Order of Canada appointments include Tessa Virtue, Scott Moir, Bill MacDonald and Darcy Bear
Publication: The Globe and Mail
Published: November 29, 2020
Author: Carrie Tait
Lawyer William (Bill) Macdonald, a nonagenarian who is one of the latest appointees to the Order of Canada, believes the most significant contributions he made to the country’s public policy came when he blocked others from getting their way.
Mr. Macdonald spent more than 55 years advising federal and provincial governments as well as business on major policy initiatives in taxation and in the resource sector. He has also written extensively on public policy and the idea of mutual accommodation in The Globe and Mail.
“I did an awful lot of work fighting bad legislation,” Mr. Macdonald said, citing competition laws and the National Energy Program as examples. “I think I did good work in stopping the worst of what they were trying to do.”
Governor-General Julie Payette on Friday made Mr. Macdonald a Member of the Order of Canada, one of the country’s highest civilian honours, alongside 113 other appointments. Mr. Macdonald credited his late wife, Molly Anne, for his achievements, which range from championing the resource sector to donating an extensive collection of 17th-century Japanese porcelain to the Gardiner Museum.
“I’m almost 93, so most of the big feelings in life, I’ve already had. But to be recognized by a country is as good as it gets,” he said. “I’m a lucky boy to get the call.”
The new appointees range from Olympians such as Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir to human-rights advocates such as Doreen Spence, an elder who was once one of the first Indigenous women to obtain a practical nursing certificate. Tom Jackson, an actor and philanthropist, was promoted to Companion of the Order of Canada. Eugenia Kumacheva became an Officer of the Order of Canada for her contributions to chemistry. Sarah Milroy was made a Member of the Order of Canada for promoting Canadian artists and their work.
“I have both a passion for Canadian art and a confidence in its excellence,” Ms. Milroy, a former art critic at The Globe, said. “Sometimes Canadians underestimate the sophistication and complexity and beauty of our culture and the profound nature of the stories that we have to tell.”
More than 7,000 people have been invested in the Order, which was created in 1967. The Governor-General makes appointments twice each year. Last week’s appointments also included Darcy Bear, Chief of the Whitecap Dakota First Nation in Saskatchewan, for his economic and social leadership; Harvey Andrew McCue (Waubageshig), for his leadership in education and contribution to the health and well-being of Indigenous youth in Canada; and the promotion of Thomas King, a writer, professor and the first Indigenous person to deliver a series of Massey Lectures.
COMPANIONS OF THE ORDER OF CANADA
Howard Alper of Ottawa (This is a promotion within the Order).
The Honourable Monique Bégin of Ottawa (This is a promotion within the Order).
Janette Bertrand of Montreal (This is a promotion within the Order).
Denise Filiatrault of Montreal (This is a promotion within the Order).
Tom Jackson of Calgary (This is a promotion within the Order).
Thomas King of Guelph, Ont. (This is a promotion within the Order).
Phillip James Edwin Peebles of Winnipeg and Princeton, N.J.
Mark Roger Tewksbury of Calgary
OFFICERS OF THE ORDER OF CANADA
Alice Benjamin of Montreal
Philip Benjamin Berger of Toronto
Martha Gertrude Muriel Billes of Calgary
The Honourable William Alexander Blaikie of Winnipeg
Jeffery Dahn of Halifax
Jan den Oudsten of Toronto
The Honourable William C. Graham of Toronto (This is a promotion within the Order).
Sandra Kirby of Winnipeg
Marcia Vaune Jocelyn Kran of West Vancouver
Eugenia Kumacheva of Toronto
Linda Jane Leith of Westmount, Que.
Sheldon Levy of Toronto
Claude Meunier of Montreal
John E. Peller of Grimsby, Ont.
The Honourable François Rolland of Montreal
Guy Rouleau of Montreal
John David Runnalls of Ottawa
Sara Seager of Toronto and Concord, Mass.
Elder Doreen Spence of Calgary
Marc Tessier-Lavigne of Toronto and Stanford, Calif.
Yosef Wosk of Vancouver
HONORARY MEMBERS OF THE ORDER OF CANADA
Alfred E. Slinkard of Saskatoon (This is an honorary appointment)
Ella Yoelli Amir of Montreal
Cristina Amon of Toronto
Ronald Duncan Barr of Hamilton
Christian Barthomeuf of Frelighsburg, Que.
Chief Darcy Bear of Whitecap Dakota First Nation, Sask.
B. Lynn Beattie of Vancouver
Yves Beauchamp of Varennes, Que.
Izak Benbasat of Vancouver
Daniel R. Bereskin of Toronto
Judy Birdsell of Calgary
Max Blouw of Victoria
Allan Borodin of Toronto
George Brookman of Calgary
Alain Chartrand of Montreal
Robert Anthony Clark of Vancouver
Ronald Ivan Cohen of Manotick, Ont.
Liliane Colpron of Montreal
Joseph Michael Connors of Victoria
Jean Marc Dalpé of Montreal
B. Denham Jolly of Toronto
Sandra Djwa of Vancouver
Michel Doucet of Dieppe, N.B.
James M. Drake of Toronto
Roger Dubois of Drummondville, Que.
Donald Gordon Duguid of Winnipeg
Hoda ElMaraghy of Windsor, Ont.
Philip Michael Epstein of Toronto
John S. Eyking of Millville, N.S.
William Fast of Winnipeg
Edward Finn of Ottawa
Jackie Flanagan of Calgary
William John Fox of Toronto
The Honourable Joan Fraser of Montreal
Timothy Frick of Pender Island, B.C.
Ross William Glen of Calgary
Robert Godin of Vaudreuil-sur-le-Lac, Que.
Priscilla Edson Greenwood of Vancouver
David Grimes of Ottawa
Charles Roy Guest of Calgary
Stanley Hamilton of Vancouver
Anthony Olmsted Hendrie of Nottawa, Ont.
Carol Pearl Herbert of Vancouver
Gordon Hicks of Uxbridge, Ont.
Jagmohan Humar of Ottawa
Peter Daniel Alexander Jacobs of Westmount, Que.
The Honourable Janis Guðrún Johnson of Winnipeg
Maria Labrecque-Duchesneau of Marieville, Que.
John R. Lacey of Calgary
Elizabeth Langley of Montreal
Gérard Raymond Le Chêne of Outremont, Que.
Michele Leering of Kingston
Jacques Légaré of Montreal
Elliot Lifson of Côte Saint-Luc, Que.
William Macdonald of Toronto
Judy Matthews of Toronto
Harvey Andrew McCue (Waubageshig) of Ottawa
Brian McFarlane of Stouffville, Ont.
Lucy Lynn McIntyre of Calgary
John H. McNeill of Vancouver
Sarah Milroy of Toronto
Scott Moir of Ilderton, Ont.
Menka Nagrani of Montreal
Jacques Nantel of Saint-Placide, Que.
Peggy Nash of Toronto
Glenn O’Farrell of Toronto
Marietta Orlov of Toronto (deceased)
Marc Parent of Saint-Laurent, Que.
Serge Payette of Saint-Jean-de-l’Île-d’Orléans, Que.
Christina Petrowska Quilico of Toronto
Crystal Pite of Vancouver
Anthony Robin Poole of South Lancaster, Ont.
Brian Postl of Winnipeg
Tom Radford of Edmonton
The Honourable Allan Michael Rock of Ottawa
Lorio Roy of Saint-Laurent Nord, N.B.
Vera Schiff of Toronto
Stefan Glenn Sigurdson of West Vancouver
Lara St. John of London, Ont., and New York, N.Y.
Dave William Thomas of St. Catharines, Ont., and Oak Park, Calif.
Tessa Virtue of London, Ont.
Peter Warrian of Toronto
David P. Wilkinson of Vancouver
Kenneth L. Wilson of Halifax
Roger Wong of Vancouver
This article originally appeared on theglobeandmail.com on November 20, 2020
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