Order of Canada marks 50 years as community service rewarded
They give to make country better and it begins locally
Peter McAuslan was 21 in 1967 when he took three weeks to hitchhike from Vancouver to Montreal, stopping in local pubs to watch the Stanley Cup final along the way.
The trip across the country tied together hockey, beer and Canada’s centennial.
Five decades later, McAuslan will be recognized for his efforts to grow the Canadian beer industry as his name is added to the cornerstone of the Canadian honours system. It was on July 1, 1967, that the Order of Canada received its first members.
This Canada Day, the list of appointees will grow by 99, including the Prince of Wales, soccer star Christine Sinclair, hockey legend Mark Messier, actor Mike Myers, actress Catherine O’Hara, musician Alan Doyle and TV host Alex Trebek. Over the past half-century, Canada has gone from having no honours system to having one of the largest and most complicated in the world, McCreery said. Countries like New Zealand and Australia have tried to replicate the Canadian model.“That speaks to the success of the present system.”
Street nurse Catherine Crowe, Me to We founder Roxanne Joyal and Catherine Latimer, executive director of the John Howard Society of Canada, are being honoured along with Mark Messier, the ex-Edmonton Oiler.“I’ve always felt being a Canadian really meant something to me, and being able to represent Canada in the international competitions like I did was something that I’ll never forget,” Messier said in an interview.
“Humbling” is how recipients describe being named to the order. Just ask Alan Doyle, best known as the former lead singer of Newfoundland and Labrador folk-rock stalwarts Great Big Sea.
“If you look into the list of people who get this award, all are exceptional people in their own work life and in their own artistic life or political life or business life or whatever, but then they’re almost always very communityminded people and people who have tried to give back to the place, their town, their city, their province, their country,” Doyle said.
“It’s humbling to be in that company.”