Two prominent figures with connections to Vancouver Island — B.C.’s first Indigenous lieutenant-governor and a retired Canadian chief of defence staff — have been named to the Order of Canada.
Steven Point, who served as lieutenant-governor of B.C. from 2007 to 2012, was recognized for his “dedicated commitment to reconciliation and esteemed leadership throughout his trailblazing career as a chief, judge and academic,” according to the citation. Point is also a member of the Order of B.C. and received an honorary degree from the University of Victoria in 2012.
A member of the Skowkale First Nation, Point was 23 years old when he began his career as chief of that community in 1975. He later worked as a lawyer, law professor and a judge. He is now chancellor of the University of British Columbia and lives in Chilliwack.
Retired general Raymond Henault, who served as Canada’s chief of the defence staff from 2001 to 2005 and now lives in Courtenay, was cited for “his long-time commitment — both in and out of uniform — to Canada’s defence and peacekeeping operations and policies.” Henault began his military career in 1968 as a fighter pilot and was in command of the Canadian Armed Forces on 9/11. From 2005 until retiring from the military in 2008, he served as chairman of the NATO military committee in Brussels.
Point and Henault are among 78 new appointments to the Order of Canada, including three Companions, 15 Officers, one Honorary Officer and 59 Members announced Thursday by Governor General of Canada Mary Simon. Three appointments are promotions within the Order.
The list of new officers also includes Willie Adams, the first Inuit senator in Canada, guitar-maker Linda Manzer, editorial cartoonist Michael de Adder and pollster Nik Nanos. Being promoted within the order are former MP and senator Serge Joyal, former MP, Cree chief and lawyer Wilton Littlechild and Dr. Ronald Stewart, who is recognized for his contributions to emergency medicine.
When Susanne Craig found out she was receiving the honour, the journalist was in the middle of a Zoom call with editors.
“I couldn’t believe it,” she recalled in an interview. “And then I had to get right back on the call and close the story.”
Craig’s journalism in recent years has been as high-profile as it gets, reporting on former U.S. president Donald Trump’s taxes for the New York Times.
It’s investigative work that earned her a Pulitzer Prize in 2019, but it also came with challenges including death threats, and knowing that her work would be politicized.
“I think you just have to stand your ground,” she said. “I always think, to me, it is about journalism, and I think you have to sort of feel at the end of the day that what you’re doing, it is about the reporting.”
Also receiving the honour is Francine Lemire, a doctor who represented Canada in the Paralympics in the 1980s.
Lemire is an above-the-knee amputee. In the 1984 games, she came in fourth in cross-country skiing. That’s the worst placing, she said “you just missed out.”
“One needs to learn what there’s to learn from that, and try and turn the page and get ready for the next race.
Four years later, she won two gold medals at the 1988 Paralympic Winter Games in Austria.
Lemire went on to practise as a family doctor in Corner Brook, N.L., for almost 25 years. And in 2022, she retired after 10 years as the president and CEO of the College of Family Physicians of Canada.
Lino Saputo, a business personality being recognized by the Governor General, followed in his father’s footsteps to take the reins of his family’s eponymous cheese and dairy products company.
When Saputo was founded in Montreal in 1954, its products were delivered via bicycle. Now it’s one of the biggest dairy processors in the world.
“It’s not always that simple, as a third generation in a family business, to bring it to a different new level or new heights,” Saputo said.
Under his watch, the company has expanded, growing in the United States and moving into Argentina, Australia and the U.K.
Saputo is also being honoured for his philanthropy. He said he’s especially proud of a decade volunteering with United Way.
George Stroumboulopoulos says his time hosting The NewMusic in the early 2000s resonates most in his career. Many Canadians remember how the gregarious host introduced them to bands and musicians on the MuchMusic program, and those years are part of the reason he is now being appointed to the Order of Canada.
“It was this golden era of television that I don’t think could ever be created again,” he told The Canadian Press in an interview.
Stroumboulopoulos went on to host his own show on CBC for a decade, followed by a stint on Hockey Night in Canada from 2014 to 2016.
— With a file from the Times Colonist
