Freedom of City proposed for Victims' Campaigner

A proposal to confer the Freedom of the City and District on Derry victims’ campaigner, Jon McCourt will be considered at the next full meeting of Derry City and Strabane District Council.

Mr McCourt is a well known advocate for victims and survivors of historical institutional abuse.

The motion to grant him the Freedom of the City and District will be proposed by Cllr Shaun Harkin of People Before Profit.

Historical institutional abuse awareness campaign

'It's about letting people know there is support and help' - Jon McCourt

Speaking to Derry Now, Cllr Harkin said he was bringing the motion, in recognition of Jon McCourt’s tireless campaigning for the survivors of institutional abuse and his many years of peace and reconciliation work. Cllr Harkin added: “In addition, Jon was recently offered the opportunity to take an MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) and he turned that down for very, very principled reasons.

“People will have read the letter which Derry News published, where he talked about Bloody Sunday and other issues. People Before Profit felt very strongly that Jon should be properly recognised for his contribution, particularly, obviously, as a campaigner for people who suffered historical institutional abuse.

“But Jon has also been a campaigner for many other issues, so I think it is fitting that we properly recognise his contribution and one of the avenues through which we can do that is by awarding him the Freedom of the City and the District.

Jon declines British  ‘honour’ due to forced child migration and Bloody Sunday

‘As an Irishman and particularly as a Derry man I could not with any integrity and conscience accept an MBE’  - Jon McCourt

“Obviously that is a big honour because not that many people receive it, so I think, it is about honouring Jon but it is also about acknowledging the overall struggle that thousands of people had to go through to get the truth about historical institutional abuse,” said Cllr Harkin.

Shaun Harkin said there was considerable public support for the motion.
He said: “Since People Before Profit said we were going to propose this, I have had a lot of people contacting me asking if there is anything they could do to offer their support, could they write letters of support to encourage a lot of the other councillors to support this motion?

“I feel it is a good proposal, a good thing to do. I think it would be a proper honour for Jon.”