Who qualifies, and how it is judged
- Who may be considered
- Any body, of the Nation or not, incorporated or not, including a crew, a watch, a class or a household.
- The test
- A service to the Nation or its people done as a body, which would have been an honour to a person had one person done it.
- What the Register needs
- A minute of the Secretariat naming the body, what it did, and when; and the name of the person who will receive the plaque on the body’s behalf.
- Who decides
- The Secretary-General.
- How many in a year
- Not more than six.
- After it is wound up
- Yes. A body that no longer exists may be commended, and the plaque given to whoever keeps its record.
The rules that hold for every honour
A nomination comes from another person. An officer may put a name forward in the course of their duty, but not their own name, and not the name of a person of their own household.
An honour cannot be bought, and no payment, gift or subscription weighs in a decision. Nor is an honour given in exchange for a gift to the Nation.
An honour is for what a person has done. Being of the class, or of a line, neither qualifies a person nor bars them.
Where an honour is not given, the Register records that it was considered and not given. Where a person declines one, that is recorded too, and the offer is not published.
The Secretary-General may revoke an honour for conduct that would have barred it. The revocation is recorded against the award, with its reason and its date; the original record is not erased.
One act, one honour. A further award for further work is marked by a bar or a clasp, not by a second medal.
What is worn, and when
At the Nation’s own days, at a ceremony of the Crown, and at a funeral of the Nation.
On a coat, every day. Up to four to a row, further rows above, in the order of wear.
At an evening occasion, at half the size, from the left lapel.
At any time by anyone who holds the honour, in plain clothes.
In the buttonhole, by a holder of the Order, where a medal would be out of place and a pin too small to read.
For a body, which cannot wear a medal: a plaque to be hung, and a streamer borne on its own flag, one for each award.
On a coat of arms
A person who holds the Order of the Grand River may show it about their arms: the circlet in the order’s own colours surrounding the shield, with the badge pendent beneath. A holder of a decoration or a medal shows its ribbon beneath the shield, not around it, as is the practice wherever such things are borne.
What is new in this
An honour carries a Three-Block Record Code — AWD001-YYMMDD-NNNNNN. Anyone holding a certificate can put the code into the Register and be told whether it stands, who issued it, what kind it is and the year. Nothing more: the Register answers only what the person honoured has allowed.
Consent to be listed is given separately from the honour itself, with the wording, the time and the scope recorded, and it may be withdrawn. The listing goes; the record stays. There are six states of privacy, not one public box.
A certificate is versioned. Where something is corrected, the earlier version is kept as superseded, each fingerprinted, so the record of what was said and when is not lost.
A nomination is not a letter that may go astray. It opens a record at once, with its own Record Code which the nominator keeps, and moves through review to a decision that is recorded either way.
An order in three grades, two decorations and five medals; ribbons that can be read across a room; post-nominal letters; an order of wear; forms for full dress, undress, miniature and lapel; and the manner of bearing an honour on arms.
The Roll of Honour is published. Every honour is a record of the Register, with its own Record Code, and may be checked by anyone at Check an award. Any resident may put a name before the Nation.
An order, decorations and medals, each with its own ribbon, its post-nominal letters and the occasion it answers to — with the order of wear, the forms in which each is worn, and how an honour is borne on arms.
