Government of New Brunswick - Order of New Brunswick recipients 2002

Biographical Notes -
Order of New Brunswick recipients 2002

RÉAL BOUDREAU
Video : (Mov) | (WMV)

A leader in the development of New Brunswick's Chaleur region, Réal Boudreau was named an Order of New Brunswick recipient.

Although his passion has been the progress of his region, Boudreau says the most important role in his life is being a family man.

A native of Beresford, N.B., he started a busy career working with School District No. 4 in 1967 before turning to politics in 1990, beginning a 12-year career in Beresford.

He was director of the Caisse Populaire de Beresford, president of the Beresford Arena and president of committees involving minor baseball, minor hockey and intermediate hockey. He was also president of Beresford's Foyer-École, a member of the Infirmières de Bathurst, and vice-president of the regional police department.

MOLLY LAMB BOBAK
Video : (Mov) | (WMV)

En amorçant sa vie professionnelle à titre d'artiste de guerre officielle, au cours de la Deuxième Guerre mondiale, Molly Lamb Bobak devenait la première femme à occuper ce poste et pionnière d'une nouvelle génération de femmes artistes à entrer dans l'arène professionnelle du monde artistique canadien.

On trouve ses œuvres au Musée canadien de la guerre, au Musée des beaux-arts du Canada, au Musée des beaux-arts de l'Ontario et à la Galerie d'art Beaverbrook de Fredericton, au Nouveau-Brunswick. On trouve en fait ses oeuvres dans la plupart des musées d'art importants du pays.

Membre de l'Ordre du Canada, Molly Lamb Bobak a reçu des diplômes honorifiques de l'Université du Nouveau-Brunswick, de l'Université St. Thomas de Fredericton, ainsi que de l'Université Mount Allison de Sackville. Sa peinture intitulée Tea Hill, a été reproduite sur un timbre-poste pour souligner la fête du Canada en 1982.

Née à Vancouver, en Colombie-Britannique, Molly Lamb Bobak s'est établie à Fredericton en 1960, où elle apporte depuis sa contribution à la culture et à la vie communautaire. Chaque année, elle fait don de milliers de dollars à des sociétés de bienfaisance grâce à des encans d'œuvres d'art et elle appuie la maison de transition pour femmes de Fredericton.

DR. NANCY GRANT
Video : (Mov) | (WMV)

Working tirelessly for many years to make her community of Saint John and province of New Brunswick a better place to live has been a trademark of Dr. Nancy Grant, a radiation oncologist.

She has made a lifelong commitment to provide care and comfort for people who are dying while giving support to their loved ones. Known as a true pioneer in the healthcare field, the caring, dedicated physician and community activist has been made a significant impact on her province in the past 20 years in the field of hospice palliative care.

Understanding she couldn't save every life, Dr. Grant looked to the community and hospital support organizations to help her patients and their families cope with the loss of a loved one. Hospice palliative care eases suffering and provides comprehensive support that improves the quality of living and dying.

There was little or no support in Saint John for these patients two decades ago. This situation prompted Dr. Grant - a trained musician and experienced clarinet player - to take action on her own initiative, taking a year-and-a-half leave of absence from her practice to research and establish a community-based, non-profit organization. As a result of her efforts, Hospice Saint John was developed and incorporated in 1983. In its time, Hospice Saint John has cared for over 2,700 dying people and supported over 12,000 people. Hospice Saint John has 120 volunteers and two full-time staff members thanks to Dr. Grant's care and initiative.

RICHARD B. HATFIELD
Video : (Mov) | (WMV)

Richard B. Hatfield left his native Hartland, N.B. for university in Nova Scotia, where he would earn a Bachelor of Laws degree from Dalhousie University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Acadia University.

Practising law for six months in Truro, N.S., Hatfield would eventually serve as an executive assistant for the federal Minister of Trade and Commerce in Ottawa before returning home in 1958, where he assumed the position of sales manager for Hatfield Industries, Ltd., the family potato chip business.

The lure of politics soon called and he was elected to the Legislative Assembly in 1961, earning re-election in 1963 and 1967 to represent his native Carleton County. Hatfield was chosen leader of the New Brunswick Progressive Conservative party in 1969 before winning the provincial election a year later, becoming the 25th person to serve as Premier of New Brunswick.

He would serve four consecutive terms spanning 17 years, making him the longest-serving premier in the province's history. An active participant on the national stage from the 1971 Victoria Constitutional Conference to the Meech Lake Accord in 1987, he was sworn in as a member of the Queen's Privy Council for his work on the proclamation of the Constitutional Act in 1982. He would resign as leader of the party following an election loss in 1987 and was appointed to the Senate of Canada on Sept. 7, 1990. Hatfield died April 26, 1991 at the age of 60.

GUY LEBLANC
Video : (Mov) | (WMV)

Coming from a poor family in a rural region, Guy LeBlanc of St. Antoine, N.B., has overcome numerous odds to become a role model, advocate, planner and volunteer in his native province.

Diagnosed with meningitis as a youth, LeBlanc was left with permanent partial paralysis. That did little to slow his ambitions to overcome his own disability and change public attitudes toward those with disabilities. He was also an effective advocate for improving services and information for French-speaking residents of the province.

He would go through five surgeries to improve his mobility, but he eventually landed at the Teacher's College in Fredericton, getting by despite numerous stairs and no elevators at the four-story building. He graduated in 1959 and took his first teaching job while earning two university degrees during evening studies and summer school. Obtaining a sabbatical and bursary to teach at France's Toulouse University in 1968-69, LeBlanc returned and began a 25-year teaching career at l'École Polyvalente Clément-Cormier in Bouctouche, N.B.

An active volunteer, LeBlanc has served as mayor of St. Antoine, was president of the Lion's Club, sat on the local museum board and pushed for the creation of the Father J. Angus MacDonald Centre for Independent Living in Moncton. He also served as the first volunteer Chairperson of the Premier's Council on the Status of Disabled Persons, which was created in 1982.

HARRISON MCCAIN
Video : (Mov) | (WMV)

Founder and chairman of McCain Foods Ltd., Harrison McCain has directed the growth of the company from a small French fry processing plant in tiny Florenceville, N.B. to the world's largest producer of French fries.

After several years in sales with Irving Oil, Ltd., McCain left this post at the age of 29 to form McCain Foods, Ltd. with his younger brother Wallace and with support from brothers Andrew and Robert.

In his more than 40 years in the food industry, he has been inducted as an Officer of the Order of Canada and earned an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the University of New Brunswick along with being named an Honorary Life Member of the Agricultural Institute of Canada.

McCain received the Canadian Business Statesman Award from Harvard Business School, Toronto, and earned the Knight of the Golden Pencil Award. Inducted into the Canadian Business Hall of Fame in 1993, he added similar honours four years later when he was named to the New Brunswick Business Hall of Fame, and was the inaugural recipient of Quick Frozen Foods International Magazine's Golden Ice Crystal Award.

He continues to be a major contributor to the social, cultural and economic well-being of Florenceville and New Brunswick.

Internationally, McCain Foods, Ltd. employs about 18,000 people with about 10 per cent of that figure employed in processing plants in his home town and Grand Falls, N.B. McCain sits on numerous boards of directors, including the Beaverbrook Art Gallery, Council for Canadian Unity, Junior Achievement of Canada, the Japan Society and the Lahey Clinic Canadian foundation.

LOUIS J. ROBICHAUD
Video : (Mov) | (WMV)

At the age of 27, Louis J. Robichaud made his first foray into politics, elected as a member of the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick representing the constituency of Kent in 1952.

The native of Saint-Antoine, Kent County, was re-elected in 1956 and two years later was elected leader of the Liberal Party of New Brunswick, the official opposition in the province.

Robichaud would lead his party to victory in 1960, becoming the province's 24th premier. He was re-elected in 1963 and 1967 and was re-elected in the 1970 general election, but his party lost the provincial election. He would resign his seat in the legislature and position as Liberal party leader to become chairman of the Canadian Section of the International Joint Commission, continuing in that post until he was called to the Senate of Canada in 1973. He retired from the Senate on Oct. 21, 2000, having reached the mandatory retirement age of 75.

Under his leadership in New Brunswick, the government initiated and legislated a number of controversial and progressive programs, the effects of which are still being felt today. Some of the changes drew national and international attention and ranged from the abolishment of annual hospital premiums for families, modernized liquor laws, collective bargaining rights for the public service, the appointment of Canada's first provincial ombudsman and the revitalization of the province's natural resources.

Perhaps the most highly controversial of these reforms was the introduction of the Program of Equal Opportunity. Introduced following the report of the Byrne Royal Commission, this program expanded the role of the provincial government by abolishing the county council form of local government and centralized the responsibility for education, hospital services, welfare and justice administration in the hands of the provincial government.

CLAUDE ROUSSEL
Video : (Mov) | (WMV)

A native of Edmundston, N.B., Claude Roussel is recognized as not only one of the province's top artists, but a trailblazer for the next generation of francophone artists who followed in his footsteps.

He had a long association with the Université de Moncton as artist in residence and as art department director, and was well-known as a pioneer in visual art courses. Roussel started his work as an arts educator as the first artist to present courses in French-speaking schools in the province.

After an educational career spanning 29 years, Roussel is now devoting his time entirely to his artistic career.

Listed in Canada's Who's Who in 1964, Roussel's work has appeared worldwide, and his popularity and that of his work earned him the Order of Canada in 1984.

New Brunswickers can view his work in locations throughout the province, including Moncton's 100th anniversary monument, the monument to Father Clément Cormier, vice chancellor and founder of Université de Moncton, the New Brunswick Museum in Saint John and galleries throughout the region.

He was the local founder and representative of Canadian Artist's Representation (CARFAC) from 1971 to 1976 and has held numerous art gallery posts. Both his solo projects and involvement in group projects have garnered Roussel worldwide acclaim.

HONORARY COL. JAMES A. STEWART
Video : (Mov) | (WMV)

Arrested and held in various German prisons and concentration camps during World War II, Honorary Col. J.A. Stewart had the will to live. Those memories continue to drive him today, shaping his undeniable force of character and determination.

A native of Glasgow, Scotland, Stewart joined up to fight in World War II, eventually landing in the Royal Air Force and spending much of his training flying in Canadian skies.

Stewart faced the horrors of war. Shot down during a 1944 strafing mission over France, he would spend two months in the French underground prior to his capture at the hands of the Gestapo.

After being shot down and incarcerated, Stewart was liberated by the Russians only to escape from them and fight his way back to British soil in 1945.

For his distinguished military career and selfless dedication to the cause of freedom, Stewart was decorated with the Distinguished Flying Cross, the 1939-45 Star, the Atlantic Star and Bar, the France and Germany Star, the Defence Medal and the Imperial War Medal.

He left the military in 1946 and moved to Canada six years later, where he has continued to serve in different capacities, drawing upon his remarkable war-time service.

One day a week, Stewart can be found at a local elementary school where he reads to children, continuing his passion for fighting illiteracy. Each November, he is instrumental in educating school children in St. Andrews and Saint John on the meaning of Remembrance Day, helping ensure Canadian young people do not forget the sacrifices made by so many in the fight for freedom.

He has had a long history with the Royal Canadian Legion, New Brunswick Fish Packers Association, Charlotte County Board of Trade and Canadian Corps of Commissionaires, where he served as president and secretary. Stewart is also heavily involved with the Charlotte County Cancer Society.

He was appointed Honorary Colonel 403 (Helicopter) Operational Training Squadron.He wears his Canadian Air Force uniform with great pride.

SISTER HÉLÈNE AURÈLIE ROY
Video : (Mov) | (WMV)

A native of Nigadoo, N.B., Sister Hélène Aurèlie Roy began a long teaching career in 1938.

Roy spent 33 years in the classroom at a number of schools in the province including College Notre-Dame d'Acadie in Moncton and École Sacre-Coeur in Grand Falls, N.B.

She earned her teaching certification at Collège Saint-Joseph in 1938 and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the same school in 1948. In 1961, Roy earned a Bachelor of Education degree from Université Saint-Joseph and in 1965, she received a Master of Education degree from the Université de Moncton.

Teaching wasn't her only passion. Although she was involved in numerous student activities, Roy was also active with the Canadian Red Cross through personal contributions and the sewing and knitting program.

02/09/09


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Biographical Notes - Order of New Brunswick recipients 2002 RÉAL BOUDREAU Video : (Mov) \| (WMV) A leader in the development of New Brunswick's Chaleur region, Réal Boudreau was named an Order of New Brunswick recipient. Although his passion has been the progress of his region, Boudreau says the most important role in his life is being a family man. A native of Beresford, N.B., he started a busy career working with School District No. 4 in 1967 before turning to politics in 1990, beginning a 12-year career in Beresford. He was director of the Caisse Populaire de Beresford, president of the Beresford Arena and president of committees involving minor baseball, minor hockey and intermediate hockey. He was also president of Beresford's Foyer-École, a member of the Infirmières de Bathurst, and vice-president of the regional police department. MOLLY LAMB BOBAK Video : (Mov) \| (WMV) En amorçant sa vie professionnelle à titre d'artiste de guerre officielle, au cours de la Deuxième Guerre mondiale, Molly Lamb Bobak devenait la première femme à occuper ce poste et pionnière d'une nouvelle génération de femmes artistes à entrer dans l'arène professionnelle du monde artistique canadien. On trouve ses œuvres au Musée canadien de la guerre, au Musée des beaux-arts du Canada, au Musée des beaux-arts de l'Ontario et à la Galerie d'art Beaverbrook de Fredericton, au Nouveau-Brunswick. On trouve en fait ses oeuvres dans la plupart des musées d'art importants du pays. Membre de l'Ordre du Canada, Molly Lamb Bobak a reçu des diplômes honorifiques de l'Université du Nouveau-Brunswick, de l'Université St. Thomas de Fredericton, ainsi que de l'Université Mount Allison de Sackville. Sa peinture intitulée Tea Hill, a été reproduite sur un timbre-poste pour souligner la fête du Canada en 1982. Née à Vancouver, en Colombie-Britannique, Molly Lamb Bobak s'est établie à Fredericton en 1960, où elle apporte depuis sa contribution à la culture et à la vie communautaire. Chaque année, elle fait don de milliers de dollars à des sociétés de bienfaisance grâce à des encans d'œuvres d'art et elle appuie la maison de transition pour femmes de Fredericton. DR. NANCY GRANT Video : (Mov) \| (WMV) Working tirelessly for many years to make her community of Saint John and province of New Brunswick a better place to live has been a trademark of Dr. Nancy Grant, a radiation oncologist. She has made a lifelong commitment to provide care and comfort for people who are dying while giving support to their loved ones. Known as a true pioneer in the healthcare field, the caring, dedicated physician and community activist has been made a significant impact on her province in the past 20 years in the field of hospice palliative care. Understanding she couldn't save every life, Dr. Grant looked to the community and hospital support organizations to help her patients and their families cope with the loss of a loved one. Hospice palliative care eases suffering and provides comprehensive support that improves the quality of living and dying. There was little or no support in Saint John for these patients two decades ago. This situation prompted Dr. Grant - a trained musician and experienced clarinet player - to take action on her own initiative, taking a year-and-a-half leave of absence from her practice to research and establish a community-based, non-profit organization. As a result of her efforts, Hospice Saint John was developed and incorporated in 1983. In its time, Hospice Saint John has cared for over 2,700 dying people and supported over 12,000 people. Hospice Saint John has 120 volunteers and two full-time staff members thanks to Dr. Grant's care and initiative. RICHARD B. HATFIELD Video : (Mov) \| (WMV) Richard B. Hatfield left his native Hartland, N.B. for university in Nova Scotia, where he would earn a Bachelor of Laws degree from Dalhousie University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Acadia University. Practising law for six months in Truro, N.S., Hatfield would eventually serve as an executive assistant for the federal Minister of Trade and Commerce in Ottawa before returning home in 1958, where he assumed the position of sales manager for Hatfield Industries, Ltd., the family potato chip business. The lure of politics soon called and he was elected to the Legislative Assembly in 1961, earning re-election in 1963 and 1967 to represent his native Carleton County. Hatfield was chosen leader of the New Brunswick Progressive Conservative party in 1969 before winning the provincial election a year later, becoming the 25th person to serve as Premier of New Brunswick. He would serve four consecutive terms spanning 17 years, making him the longest-serving premier in the province's history. An active participant on the national stage from the 1971 Victoria Constitutional Conference to the Meech Lake Accord in 1987, he was sworn in as a member of the Queen's Privy Council for his work on the proclamation of the Constitutional Act in 1982. He would resign as leader of the party following an election loss in 1987 and was appointed to the Senate of Canada on Sept. 7, 1990. Hatfield died April 26, 1991 at the age of 60. GUY LEBLANC Video : (Mov) \| (WMV) Coming from a poor family in a rural region, Guy LeBlanc of St. Antoine, N.B., has overcome numerous odds to become a role model, advocate, planner and volunteer in his native province. Diagnosed with meningitis as a youth, LeBlanc was left with permanent partial paralysis. That did little to slow his ambitions to overcome his own disability and change public attitudes toward those with disabilities. He was also an effective advocate for improving services and information for French-speaking residents of the province. He would go through five surgeries to improve his mobility, but he eventually landed at the Teacher's College in Fredericton, getting by despite numerous stairs and no elevators at the four-story building. He graduated in 1959 and took his first teaching job while earning two university degrees during evening studies and summer school. Obtaining a sabbatical and bursary to teach at France's Toulouse University in 1968-69, LeBlanc returned and began a 25-year teaching career at l'École Polyvalente Clément-Cormier in Bouctouche, N.B. An active volunteer, LeBlanc has served as mayor of St. Antoine, was president of the Lion's Club, sat on the local museum board and pushed for the creation of the Father J. Angus MacDonald Centre for Independent Living in Moncton. He also served as the first volunteer Chairperson of the Premier's Council on the Status of Disabled Persons, which was created in 1982. HARRISON MCCAIN Video : (Mov) \| (WMV) Founder and chairman of McCain Foods Ltd., Harrison McCain has directed the growth of the company from a small French fry processing plant in tiny Florenceville, N.B. to the world's largest producer of French fries. After several years in sales with Irving Oil, Ltd., McCain left this post at the age of 29 to form McCain Foods, Ltd. with his younger brother Wallace and with support from brothers Andrew and Robert. In his more than 40 years in the food industry, he has been inducted as an Officer of the Order of Canada and earned an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the University of New Brunswick along with being named an Honorary Life Member of the Agricultural Institute of Canada. McCain received the Canadian Business Statesman Award from Harvard Business School, Toronto, and earned the Knight of the Golden Pencil Award. Inducted into the Canadian Business Hall of Fame in 1993, he added similar honours four years later when he was named to the New Brunswick Business Hall of Fame, and was the inaugural recipient of Quick Frozen Foods International Magazine's Golden Ice Crystal Award. He continues to be a major contributor to the social, cultural and economic well-being of Florenceville and New Brunswick. Internationally, McCain Foods, Ltd. employs about 18,000 people with about 10 per cent of that figure employed in processing plants in his home town and Grand Falls, N.B. McCain sits on numerous boards of directors, including the Beaverbrook Art Gallery, Council for Canadian Unity, Junior Achievement of Canada, the Japan Society and the Lahey Clinic Canadian foundation. LOUIS J. ROBICHAUD Video : (Mov) \| (WMV) At the age of 27, Louis J. Robichaud made his first foray into politics, elected as a member of the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick representing the constituency of Kent in 1952. The native of Saint-Antoine, Kent County, was re-elected in 1956 and two years later was elected leader of the Liberal Party of New Brunswick, the official opposition in the province. Robichaud would lead his party to victory in 1960, becoming the province's 24th premier. He was re-elected in 1963 and 1967 and was re-elected in the 1970 general election, but his party lost the provincial election. He would resign his seat in the legislature and position as Liberal party leader to become chairman of the Canadian Section of the International Joint Commission, continuing in that post until he was called to the Senate of Canada in 1973. He retired from the Senate on Oct. 21, 2000, having reached the mandatory retirement age of 75. Under his leadership in New Brunswick, the government initiated and legislated a number of controversial and progressive programs, the effects of which are still being felt today. Some of the changes drew national and international attention and ranged from the abolishment of annual hospital premiums for families, modernized liquor laws, collective bargaining rights for the public service, the appointment of Canada's first provincial ombudsman and the revitalization of the province's natural resources. Perhaps the most highly controversial of these reforms was the introduction of the Program of Equal Opportunity. Introduced following the report of the Byrne Royal Commission, this program expanded the role of the provincial government by abolishing the county council form of local government and centralized the responsibility for education, hospital services, welfare and justice administration in the hands of the provincial government. CLAUDE ROUSSEL Video : (Mov) \| (WMV) A native of Edmundston, N.B., Claude Roussel is recognized as not only one of the province's top artists, but a trailblazer for the next generation of francophone artists who followed in his footsteps. He had a long association with the Université de Moncton as artist in residence and as art department director, and was well-known as a pioneer in visual art courses. Roussel started his work as an arts educator as the first artist to present courses in French-speaking schools in the province. After an educational career spanning 29 years, Roussel is now devoting his time entirely to his artistic career. Listed in Canada's Who's Who in 1964, Roussel's work has appeared worldwide, and his popularity and that of his work earned him the Order of Canada in 1984. New Brunswickers can view his work in locations throughout the province, including Moncton's 100th anniversary monument, the monument to Father Clément Cormier, vice chancellor and founder of Université de Moncton, the New Brunswick Museum in Saint John and galleries throughout the region. He was the local founder and representative of Canadian Artist's Representation (CARFAC) from 1971 to 1976 and has held numerous art gallery posts. Both his solo projects and involvement in group projects have garnered Roussel worldwide acclaim. HONORARY COL. JAMES A. STEWART Video : (Mov) \| (WMV) Arrested and held in various German prisons and concentration camps during World War II, Honorary Col. J.A. Stewart had the will to live. Those memories continue to drive him today, shaping his undeniable force of character and determination. A native of Glasgow, Scotland, Stewart joined up to fight in World War II, eventually landing in the Royal Air Force and spending much of his training flying in Canadian skies. Stewart faced the horrors of war. Shot down during a 1944 strafing mission over France, he would spend two months in the French underground prior to his capture at the hands of the Gestapo. After being shot down and incarcerated, Stewart was liberated by the Russians only to escape from them and fight his way back to British soil in 1945. For his distinguished military career and selfless dedication to the cause of freedom, Stewart was decorated with the Distinguished Flying Cross, the 1939-45 Star, the Atlantic Star and Bar, the France and Germany Star, the Defence Medal and the Imperial War Medal. He left the military in 1946 and moved to Canada six years later, where he has continued to serve in different capacities, drawing upon his remarkable war-time service. One day a week, Stewart can be found at a local elementary school where he reads to children, continuing his passion for fighting illiteracy. Each November, he is instrumental in educating school children in St. Andrews and Saint John on the meaning of Remembrance Day, helping ensure Canadian young people do not forget the sacrifices made by so many in the fight for freedom. He has had a long history with the Royal Canadian Legion, New Brunswick Fish Packers Association, Charlotte County Board of Trade and Canadian Corps of Commissionaires, where he served as president and secretary. Stewart is also heavily involved with the Charlotte County Cancer Society. He was appointed Honorary Colonel 403 (Helicopter) Operational Training Squadron.He wears his Canadian Air Force uniform with great pride. SISTER HÉLÈNE AURÈLIE ROY Video : (Mov) \| (WMV) A native of Nigadoo, N.B., Sister Hélène Aurèlie Roy began a long teaching career in 1938. Roy spent 33 years in the classroom at a number of schools in the province including College Notre-Dame d'Acadie in Moncton and École Sacre-Coeur in Grand Falls, N.B. She earned her teaching certification at Collège Saint-Joseph in 1938 and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the same school in 1948. In 1961, Roy earned a Bachelor of Education degree from Université Saint-Joseph and in 1965, she received a Master of Education degree from the Université de Moncton. Teaching wasn't her only passion. Although she was involved in numerous student activities, Roy was also active with the Canadian Red Cross through personal contributions and the sewing and knitting program. 02/09/09
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