June 13 and 14, 2025
Her Excellency the Right Honourable Mary Simon, Governor General of Canada, presented the 2025 Governor General’s Performing Arts Awards (GGPAA) to seven laureates during a ceremony at Rideau Hall on June 13, 2025.
- Bob Ezrin, O.C. – Music and entertainment producer, music education advocate and serial activist (Lifetime Artistic Achievement Award – Popular Music)
- Denis Gougeon – Composer (Lifetime Artistic Achievement Award – Classical Music)
- Graham Greene, C.M. – Actor (Lifetime Artistic Achievement Award – Screens and Voices)
- Patrick Huard – Comedian, film and television actor, host, screenwriter and producer (Lifetime Artistic Achievement Award – Screens and Voices)
- Sandra Laronde, O.Ont., M.S.C., O.M.C. – Multidisciplinary artist, artistic director, choreographer, producer and author (Lifetime Artistic Achievement Award – Dance)
- April Hubbard – Performance artist, arts administrator, and Mad Disability advocate (Ramon John Hnatyshyn Award for Voluntarism in the Performing Arts)
- Jeremy Dutcher, M.S.M. – Composer, performer, language carrier, ethnomusicologist and activist (National Arts Centre Award Recipient)
The participants for the 2025 Mentorship program are Atom Egoyan and Joshua Odjick.
You are the storytellers, the visionaries, the creators, the voices that echo across our country
The following evening, the Governor General delivered remarks at the GGPAA Gala at the National Arts Centre (NAC), in Ottawa.
About the Governor General’s Performing Arts Awards
Created in 1992 by the late Right Honourable Ramon John Hnatyshyn, then-Governor General, and his wife, Gerda, the awards are presented annually to Canadians whose extraordinary achievements have contributed significantly to the enrichment of Canada’s cultural life. For more information, visit www.ggpaa.ca.