Honorary appointments to the Order of Canada

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Five honorary appointments to the Order of Canada are permitted per year by the order's constitution. The following is a list of all honorary appointments to date. Names rendered in italics were later made Canadian citizens; these memberships thereby became regarded no longer as honorary but instead as substantive.

More information #, Name ...
#NameCitizenshipAppointmentInvestitureDeath/removalOccupation/field of endeavour
Companions
5. Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela South Africa [n 1] 3 September 1998 24 September 1998 5 December 2013 Former President of South Africa.[1]
6. Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother [n 2] 1 August 2000 31 October 2000 30 March 2002 Former Royal Consort of Canada.[2]
9. Frank Gehry United States [n 3] 12 November 2002 16 June 2003 5 Dec 2025 Architect.[4]
10. Boutros Boutros-Ghali Egypt United Nations 8 May 2003 7 May 2004 16 February 2016 Former Secretary-General of the United Nations.[5]
11. Václav Havel Czech Republic 8 May 2003 3 March 2004 18 December 2011 Former President of the Czech Republic.[6]
12. Aga Khan IV Switzerland France United Kingdom [n 4] 29 October 2004 6 June 2005 4 February 2025 [7] Imam of the Shia Imami Ismaili Muslims.[8]
Officers
2. John Kenneth Galbraith United States[n 5] 17 April 1997 5 November 1997 29 April 2006 Economist.[9]
3. James Hillier United States[n 6] 17 April 1997 5 November 1997 15 January 2007 Inventor of the electron microscope.[10]
4. Charles Dutoit Switzerland 23 October 1997 30 January 2002 Conductor of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra.[11]
8. Tanya Moiseiwitsch United Kingdom 10 October 2002 16 May 2003 19 February 2003 Theatre designer for the Stratford Festival.[12]
15. Charles Aznavour France [n 7] 10 April 2008 5 July 2008 1 October 2018 Musician and actor.[14]
16. Bernard Pivot France 10 April 2008 7 May 2008 6 May 2024 [15] Television host and culture promoter.[16]
18. Sima Samar Afghanistan 25 May 2009 17 November 2010 Human rights leader.[17]
19. Ronnie Hawkins United States 29 June 2013 7 May 2014 29 May 2022 Rock Musician[18]
20. Bramwell Tovey United Kingdom 29 June 2013 21 November 2014 12 July 2022 Conductor and composer[18]
22. Michael Schade Germany 30 Dec 2016 25 August 2017 Opera singer [19]
25. Marie Ann Battiste United States 27 June 2019 6 May 2022 Indigenous rights activist and language educator [20]
28. Richard Wayne Hill Sr. United States 28 December 2023 Indigenous arts activist [21]
29. Kent Nagano United States 27 June 2024 Opera conductor and administrator [22]
30. Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga Latvia [n 8] 27 June 2024 Former President of Latvia[23]
Members
1. Zena Sheardown Guyana [n 9] 11 October 1981 29 December 1986 Instrumental participant during the Canadian Caper.[24]
7. Lois Lilienstein United States 1 May 2002 24 October 2003 22 April 2015 Member of Sharon, Lois & Bram.[25]
13. Francis Cabot United States 29 June 2005 9 September 2005 19 November 2011 Horticulturist.[26]
14. Salome Bey United States 17 November 2005 26 October 2006 9 August 2020[27] Musician.[28]
17. Zachary Richard United States 25 May 2009 7 April 2010 Singer, songwriter, and poet.[29]
21. Johann Olav Koss Norway 1 July 2015 13 May 2016 Olympic speedskater and founder of Right to Play.[30]
23. Kathy Reichs United States 27 Dec 2018 18 Nov 2019 Forensic Anthropologist and crime fiction writer.[31]
24. Richard J. Schmeelk [fr] United States 27 Dec 2018 4 Sep 2019 19 May 2022 [32] Banker and Philanthropist, Founder of the Richard J. Schmeelk Canada Fellowship .[31]
26. Alfred E. Slinkard United States[n 10] 27 Nov 2020 13 April 2022 24 Nov 2022 [33] Plant scientist and agronomic breeder.[34]
27. Jackie Richardson United States[n 11] 29 Dec 2021 Jazz singer and actress.[35]
31. Brenda Okorogba Nigeria[n 12] 31 Dec 2025 Community organizer and Educator.[36]
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Notes

  1. [1]
    Nelson Mandela was granted Honorary Canadian Citizenship in 2001. However, this is ceremonial and does not make his appointment substantive.
  2. [2]
    The Queen Mother, as a member of the Canadian Royal Family, was a Canadian subject but not a Canadian citizen.
  3. [3]
    Gehry, though born in Toronto, moved with his family to the United States in 1942, before the enactment of the Canadian Citizenship Act, 1946. However, Gehry was granted Canadian citizenship in 2002,[3] and is now no longer listed as an honorary Companion of the order.
  4. [4]
    The Aga Khan was granted Honorary Canadian Citizenship in 2011. However, this is ceremonial and does not make his appointment substantive
  5. [5]
    Galbraith was born in Ontario before the establishment of Canadian citizenship and renounced his status as a British subject in 1937 to become a United States citizen.
  6. [6]
    Hillier was born in Ontario before the establishment of Canadian citizenship and renounced his status as a British subject in 1945 to become a United States citizen.
  7. [7]
    In December 2008 Aznavour was granted Armenian Citizenship by Presidential decree[13]
  8. [8]
    Vaira Vike-Freiberga was born in Latvia in 1937 and emigrated to Canada as a refugee in 1954 where she later became a naturalized Canadian Citizen. The Constitution of Latvia prohibits the President from holding dual citizenship and Vike-Freiberga consequently renounced her Canadian citizenship upon her election in 1999.
  9. [9]
    Zena Sheardown was the wife of John Sheardown, a Canadian employed at the Canadian Embassy in Iran during the Iranian Revolution of 1979. At great risk to her personal safety, Zena Sheardown was instrumental in the success of the Canadian Caper, allowing six American diplomats to be safely removed from the country. Sheardown was the first honorary appointment to the Order of Canada; the uniqueness of this appointment made it slow, to the point that Flora MacDonald had to ask for and receive unanimous consent from the House of Commons of Canada before the appointment was seriously considered. By the time she was invested into the order in 1986, Sheardown had become a Canadian citizen and the Advisory Council changed the status of her induction from honorary to substantive.
  10. [10]
    Born in Rockford, Washington in 1931, Dr. Alfred Eugene Slinkard moved to Canada in 1972 to joined the University of Saskatchewan's Crop Development Centre with a goal of diversifying Western Canada's agriculture sector away from wheat. In this role Dr. Slinkard developed the Laird and Eston variety of Lentils in the 1970s and 80s. Laird grew to become one of the most recognized lentils in the world and made Canada one of the largest suppliers of Lentils and other pulse crops to the world market.
  11. [11]
    Born in Donora, Pennsylvania in 1947, Richardson moved to Canada in 1954.
  12. [12]
    Okorogba was born in Nigeria and as of 2026 was living in Ontario.

References

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