Death of deacon a loss for the Church, community

Continued from page 1 promoted an interfaith dialogue with the Roman Catholic Church, which led to the signing of a covenant between the Anglican Diocese of Qu’Appelle and the Archdiocese of Regina in 2011.

This later expanded to include the Lutheran and Ukrainian Catholic Churches.

At the cathedral, Jackson sat on an adhoc liturgical group that recommended to the Dean and wardens that varied forms of liturgy and increased congregation participation be introduced into Sunday worship.

In making the recommendation, the group had come to the conclusion that Anglicans must be open to innovation and change in seeking God. The group did not have to convince Dean Duncan Wallace.

Over the next several years, liturgical experimentation dominated the agenda.

For his service to the cathedral, diocese and the wider Church, Jackson was appointed honorary canon of the cathedral in 2014, and received an honorary doctorate of divinity from the College of Emmanuel and St. Chad in 2020.

At the time of his death, Jackson was the longest-serving deacon in the Anglican Church of Canada.

Relating to the Armed Forces, Jackson was instrumental in St. Paul’s Cathedral becoming the regimental church of the Regina Rifles, and in arranging for HRH Princess Anne to become honorary colonel of the unit, which is now the Royal Regina Rifles.

In recognition of his contributions to the unit, the RRR garnered support for Jackson to be able to join the Army Reserve, though he was older than the age for enlisting.

He served as a public affairs officer from 1983 to 1995 and retired as a major.

Through this military connection, Jackson met Second Lt. Helen MacLean, and they married in 1987.

Though Jackson retired as chief of protocol in 2005, he remained very active and was often contacted by news media for his comments on anything relating to the Royal Family.

He was founding president of the Royal

Victorian Order Association of Canada from 2008 to 2020.

At the time of his death he was president of the Institute for the Study of the Crown in Canada. If he heard someone mention “The Queen of England,” Jackson was always quick to point out that the Queen was “Queen of Canada.” He often served as presiding officer at citizenship ceremonies in Saskatchewan.

Jackson organized four national conferences on the Crown in Canada, and prepared for a fifth that was cancelled due to the death of Queen Elizabeth II.

He was author, editor or co-editor of many books relating to the role of the monarchy in Canada, the most recent being A Resilient Crown: Canada’s Monarchy at the Platinum Jubilee (published by Dundurn, 2022)