The
Order of British Columbia is a civilian honour for merit in
the Canadian
province of British
Columbia
.
Instituted in 1989 by
Lieutenant Governor
David Lam, on the
advice of the
Cabinet under
Premier Bill Vander Zalm, the order is administered
by the
Governor-in-Council, and is
intended to honour current or former British Columbia residents for
conspicuous achievements in any field, being thus described as the
highest honour amongst all others conferred by the
British Columbia Crown.
Structure and appointment
The Order
of British Columbia, which evolved out of and replaced the earlier
Order of the Dogwood, is
intended to honour any current or former long time resident of
British
Columbia
who has
demonstrated a high level of individual excellence and achievement
in any field, demonstrating the "greatest distinction and
excell[ence] in any field of endeavour benefiting the people of the
Province or elsewhere." Only those who are elected or
appointed members of a governmental body are ineligible as long as
they hold office. There are no limits on how many can belong to the
order or be inducted at one time.
The process of finding qualified individuals begins with
submissions from the public to the Order of British Columbia's
advisory council, which consists of the
Chief Justice
of British Columbia, who serves as the Chair; the
Speaker
of the Legislative Assembly; a president, in turn, of one of
British
Columbia's public universities, for a two-year term; the
President of the Union of
British Columbia
Municipalities; the Deputy Minister of Intergovernmental
Relations; and two Members of the order. This committee then meets
once yearly to make its selected recommendations to the Lieutenant
Governor. Posthumous nominations are not accepted, though an
individual who dies after his or her name was submitted to the
advisory council can still be retroactively made a Member of the
Order of British Columbia. The Lieutenant Governor,
ex officio a Member
and the Chancellor of the Order of British Columbia, then makes all
appointments into the fellowship's single grade of membership by an
Order-in-Council that bears the
viceroyal sign-manual and the
Great Seal of the province; thereafter,
the new Members are entitled to use the
post-nominal letters
OBC.
Insignia
Upon
admission into the Order of British Columbia, in a ceremony held at
Government House
in Victoria
, new Members are presented with the order's
insignia. The main badge consists of a
gold medallion in the form of a stylized flower of the
Pacific Dogwood the official
provincial flower with the obverse in white
enamel with gold edging, and bearing at its
centre the
escutcheon of the
arms of British
Columbia, all surmounted by a
St.
Edward's Crown symbolizing the
Canadian monarch's role as the
fount of honour. The ribbon is patterned
with vertical stripes in green, white, blue, and gold, reflecting
the colours within the provincial coat of arms; men wear the
medallion suspended from this ribbon at the collar, while women
carry theirs on a ribbon bow at the left chest. Members will also
receive for wear on casual clothing a lapel pin, appearing as a
smaller enamel Dogwood flower capped by a crown.
Inductees
Past appointments include:
- Bryan Guy Adams , Grammy Award winning musician and photographer, appointed 1990
- Unity Bainbridge, artist and
poet, appointed 1993
- Michael Conway Baker ,
composer, appointed 1997
- Dr. Geoffrey
Ballard , geophysicist and
businessman, appointed 2003
- Brigadier Henry Pybus
Bell-Irving , Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia,
appointed 1990
- Robert Italo Lenarduzzi , coach
of Canadian Olympic and national soccer teams, appointed 2005
- Frank Arthur Calder , first
aboriginal Canadian
elected to any Canadian legislature, appointed 2004
- Raffi Cavoukian , children's
entertainer, appointed 2001
- Lori Fung Methorst , Olympic gymnast,
appointed 1990
- Garde Basil Gardom , Lieutenant
Governor of British Columbia, appointed 2002
- Gordon Gibson , politician,
columnist, and author, appointed 2008
- Nancy Catherine Greene , Senator and Olympic alpine skier, appointed
2004
- Richard M. Hansen , paraplegic athlete and activist,
appointed 1990
- Edward John Hughes , artist,
appointed 2005
- Douglas Jung , first Chinese Canadian federal Member of Parliament, appointed
1997
- Joy Kogawa , author and poet,
appointed 2006
- Diana Jean Krall , jazz musician,
appointed 2000
- Trevor Linden , professional
hockey player, appointed 2003
- Sarah Ann McLachlan , musician,
singer, and songwriter, appointed 2001
- James Mavor Moore , writer,
producer, critic, and educator, appointed 1999
- Stephen John Nash , National Basketball
Association player, appointed 2006
- Derek Porter-Nesbitt , Olympic
rower, appointed 1996
- Ernest Alvia Smith , last living Canadian
recipient of the Victoria Cross,
appointed 2002
- Kenneth McVay , internet activist,
appointed 1995
- David Takayoshi Suzuki , environmentalist and science broadcaster,
appointed 1995
- Peter Wing , first mayor of Chinese
descent in North America, appointed
1990
See also
External links
References