Order of Canada Investiture Ceremony

The Governor General presided over an Order of Canada investiture ceremony at Rideau Hall on Friday, September 23, 2016. The Governor General, who is chancellor and Principal Companion of the Order, bestowed the honour on 1 Companion, 9 Officers and 36 Members.

"Each of you is drawn to helping make this country better through common cause. It’s one of the things that unite all Order of Canada recipients, no matter what your specific area of expertise is. You have shown your desire, your passion, for Canada throughout your lives. I can’t wait to see where that desire, that drive, takes you next."

The Order of Canada was created in 1967, during Canada’s centennial year, to recognize outstanding achievement, dedication to the community and service to the nation. Since its creation, more than 6 000 people from all sectors of society have been invested into the Order.

As an author and social activist, Lawrence Hill, C.M. (Hamilton, Ontario) has helped us better understand the Black experience in Canada. His books Blood: The Stuff of Life, Any Known Blood and The Book of Negroes have captivated readers around the world and have encouraged discussions about race, identity and belonging from historical and contemporary perspectives. An outspoken advocate of freedom of expression and racial equality, he has also been engaged with such organizations as Crossroads International, Book Club for Inmates and the Black Loyalist Heritage Society.

For over 30 years, Odette Heyn, C.M. and Faye Thomson, C.M. (Winnipeg, Manitoba) have nurtured the development of many of Canada’s best contemporary dancers, choreographers and artistic directors. Co-directors of the School of Contemporary Dancers and creators of its professional program, they are highly regarded for establishing a training ground that is recognized for its technical and artistic excellence. Moreover, they established a concurrent degree program with the University of Winnipeg that has broadened career options for dancers and that has since been used as a model by others.

Diane Dufresne, C.M., C.Q. (Montréal, Quebec) is an icon on the Francophone music scene. One of the greatest voices in Quebec, she is the first female vocalist to perform rock songs in French. She turned Quebec show business on its ear with her keen sense of showmanship and eccentric costumes, and has given legendary concerts, including Magie Rose in Montréal’s Olympic Stadium. She continues to perform while moving audiences with her talent as a painter, exhibiting her work in Canada and abroad.

Robert Campbell, C.M. (Sackville, New Brunswick) is an advocate for sustainable, high-quality public institutions in Canada. As president and vice-chancellor of Mount Allison University, he has promoted and sustained the “Mount A” model of a personalized, immersive and interdisciplinary education that transforms students into engaged citizens and leaders. An international expert on postal systems governance, he has researched and written on adapting public postal operations to a sustainable position in a globally competitive and technologically challenging marketplace.

Sophie Brochu, C.M. (Bromont, Quebec) is an outstanding manager with exceptional human qualities. At the helm of Gaz Métro, one of the largest natural gas distributors in Canada, she has steered the company toward diversification and innovation while incorporating her passion for sustainable development and community involvement. Her renown has also led her to sit on the boards of a number of major Canadian companies. Committed to various causes, including student retention and women’s homelessness, she also encourages young women to integrate ambition into their lives.

Engineer Baidar Bakht, C.M. (Scarborough, Ontario) has advanced bridge safety and design in Canada. As the principal research engineer for the Ontario Ministry of Transportation, he used innovative methods to test and evaluate bridges across the province, resulting in longer-lasting structures. He was also a key figure in the development of updated highway bridge design codes for Ontario and Canada. In addition, he has made Pakistani and Indian literature more widely available to Canadians as a celebrated scholar, poet and translator of the Urdu language.

Both a renowned novelist and established literary translator, Daniel Poliquin, O.C. (Ottawa, Ontario) is one of the few bicultural and bilingual writers of our country. With a scholarly and vivid style, he has published several works that explore matters of identity and otherness, including La Kermesse. Through his novels, considered emblematic of the Franco-Canadian minority experience, and his translations, which have garnered prestigious awards, he is helping to strengthen ties between the two solitudes and to bring the Canadian experience to international readers. This is a promotion within the Order.

Guy Latraverse, O.C., C.Q. (Montréal, Quebec) is a legend in the recording and entertainment industry. The first live-event producer in Quebec, he propelled a burgeoning industry toward uncharted horizons and was the first to produce outdoor mega-shows, such as those held on the Plains of Abraham and Mount Royal. As a manager and producer, he had a hand in furthering the careers of a virtual who’s who of Québécois and international artists. He also founded major events and organizations, including Les FrancoFolies de Montréal and l’ADISQ. Moreover, for over 30 years, he has been committed to destigmatizing mental illness.

Nassif Ghoussoub, O.C. (Vancouver, British Columbia) has made major contributions towards advancing Canada’s stature in the mathematical sciences. An expert in partial differential equations and a distinguished professor at the University of British Columbia, he was the driving force behind the creation of three cornerstone institutions for Canada’s mathematical sciences community. Namely, he led the establishment of the Pacific Institute for Mathematical Sciences, the Banff International Research Station and the Mitacs network. His leadership has enabled greater collaboration between academic scientific research and industry, and created internationally renowned hubs for mathematical enquiry and learning.

Brenda Andrews, C.C. (Toronto, Ontario) has moved Canada to the forefront of large-scale genetic studies. As chair of molecular genetics at the University of Toronto, director of a cellular and biomolecular research center, and director of the Genetics Network program at the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, she has nurtured and elevated many of Canada’s top genetics consortiums. Her research has illuminated how diseases are influenced by interactions among entire networks of genes. The innovative techniques she has developed for analyzing these interactions have been adopted by scientists around the world and are helping researchers respond to complex hereditary diseases.

Group photo taken prior to the formal dinner held in honour of the newly invested recipients of the Order of Canada.