7 local residents named to Order of Canada

A collection of 99 new inductees into Canada’s highest civilian honour includes seven local residents.

Gov. Gen. Julie Payette announced the new inductees Friday afternoon.

Neil Turok, the director of Waterloo’s Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, has been named an officer of the order – the second-highest of its three ranks. As Turok was born in South Africa and is not a Canadian citizen, his appointment is considered honorary.

The other six local appointees were all named members of the order.

They include Jim Estill, the Guelph businessman who helped bring hundreds of Syrian refugees to Canada, as well as fellow Guelph resident Peter Irwin, a renowned wind engineer.

Two Stratford residents are joining the order: Timothy E. MacDonald, a businessman who helped lead the search for ships from the Franklin Expedition lost in the Arctic, and Seana McKenna, a veteran Stratford Festival actress.

Also named to the order are Brantford resident Beverley Jacobs, a longtime advocate for the rights of women and Indigenous people, and Indigenous educator Rebecca Jamieson of Ohsweken.