Gov. Gen Mary Simon announces 78 new appointments to Order of Canada

Gov. Gen. Mary Simon has announced 78 new appointments to the Order of Canada — a list that includes activists, authors, artists, Indigenous leaders and other accomplished Canadians.

Simon’s office announced three new appointments of “companions” — the highest level of the Order of Canada — 15 officers, including one honorary officer, and 59 members.

A number of journalists were inducted into the order this year, including two whose work took aim at the presidency of Donald Trump.

Susanne Craig began her career at the Calgary Herald before moving on to the Globe and Mail, the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times. She was made a member of the order for her work as an investigative reporter.

Craig, David Barstow and Russ Buettner won the Pulitzer Prize for explanatory reporting in 2019 for their joint investigation into Trump’s finances.

The Pulitzer Prize website says their 18-month investigation debunked Trump’s “claims of self-made wealth and revealed a business empire riddled with tax dodges.”

Reached in New York, Craig told CBC News that when she got the call from the Governor General’s office, she thought they had the wrong person.

“I don’t live in Canada but I am a Canadian through and through, and I started crying when I got the call … I couldn’t believe it,” she said.

Crossing Trump

Craig said she hopes the award draws attention to the work of journalists, whom she described as a “dying breed” across the globe.

“Our work … particularly on Donald Trump and his finances, it shows that one reporter or a small team of reporters can really make a difference,” she said.

“When reporters are laid off, or they’re just not there to bear witness, things do go uncovered. We all benefit from a healthy press.”

Michael de Adder, an editorial cartoonist based in Moncton, New Brunswick, joins Craig on the member’s list for his “artistic contributions and pointed commentary” over the years.

De Adder’s freelance contract with Brunswick News Inc. (BNI) was terminated days after he shared a cartoon depicting U.S. President Donald Trump playing golf next to the face-down bodies of two Salvadoran migrants.

While BNI did not publish the cartoon, it went viral online. While his freelance gig with BNI came to an end, de Adder was employed by the Washington Post two years later, a position he still holds.

“I think it’s amazing. I can’t express how happy it made me. The first feeling you have is unworthy, but it’s great,” he told CBC News about being inducted into the Order of Canada.

De Adder said he does not know what the future holds for editorial cartooning, but awards like the Order of Canada can draw attention to how important his profession is in the current climate.

“Every time a cartoonist gets an Order of Canada … it highlights how important editorial cartooning is to democracy,” he said. “These days, we’re constantly under attack.”

Indigenous leadership in arts, heritage, politics

Willie Adams, 89 — the first Inuit appointed to the Senate in Canada — was honoured this year for his “long-standing support of Indigenous interests and for advancing Indigenous representation in Canadian legislation.”

Adams, who was made an officer of the Order of Canada, said the news was a “shock” because he did not expect to get such a “big award.”

Deantha Rae Edmunds, Canada’s first Inuk opera singer, was made a member of the order “for her original compositions and her mentorship of young Indigenous musicians.”

She said that it means a lot to her to be recognized for dedicating her life to music.

“I’m still in disbelief about this appointment. I’m so touched and it is an absolute honour to be recognized for my work. I’m just thrilled,” she said.

Richard Wayne Hill, an Indigenous knowledge keeper inducted “for his efforts to recover and restore Haudenosaunee artifacts and ways of living,” is being given an honorary appointment as an officer.

Hill was born and raised in Buffalo, New York, but now lives in Ohsweken, Ont. The Governor General can give honorary appointments to five people who are not Canadian citizens each year.

Another artist on the list of new members is Montréal-based novelist Kim Thúy, who fled Vietnam with her parents and two brothers at the age of 10.

Thúy landed in a UN refugee camp in Malaysia before being resettled in Granby, Que. After studying linguistics, she worked as a translator before earning her law degree.

Her 2009 debut novel Ru was a bestseller. It won the Governor General’s Literary Award, was shortlisted for the Giller Prize and has since been translated into 15 languages.

“I feel absolutely privileged that I have had the opportunity to contribute in building our society and hoping to take it to a kinder place, a more beautiful place,” she told CBC News.

She said it’s a “privilege” to live in a country that strives to improve through the generations. 

“I hope that I won’t waste the opportunity because if there is attention on me, then there is a responsibility that comes with it. And my responsibility is to speak up for those who don’t have their voices heard,” she said.

Also being honoured this year is retired general Raymond Henault, the former chief of the defence staff and chair of NATO’s military committee.

Already a commander of the Order of Military Merit, Henault told CBC News he is “flattered and humbled” to made a member of the Order of Canada.

“I have many friends, acquaintances and folks that I have worked with in the past who’ve received it and know how significant it is and what it means to them. And it certainly means the same thing to me,” he said. 

Henault said being named to the order “gives folks who are serving the confidence that government is acknowledging and appreciative of what they do.”

Flavio Volpe, president of the Automotive Parts Manufacturing Association, has been named a member of the order for his work as a “leading policy expert in national trade and industry competition.”

“I hope, at the very least, Canadians who live normal, everyday lives know that … the country notices hard, humble work and that you can make a difference for the Canada brand by just trying to be the best at what you’re good at,” he said.  

The list

Here’s a complete list of the new appointees to the Order of Canada:

COMPANIONS

Serge Joyal

J. Wilton Littlechild

Ronald Daniel Stewart

OFFICERS

Willie Adams

Joséphine Bacon

Ian Burton

Richard Burzynski

William Arthur Stewart Buxton

Chang Keun

Wenona Giles

Réjean Hébert

Richard Wayne Hill Sr.  

Louise Imbeault 

Firdaus Kharas 

Linda Jane Manzer 

Elder Albert D. Marshall

Paul Myles O’Byrne 

Peter Robb Pearson 

Steven Lewis Point

MEMBERS

Jodi Leanne Abbott

Yisa Folasele Akinbolaji

Sara Joy Angel

Antonio Ariganello

Nurjehan Aziz Vassanji

Glen Baker

Morris L. Barer

Anne Bassett

Ardyth Brott

Alfredo Caxaj

Susanne Craig 

Patrick Gordon Crean

Michael de Adder 

Raquel Zegarra del Carpio-O’Donovan

Debbie A. Douglas 

Bronwyn D. A. Drainie

Deantha Rae Edmunds 

Jeffrey Mark Farber

Deanne M. Fitzpatrick

Louis Hugo Francescutti

Patricia Sybil Pritchard Fraser

Tennys J. M. Hanson

Gen. Raymond Roland Henault (retired)

Lorne Henry Hepworth

Victor Peter Hetmanczuk

John Pearson Hirdes

Lillie Johnson 

Timothy Robert Jones 

Richard Kroeker 

Gary Alan Kulesha

Carol Anne Lee

Francine Lemire 

André Leon Lewis 

Kim Thúy Ly Thanh

George Edward MacDonald 

Susan Margaret Macpherson 

Medhat Sabet Mahdy

Lois McDonall

Noella Maria Milne. 

Deborah McColl Money

Osama El-Sayed Moselhi 

Nikita James Nanos 

John Andrew Olthuis 

Linda M. Perry 

André Pierre Picard 

Bruce Godfrey Pollock

Bryan Earl Prince

Shannon Beth Prince 

Joel Andrew Quarrington 

Arun Ravindran 

James M. Richards 

Martine Monique Roy 

Lino A. Saputo 

Joseph (Jim) Spatz

George Mark Paul Stroumboulopoulos 

Maia-Mari Sutnik 

David Kin-Kay U

Zainub Verjee 

Flavio Volpe