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13 unusual facts about Order of Canada


Canadian name

Postnominals granted under the Canadian honour system include PC (Privy Councillor, granted to federal cabinet ministers and some other senior politicians including leaders of opposition parties); CM (Member of the Order of Canada); OC (Officer of the Order of Canada); and CC (Companion of the Order of Canada, the highest rank of that order).

Clarence B. Farrar

Farrar's contributions to the field of psychiatry were recognized through honorary doctorates from McGill University and the University of Toronto, the Medal of Service of the Order of Canada from the Governor General of Canada, and the Distinguished Service Award of the Thomas W. Salmon Committee on Psychiatry and Mental Hygiene of the New York Academy of Medicine.

Cornelius Wiebe

At age 105, Wiebe became the oldest person in Canadian history to be granted the Order of Canada.

Doug Mowat

He was named a member of the Order of Canada in 1982 in honour of his work on behalf of people with disabilities.

Douglas Kinsella

Douglas Kinsella, CM (15 February 1932 – 15 June 2004) was a Canadian medical doctor and expert on medical ethics and founder of Canada's National Council on Ethics in Human Research.

George G. Blackburn

George Gideon Blackburn, CM, MC (February 13, 1917 – November 15, 2006) was a decorated Canadian veteran of World War II (Military Cross; French Legion of Honour), a playwright, and award winning author.

Harry Gordon Johnson

In 1977 he was named a distinguished fellow of the American Economic Association, and in 1976 the Canadian government named him an officer of the Order of Canada.

Laurence Decore

He was admitted to the Order of Canada in 1983, and received an honorary doctorate of laws from the University of Alberta in 1999.

Nadleh Whut'en First Nation

Maggie Hodgson was nominated for the Order of Canada in 2006 by the Health Support Workers in Saskatchewan who work with Indian Residential School former students.

Robert Baird McClure

He was Moderator of the United Church of Canada 1968–1971 and in 1971 he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada.

Saik'uz First Nation

Her 1989 memoir "Stoney Creek Woman" won the Lieutenant Governor's Medal for Historical Writing, and she was also the recipient of the Order of Canada.

Sheila and Victor Goldbloom Distinguished Community Service Award

In 1983 Dr. Goldbloom made a Member of the Order of Canada in 1998 and, in 2000, he became a Companion – the country’s highest distinction.

Mrs. Goldbloom was made a Member of the Order of Canada in 1998 and became a Chevalier of the Ordre national du Québec in 2008.


Annick Press

Robert Munsch, a member of the Order of Canada and "Canada's best-selling author," who "sells more books than any other Canadian author every year".

Anthony S. Fell

He sits on the board of directors of multiple corporations, including Bell Canada Enterprises, CAE, and Loblaw Companies Ltd. In 2001, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada.

Brendan Beiser

He is the son of Order of Canada recipient Morton Beiser and Canadian socialite Roberta Lando Beiser, brother to journalist Vince Beiser, and is related to actor Peter Lando as well as horror film director Jeffrey Lando.

Calixte Duguay

Calixte Duguay, CM (born July 15, 1939) is a multi-disciplinarian Canadian Artist born in Sainte-Marie, Acadia, on Lamèque Island.

Diana Fowler LeBlanc

Diana Fowler LeBlanc, CC (born 1940 in Toronto) is the widow of former Governor General of Canada, Roméo LeBlanc, during whose term she was a Viceregal consort.

Edward Samuel Rogers

, OC (May 27, 1933 – December 2, 2008) was the President and CEO of Rogers Communications Inc., and the fifth richest person in Canada in terms of net worth.

Elizabeth Parr-Johnston

Elizabeth Parr-Johnston, CM (born Elizabeth H. Parr in 1939 in New York, NY) is the Managing Partner of Parr-Johnston Consultants, an economic policy consultancy based in Chester Basin, Nova Scotia.

Garry Kennedy

In addition, in 2004 Kennedy was invested as a Member of the Order of Canada by Governor General Adrienne Clarkson for his contributions as an administrator, educator and artist, enriching Canada's cultural legacy.

Gender neutrality in languages with grammatical gender

Examples are titles such as Grand Officier, Commandeur, Officier, Chevalier, Compagnon, Immortel used in the Order of Canada, the National Order of Quebec, France's Legion of Honor and the Académie Française, or Belgium's and Monaco's Order of the Crown.

George Ramsay Cook

George Ramsay Cook, OC, FRSC (born November 28, 1931 in Alameda, Saskatchewan), is a Canadian historian and general editor of the Dictionary of Canadian Biography.

Hal Jackman

Jackman was appointed Lieutenant Governor by Governor General Ray Hnatyshyn, on the advice of Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, in 1991, and became a Member of the Order of Canada the same year.

Harry Somers

Harry Stewart Somers, CC (September 11, 1925 – March 9, 1999) was one of the most influential and innovative contemporary Canadian composers of the past century.

Irene Spry

The Governor General of Canada appointed her Officer of the Order of Canada in 1992 not only for her long and inspiring career as writer, teacher and scholar but also for her prominence in the Canadian and international women's movements.

James Kudelka

James Kudelka, OC, (born at Newmarket, Ontario on September 10, 1955), is a choreographer, dancer, and director.

Jean Paré

Jean Paré, CM (born December 7, 1927) is a Canadian caterer, author of the Company's Coming cookbook series, and founder of Company’s Coming Publishing Limited.

Jere Gillis

His sister, Margie Gillis, is also a dancer and choreographer, and member of the Order of Canada.

Margaret Southern

Margaret E. Southern, CC, LVO, AOE (born Margaret Visser on 26 February 1931) is a Canadian businessperson, noted as a co-founder of the Spruce Meadows equestrian park near Calgary.

Mark Tennant

Lieutenant Colonel Mark Tennant, CM, ED, CD (June 27, 1913 – December 29, 1997) was an alderman of the City of Calgary, an inductee of the Order of Canada, and a long-serving member of Calgary's military community.

Marshall A. Cohen

Marshall A. Cohen, OC (born March 28, 1935) is a former International Councillor for The Center for Strategic and International Studies, a member of the Executive Committee of The British-North American Committee and a former member of the Trilateral Commission.

Michael DeGroote

Michael G. DeGroote, OC (born 1933) is a Canadian businessman and philanthropist from Hamilton, Ontario who currently resides in Bermuda.

Neville Poy

Neville G. Poy, OC, FRCS(C), FACS (Chinese: 伍衛權; born October 29, 1935 in Hong Kong), is a retired Toronto plastic surgeon, husband of Senator Vivienne Poy and brother of Adrienne Clarkson.

Patkau Architects

Both Patricia Patkau and John Patkau are Fellows of the Royal Architecture Institute of Canada, Honorary Fellows of the American Institute of Architects and of the Royal Institute of British Architects, members of the Royal Canadian Academy of Art, and Members of the Order of Canada.

Phyllis Munday

Phyllis B Munday, CM (née James) (1894 – 1990) was a Canadian mountaineer, explorer, naturalist and humanitarian, famed for being the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Robson (with Annette Buck) in 1924, and with her husband Don for discovering Mount Waddington, and exploring the area around it via the Franklin River and the Homathko River.

Post City Magazines

Columnists include Tony Aspler (Toronto wine connoisseur and author, recently inducted into the Order of Canada), Rose Reisman (one of Canada's top chefs and cookbook authors), David Suzuki (environmentalist, scientist and broadcaster), Joanne Kates, (former food critic for the Globe and Mail) and Mark Breslin (founder of Yuk Yuk's international stand-up comedy chain).

Raymond Roussin

On July 7, 2008, James Wingle, Bishop of St. Catharines and Raymond Roussin, Archbishop of Vancouver, spoke out strongly against the decision to grant Dr. Henry Morgentaler the Order of Canada, and called for this award to be revoked.

Robarts Research Institute

Dr. Mark J. Poznansky became scientific director in 1993 and was awarded the Order of Canada in 2005 for his work.

Royal Proclamation of 2003

Witness: Our Right Trusty and Well-beloved Adrienne Clarkson, Chancellor and Principal Companion of Our Order of Canada, Chancellor and Commander of Our Order of Military Merit, Chancellor and Commander of Our Order of Merit of the Police Forces, Governor General and Commander-in-Chief of Canada.

Suzanne Pinel

In 1991, Pinel was made a Member of the Order of Canada for being "one of the great ambassadors of French-Canadian culture, this Franco-Ontarian teacher has helped promote bilingualism among both the younger and older members of the two language groups".

Timothy Findley

Timothy Findley received a Governor General's Award, the Canadian Authors Association Award, an ACTRA Award, the Order of Ontario, the Ontario Trillium Award, and in 1985 he was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada.

Tommy Hunter

Thomas James "Tommy" Hunter, CM, O.Ont (born March 20, 1937 in London, Ontario) is a Canadian country music performer, known as "Canada's Country Gentleman".

Vince Beiser

Vince was born on the 13th of July in New York City, United States, to Order of Canada recipient Morton Beiser and Commemorative Medal for the Queen’s Golden Jubilee and Government of Canada Celebration ’88 Certificate of Merit winner Roberta Lando Beiser.

William Tetley

William Tetley, CM, QC (born February 10, 1927 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada) is a lawyer and professor of law at McGill University in Montreal, the visiting professor of Maritime and Commercial Law at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana, and a former member of the National Assembly of Quebec and Cabinet Minister.