Governor General reveals new inductees to Order of Canada

Filmmaker Arthur Hiller, anti-smoking activist Gar Mahood and authors Howard Engel, Barbara Gowdy and Frances Itani are among the latest citizens to be named to the Order of Canada.

Governor General Michalle Jean announced Tuesday 87 new appointments to the order, among the country's highest honours.

Fiction writers Engel, Gowdy and Itani are among the 55 new members to the order, which was established in 1967 to honour Canadians whose extraordinary achievementsor outstanding service in various fields have made a difference across the country.

Other new members include:

• TV personality Valerie Pringle.
• Children's rights advocate Craig Kielburger.
• Choral performer and music educator Sister Katherine Bellamy.
• Painter Alex Janvier.
• Singer-songwriter Connie Kaldor.
• Visual art curator Joan Stebbins.
• Theatre director Jean Roberts.
• Mark Rowswell, better known throughout China as the stage performer and TV personality Dashan.

Hiller, director of the Hollywood classic Love Story, and Mahood, executive director of the Non-Smokers' Rights Association, are among the 29 people newly named officers of the order. Others include opera director Robert Carsen, journalist and writer Peter Desbarats and visual artist Gerald McMaster.

Three people were promoted to the order's highest level companion on Tuesday: Quebec lawyer and former Hydro-Qubec executive Richard Drouin, Nisga'a leader Joseph Gosnell Sr. and Calgary business executiveRonald Southern.

The latest inductees will receive their insignia from the Governor General at a Rideau Hall ceremony later this year.

Any Canadian may be nominated for the Order of Canada, while non-Canadians may be considered for honorary appointments. The appointments are made on the recommendation of an advisory council chaired by the chief justice of Canada.