Media Releases

Order of Canada awarded to University of Toronto president, faculty members

January 4, 2016

Toron­to, ON — Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to Pres­i­dent Mer­ic Gertler has been appoint­ed to the Order of Cana­da – along with fac­ul­ty mem­bers Bren­da Andrews, Frances Shep­herd, George Baird and Kent Roach.

The pres­i­dent received the hon­our in recog­ni­tion of “his research in urban geog­ra­phy, notably for his influ­en­tial stud­ies of inno­va­tion, tech­nol­o­gy and devel­op­ment in cities,” the Gov­er­nor General’s office said in its cita­tion.

Estab­lished in 1967, the Order rec­og­nizes out­stand­ing achieve­ment, ded­i­ca­tion to the com­mu­ni­ty and ser­vice to the nation.

In a state­ment on its web­site, the Gov­er­nor General’s office says the Order rec­og­nizes “peo­ple in all sec­tors of Cana­di­an soci­ety. Their con­tri­bu­tions are var­ied, yet they have all enriched the lives of oth­ers and made a dif­fer­ence to this coun­try.”

Gov­er­nor Gen­er­al David John­ston released the lat­est list of appointees and pro­gres­sions with­in the Order on Dec. 30. Gertler, who was named a Mem­ber of the Order, not­ed that the list rec­og­nized many mem­bers of the U of T com­mu­ni­ty, includ­ing fac­ul­ty and alum­ni.

“I’m delight­ed to see the Order of Cana­da cel­e­brat­ing so many mem­bers of the Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to com­mu­ni­ty,” Gertler said. “These lead­ing schol­ars and ded­i­cat­ed cit­i­zens have made extra­or­di­nary con­tri­bu­tions to our coun­try and our world and I’m pleased to offer them my con­grat­u­la­tions.

“It’s an unex­pect­ed hon­our to be includ­ed among their num­ber.”

Three of the six Cana­di­ans named Com­pan­ion of the Order of Cana­da, the high­est lev­el of the Order, are mem­bers of the U of T com­mu­ni­ty. Bren­da Andrews, new­ly named to the Order, was named Com­pan­ion for “her glob­al­ly sig­nif­i­cant research in sys­tems biol­o­gy and for devel­op­ing and nur­tur­ing promi­nent sci­en­tif­ic com­mu­ni­ties in mol­e­c­u­lar genet­ics.” Mar­garet MacMil­lan was pro­mot­ed with­in the Order to the lev­el of Com­pan­ion for “her emi­nent stud­ies of inter­na­tion­al rela­tions his­to­ry, and for her lead­ing con­tri­bu­tions to pub­lic dis­course on his­to­ry and cur­rent affairs.” And alum­nus Atom Egoy­an was pro­mot­ed to Com­pan­ion for “his ground­break­ing con­tri­bu­tions to film as an inter­na­tion­al­ly respect­ed film­mak­er and for his com­mit­ment to men­tor­ing and show­cas­ing Cana­di­an artists.”

Along with Andrews and Gertler, those new­ly named to the Order include:

Frances Alice Shep­herd, named Offi­cer of the Order of Cana­da for “her lead­er­ship in improv­ing treat­ment options and out­comes for indi­vid­u­als with advanced lung can­cer.”

George Baird, named Mem­ber of the Order of Cana­da for “his con­tri­bu­tions to archi­tec­ture as a schol­ar, teacher, and prac­ti­tion­er.

Kent Roach, named Mem­ber of the Order of Cana­da for “his stead­fast defence of the rights of Cana­di­ans, both as a schol­ar and as a lit­i­ga­tor.”

See the com­plete list of the newest recip­i­ents

Read about some of the mem­bers of the U of T com­mu­ni­ty award­ed the Order of Cana­da in pre­vi­ous years

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For more infor­ma­tion, con­tact:
U of T Media Rela­tions
416–978-0100
media.relations@utoronto.ca