Order of Ontario

The Order of Ontario is an award given in the Canadian province of Ontario. Created in 1986 by then Lieutenant Governor Lincoln Alexander, the award is the most prestigious official honour in the province. The Order recognizes the highest level of individual excellence and achievement in any field, but is not awarded for acts of bravery.

Recipients

1996 Recipients

• Arlette Lefebvre - Child psychologist at the Hospital for Sick Children

1998 Recipients

• Marion Anderson - Aboriginal band councillor
• Bluma Appel - Philanthropist and patron of the arts
• Jean Ashworth Bartle - Founder and director of the Toronto Children's Chorus
• Allan Leslie Beattie - Lawyer and former chairman of the board for the Hospital for Sick Children
• Irene Broadfoot - Community activist
• Norman Campbell - Composer
• Armando Felice DeLuca - Community activist
• Claire O. Dimock - Community activist
• Ydessa Hendeles - Founder, director and curator of the Ydessa Hendeles Art Foundation and Grand Founder of the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO)
• Dr. Kenneth C. Hobbs - Physician and international humanitarian
• Hon. Henry N. R. Jackman - Business leader, philanthropist, former Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, Chair of the Ontario Arts Council and Chancellor of the University of Toronto
• Maureen Kempston Darkes - President and General Manager of General Motors Canada Ltd. and community activist
• Marvelle Koffler - Founder of the Marvelle Koffler Breast Centre at Mount Sinai Hospital and the Koffler Centre for the Arts
• Dr. Lap Cheung Lee - Community activist
• Andrée Lortie - Advocate of the francophone community
• Knowlton Nash - Journalist
• Alfred U. Oakie - Pioneer in the field of traffic safety
• Lloyd Seivright - International activist
• Masami Tsuruoka - Sports
• Thomas Leonard Wells - Politician

1999 Recipients

• William Blake - Community activist
• Doris Boissoneau - Ojibwe language activist
• Paul Michel Bosc - Wine-maker
• Mavis Elaine Burke - Educator, advocate for early childhood education and community activist
• Clarice Chalmers - Philanthropist
• Keshav Chandaria - Philanthropist
• Susan Charness - Activist with persons with disabilities
• Sam John Ciccolini - Entrepreneur and philanthropist
• Esther Farlinger - Charity fundraiser
• Victor Feldbrill - Violinist, orchestral conductor and champion of Canadian music
• Dr. James Ferguson - Medical researcher
• Maxwell Goldhar - Businessman, philanthropist
• Doris Lau - Financial adviser, charity fundraiser, goodwill ambassador for Ontario and scholarship sponsor
• Eileen McGregor - Community activist
• Winnie "Roach" Leuszler - First Canadian to swim the English Channel, sportswoman
• Alice King Sculthorpe - Community activist
• Dr. Bette M. Stephenson - Physician, founding member of the College of Family Physicians Canada, former Ontario Progressive Conservative MPP and cabinet minister
• Hin Cheung Tam - Community activist
• Gordie Tapp - Entertainer
• Anthony Toldo - Industrialist and philanthropist
• Lisette Véron-Rainu - Children's activitist
• Ken Watts - Founder of the Ontario Collegiate Drama Festival

2000 Recipients

• Danielle Allen and Normand Pellerin - Educators
• Maggie Atkinson - Lawyer and AIDS activist
• Marilyn Brooks - Fashion designer and philanthropist
• Nickie Cassidy - Activist with Multiple Sclerosis sufferers
• Ernie Checkeris - Educator and activist
• George A. Cohon - Chicago-born lawyer and Founder and Senior Chairman of McDonald's Restaurants of Canada and philanthropist
• Lloyd Dennis - Educator
• William Andrew Dimma - Businessman and educator
• Kildare Dobbs - Writer and journalist
• Joyce Fee - Educator and community activist
• Dr. Robert Freedom - Physician, professor and author
• Donald H. Harron - Journalist, author and actor
• Jane Jacobs - American-born author and Toronto urban philosopher
• Stephan Lewar - Venture capitalist, financier and philanthropist
• Janet MacInnis - Fundraiser and volunteer
• Frank Miller - Politician (former Premier of Ontario)
• Betty Oliphant - Founder of the National Ballet School of Canada
• J. Robert S. Prichard - Educator, author and former President of the University of Toronto
• Joseph Radmore - Athlete, member of the Canadian Paralympic Team
• Margaret M. Risk - Nurse
• Haroon Siddiqui - Journalist and columnist
• Dr. Calvin Stiller - Physician
• Donald A. Stuart - Gold and silversmith
• Dr. Lap-Chee Tsui - Molecular geneticist and vice-chancellor of the University of Hong Kong
• Irving Ungerman - Entrepreneur, boxer and activist

2001 Recipients

• Richard M. Alway - President and Vice-Chancellor of St. Michael's College, promoter of Catholic-Anglican dialogue in Canada.
• Gwen M. Boniface - First female Ontario Provincial Police Commissioner
• Rita Burak - Public servant
• Danielle Campo - Athlete, member of the Canadian Paralympic Team
• Michael "Pinball" Clemons - President and former player of the Toronto Argonauts
• Ken Danby - Artist
• Terry Daynard - Researcher and teacher
• Terrence J. Donnelly - Fundraiser for cardiac research and development
• Gail J. Donner - Dean of the Faculty of Nursing at the University of Toronto, and Executive Director of the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario
• Fredrik Stefan Eaton - Businessman and a community volunteer
• C. Dennis Flynn - Elected official, fundraiser, community volunteer and war veteran
• Nicolas D. Georganas - Pioneer in multimedia medical communications and tele-learning
• Helen Haddow - Community activist
• Paul Kells - Workplace safety advocate
• Jake Lamoureux - Volunteer with young people
• Alexina Louie - Composer of classical music
• Lewis W. MacKenzie, Major General (Retired) - Ontario Director of ICROSS Canada, the International Community for the Relief of Starvation and Suffering
• Signe and Robert McMichael - Builders and donors of the McMichael Canadian Art Collection of Group of Seven paintings in Kleinburg
• Dusty Miller - Patron of the arts, artistic director of the Cambrian Players
• David Mirvish - Leader in the development and promotion of the visual arts in Ontario
• Peter Nesbitt Oliver - Historian
• James S. Redpath - Chancellor of Nipissing University
• Dr. Donald T. Stuss - Clinical psychologist, educator, neuropsychologists and behavioural neuroscientists
• Bhausaheb Ubale - Human rights activist
• Dr. Carin Wittnich - University of Toronto professor and researcher
• Madeline Ziniak - Vice-president and executive producer of CFMT television, promoter of multiculturalism

2002 Recipients

• Peggy Baker - Dancer, choreographer and teacher; founder of the Toronto-based Dancemakers
• Marilyn Bell DiLascio - First person to swim Lake Ontario (1954)
• David Blackwood - Artist
• Frederick M. Catzman - Lawyer
• Austin Clarke - Author, teacher, mentor, writer-in-residence at the University of Toronto, and recipient of the 2002 Giller Prize
• Barbara Chilcott - Actress
• Mario Cortellucci - Fundraiser
• Patricia Freeman Marshall - Community activist
• Irving R. Gerstein - Businessman and philanthropist
• Joan Goldfarb - Teacher of adults with disabilities
• Walter Gretzky - Ambassador for the Canadian National Institute for the Blind and the Canadian Heart and Stroke Foundation and father of Wayne Gretzky
• Phyllis M. Grosskurth - Professor emerita and fellow of Massey College at the University of Toronto; winner of the Governor General’s Award for non-fiction in 1965
• Dr. Raymond O. Heimbecker - Cardiovascular surgeon
• Patrick John Keenan - Volunteer
• Tom Kneebone - Actor and playwright
• Burton Kramer - Graphic designer
• Dr. Benson Lau - Physician and teacher
• J. Douglas Lawson - Volunteer, Vice-Chairman of the Ontario Arts Council
• Rhéal Leroux - Volunteer, former president of the Festival Franco-Ontarien
• Dr. William K. Lindsay - Surgeon and professor
• Joan Murray - Art historian, former director of the Robert McLaughlin Gallery in Oshawa
• Mark Poznansky - Researcher, President and Scientific Director of the Robarts Research Institute
• Dr. Joanna Santa Barbara - Physician, national president of the Physicians for Global Survival
• Thomas H. B. Symons - Founder of Trent University and its president and vice-chancellor from 1961 to 1972
• Lela Wilson - Champion of artists’ rights

2003 Recipients

• Joseph J. Barnicke - Business leader, pioneer and philanthropist
• John Kim Bell - Musician and promoter of Aboriginal culture
• Col. Archibald J. D. Brown - Businessman, community activist
• Dorothy Ellen Duncan - Teacher, curator, Executive Director of The Ontario Historical Society
• Julian Fantino - Police officer, former Chief of Police for London, York Region and Toronto; now Ontario's Commissioner Of Emergency Management
• Mary Germain - Community activist
• Dr. Avis E. Glaze - Teacher, administrator, author and international educator
• Dr. Benjamin Goldberg - Psychiatrist
• Doris Grinspun - Executive Director of the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario (RNAO)
• George Gross - Corporate Sports Editor of Sun Media Corporation, activist
• Macklin Hancock - Pioneer in urban planning, urban design and landscape architecture
• Ryan Hreljac - Elementary school student; committed to raising funds for clean water and sanitation projects around the world since the age of six
• Dr. Frederic Jackman - Psychologist
• Laura Louise Legge - Lawyer and community activist
• Helen Lu - Volunteer, organizer and fundraiser for charitable organizations in Toronto
• Dr. Donald Mackay - Environmental scientist, Professor of Environmental and Resource Studies at Trent University, and director of the Canadian Environmental Modelling Centre
• Hon. Jack Marshall - Second World War veteran, Member of Parliament, Senator, and activist
• Anna Porter - Publisher and author
• Hon. Robert Keith Rae - Lawyer, Member of Parliament, former Premier of Ontario
• Eric Wilfrid Robinson - Promoter of adult education in Canada
• Diane Simard Broadfoot - Community activist
• Joan Thompson - Volunteer
• Rita Tsang - Businesswoman
• Hon. Mabel Van Camp - Scholar, lawyer, Supreme Court Justice
• Mike Weir - Golfer, first Canadian to win the Masters Golf Tournament
• Kirk A. Wipper - Environmentalist, heritage conservationist and fitness advocate
• William John Withrow - Former director of the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO)

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2005 Recipients