Actor and Parkinson’s advocate Michael J. Fox was formally promoted to Companion of the Order of Canada, the country’s highest civilian honour, at a ceremony at Rideau Hall in Ottawa on Friday, Oct. 2, the Canadian Press reported.
Gov. Gen. Louise Arbour presided over the investiture, which honoured 51 people who were inducted into or promoted within the Order that day, according to the Canadian Press. Rideau Hall cited Fox’s “powerful global advocacy and unflinching honesty about Parkinson’s.”
Fox said he felt both pride and humility, the Canadian Press reported. He credited his Canadian upbringing and said Canada was an early testing ground for deep brain stimulation, a Parkinson’s treatment.
Arbour called Fox a “shining example” of using talent for the benefit of others, the news agency reported.
The promotion was announced June 26 as part of a list of 61 new appointments and promotions, the last group chosen by former governor general Mary Simon, according to the Canadian Press. Arbour took over the role earlier in June. Fox, who has worn the officer’s pin for 16 years, moves up a rank, as did Canadian soccer great Christine Sinclair, who was also promoted to Companion.
Membership in the Companion rank is capped at 180 living people, the Canadian Press reported, which makes promotions to it rare.
When the promotion was announced, Fox said his “intrinsic Canadianism is a bigger part of me than my relationship with the States.”
Fox went public with his Parkinson’s diagnosis in 1998. The Michael J. Fox Foundation has since raised $2.5 billion for research into the disease, the Canadian Press reported.
Other people honoured at the Oct. 2 ceremony included Stephen Poloz, a former Bank of Canada governor, and Nada Jabado, a McGill University researcher in paediatric neuro-oncology, who were named officers. New members included Susanne Craig, a Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times reporter, Olympic curler Kevin Martin, and Quebec playwright Marcelle Dubois.
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Via CP24 / The Canadian Press. Additional reporting: Global News.
