Backgrounder

December 12, 2006

ORDER OF ONTARIO APPOINTEES

Newly Named Order of Ontario Appointees

Naomi Alboim of Toronto – During a distinguished career as a public servant Ms. Alboim oversaw projects as varied as the introduction of pay equity legislation in Ontario to the creation of a federal-provincial negotiating table to work on common issues. She has worked extensively in the areas of immigration and refugee policy.

Ron Barbaro of Toronto – A retired executive who pioneered the Living Benefit – an option that enables terminally ill policy holders to collect life insurance benefits while they are still living. Mr. Barbaro’s extensive community involvement includes serving as a past Chair of the United Way and as a founding member of Ronald McDonald Children’s Charities.

Harold Brathwaite of Mississauga – A career educator who is being recognized for his contributions to racial harmony and education in the province.  Mr. Braithwaite is a former Director of Education for the Peel District School Board who has developed and guided initiatives to assist at risk youth in the black community.

Boris Brott of Hamilton – Internationally respected maestro who transformed the Hamilton Philharmonic into a professional performing arts organization during his two decades at the organization. Brott also developed five other orchestras in Canada.

Donald Carr of Toronto – Mr. Carr serves as counsel and advisor to a wide range of charities and not-for-profit organizations in Ontario. Carr has done a great deal of legal work pro bono. He is also a long-time president of the Canadian Jewish News and the founding partner of Goodman and Carr LLP.

Brian Desbiens of Omemee – Mr. Desbiens is a visionary educator who has promoted the college system for more than 35 years. St. Joseph’s at Fleming in Peterborough is the first long-term care facility in Canada to officially partner with a learning institution. Mr. Desbiens made the partnership a reality.

Dr. Thomas Dignan of Thunder Bay – Dr. Dignan is an Aboriginal healthcare advocate who has mentored hundreds of health care professionals. He is also a co-founder of the Native Physicians Association of Canada and a founding member and first president of the Native Nurses Association of Canada.

Deborah Ellis of Simcoe – Award winning children’s author and human rights advocate who has donated more than $500,000 in royalties from her books to human rights causes. Ms. Ellis’ books include: Looking for X; The Breadwinner; Parvana’s Journey and Three Wishes: Palestinian and Israeli Children Speak.

Hughes Eng of Toronto – Mr. Eng has provided decades of exemplary community service in the province. Wherever there has been a need in the community he has responded. Mr. Eng was also a founding director of the National Congress of Chinese as well as a founding director of Chinavision (now called Fairchild TV).

Dr. Brenda L. Gallie of Toronto – Dr. Gallie is an expert in the treatment of retinoblastoma, a type of childhood eye cancer. Dr.Gallie was part of the team that first discovered the gene for causing this cancer in children and has spearheaded a national retinoblastoma strategy. 

Dr. Dorothy Griffiths of Welland – Dr. Griffiths is a recognized leader in services for those with intellectual disabilities and mental health concerns. She is a researcher, professor and mentor who has initiated ground breaking therapeutic programs.

William A. Harshaw of Toronto – Harshaw has worked tirelessly to raise awareness of and funds for Parkinson’s disease research. Mr. Harshaw was instrumental in establishing the National Super Walk for Parkinson’s. He also led an initiative to develop a unique co-payment drug plan for catastrophic and chronic diseases in Ontario.

John Honderich of Toronto – A former Toronto Star editor and publisher, under whose leadership the newspaper was nominated nine consecutive times for the Michener Award for meritorious public service journalism. Mr. Honderich has also been supportive of and involved in literacy programs, has led several public forum discussions on literacy issues and is an active philanthropist.

Leon Katz of Ottawa – An engineer medical inventor who has adapted devices intended for other commercial purposes for use by medical practitioners. Mr. Katz adapted Canada’s first heart pump used for “blue babies.” He also participated in Canada’s first open-heart surgery in 1957. One of his inventions, the original servo controlled automatic scanner and printer located thyroid cancer metastases and produced accurate printouts of every cancerous spot on the body.

Gisèle Lalonde of Vanier – An educator by profession, Mrs. Lalonde has been actively involved in the promotion of the Franco-Ontarian community for many decades.
She was the founding Executive Director of the Centre franco-ontarien de resources pedagogiques. Mrs. Lalonde also founded the Francophone Association of Municipalities of Ontario.

Dr. Mike Lazaridis of Waterloo – Research In Motion founder and BlackBerry® inventor, Dr. Lazaridis has also been responsible for a number of other firsts in wireless technology. He has also generously donated more than $150 million to the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, and the University of Waterloo's Institute for Quantum Computing.

Beatrice Levis of Toronto – Ms. Levis has advocated extensively on social justice issues relating to seniors in the areas of pensions, medicare, long-term care and housing. She has served as co-chair of the Ontario Coalition of Senior Citizens (OCSCO) helping to build it to the largest seniors’ organization in Ontario with more than 130 member organizations.

Nancy Lockhart of Toronto – Recognized for her strong leadership as the chair of the Ontario Science Centre for almost a decade. Mrs. Lockhart has set a strong vision, successfully led a $40 million capital campaign and increased attendance to 1.2 million visitors in 2005. 

Dr. Ernest McCulloch of Toronto – Dr. McCulloch is one of the world’s foremost pioneers in stem cell biology. His work in the 1960s helped establish the foundation for all future work in this area. Dr. McCulloch was a pioneer in leukemia research and bone marrow transplantation and was one of the first to try transplantation in Canada.

Dr. Lillian McGregor of Toronto – For more than six decades Dr. McGregor has served numerous organizations as a board member or Elder. She is a respected teacher of traditional ceremonies and advocate for Aboriginal languages. She is the first Canadian Aboriginal woman to receive a Doctor of Laws degree, honoris causa from the University of Toronto.

Dr. Sher Ali Mirza of Thunder Bay – A recognized authority on the safety, stability and behaviour of reinforced concrete and composite structures. Dr. Mirza has led to the development of innovative design and testing procedures, and made a major impact on structural engineering practice in North America. Canadian and U.S. structural engineering codes of practice make use of his research. Dr. Mirza co-invented the Confined Capping System for comprehensive strength testing of high-strength, high-performance concretes.

Ratna Omidvar of Toronto – Advocate who has held a variety of senior positions with organizations that serve newcomers. She is a former president of the Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants (OCASI) and is currently executive director of the Maytree Foundation as well as executive director of the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council (TRIEC) which seeks to improve access to employment for immigrants in the region.

Sandra Rotman of Toronto – Philanthropist whose board work and donations have made significant contributions to the province, particularly in the areas of the arts and healthcare. Chairs in Health Sector Strategy and Social Work have been created in her name as well as a Program in Neuropsychiatry. 

Mark Starowicz of Toronto – Broadcaster and journalist who has been responsible for creating some of the most influential news programs in Canada including As It Happens, Sunday Morning, and The Journal (with the late Barbara Frum). He created and produced the 32 hr documentary series, Canada: A People's History.

Marlene Streit of Unionville – As a professional golfer, Mrs. Streit won over 60 tournaments. At the height of her golf career, Mrs. Streit was recognized as the Canadian Athlete of the Year five times between the years 1951 and 1963.
She has been recognized as Canada’s Female Golfer of the Century and has been inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame.

Dr. Ronald W. Taylor of Toronto – Physician whose contributions to sports medicine include the creation of a sports medicine clinic at Mount Sinai. In addition to serving as team physician to the Toronto Blue Jays Baseball club, Dr. Taylor lectures at the University of Toronto medical school, runs a family practice, and works in the area of rehab medicine.  Taylor is also a former baseball player who played professionally for a decade.     

Dr. James Till of Toronto – One of the world’s foremost pioneers in stem cell biology. His work on stem cells of the blood forming system established the foundation for all future work on stem cells. In addition to Dr. Till’s basic research in hematopoietic stem cells, he conducted pioneering basic research in other biomedical areas in defining the radiation sensitivity of cells, developing a mathematical model for cell cycle progression, and developing one of the first quantitative assays for tumour viruses.

John Walker Whiteside of Tecumseh – Has served as an assistant crown attorney, professor and associate dean of a faculty of law. Mr. Whiteside is currently Professor Emeritus. Mr. Whiteside has also been involved in extensive board work at the community level for organizations as varied as local hospitals to serving as chair of the Ontario Association of Police Services Board and the Windsor Board of Commissioners of Police.

Moses Znaimer of Toronto – Broadcaster and innovator who brought an original drive in television and allied communications arts into a comfortable alignment with the practical demands of commerce. He is known to the world broadcasting community for his innovation: the Participatory and Interactive Streetfront, Studioless, Television Operating System®;.

The following are appointees from previous years who are being invested:

Robin F. Badgley of Oakville
Founder of the Department of Behavioural Science at the University of Toronto which became a highly reputed training ground in the area of social science and health related research. Mr Badgley is also known for having chaired the Sexual Abuse of Children report - internationally known as the Badgley Report - that led to strengthened legislation in that area.

Margaret Zeidler of Toronto
Trained as an architect, Margaret Zeidler builds communities through historic restoration, specializing in the renovation of derelict buildings. Her first revitalization project transformed a factory on Richmond Street West in Toronto into a community for hundreds of artists, cultural entrepreneurs and social innovators.  She has been awarded the Jane Jacobs Prize for her contributions to the Toronto region.

For additional information on the Order of Ontario visit: http://www.citizenship.gov.on.ca/english/citdiv/honours/order/order.htm

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Contacts:
Lily Pavlović, Communications Branch, (416) 314-7725

• News Release - Order Of Ontario Appointments Announced