Member of the Order of Canada
Awarded on: 2008-04-10
Invested on: 2009-05-15
A caring and dedicated professional, John Speakman has been at the forefront of providing eye care services in remote northern communities. For more than four decades, he served as an ophthalmologist with the J.A. Hildes Northern Medical Unit of the University of Manitoba, travelling to such areas as Sanikiluag, Rankin Inlet and Arviat. As ophthalmologist-in-chief at Sunnybrook Hospital for many years, he was instrumental in making the Eye Department one of the major teaching units at the University of Toronto, where he is professor emeritus. Throughout his career, he has been a source of inspiration to generations of ophthalmologists.