U of T · September 2026 0% Contents Subscribe
Order of Canada medals.
← Honours · U of T, September 2026

Eighty Honoured, Dozens from U of T

On Dec. 31, 2025, the Order of Canada added 80 names, 23 with U of T ties and four at the Companion level. Retired Supreme Court justices the Hon. Rosalie Abella and the Hon. Michael Moldaver were named Companions; thoracic surgeon Shaf Keshavjee and songwriter Raffi Cavoukian were promoted to Companion. Gov. Gen. Mary Simon said, "The Order of Canada fosters a sense of pride and cohesion in our country."

Alumni Digest desk · from U of T Alumni News
Above: Order of Canada medals. Photo: Sgt Johanie Maheu, Rideau Hall, OSGG-BSGG

Among the 23 U of T-connected honorees: outbreak-response leader Allison McGeer, who led responses to SARS and COVID-19; John Willinsky, founder of the scholarly-publishing Public Knowledge Project; and Mark S. Bonham, longtime supporter of U of T's Mark S. Bonham Centre for Sexual Diversity Studies.

Also honoured: five-time world professional middleweight kickboxing champion Muzammal Nawaz, who founded the sport's first national federation, and Proton Rahman, who helped shape Newfoundland and Labrador's COVID-19 response — and 14 others across medicine, law, education and the arts.

This round brought the total appointed or promoted nationwide to 80, spanning medicine, science, law, public service and the arts.

Reported from U of T community members recognized with Order of Canada, by Not stated (U of T Alumni News, January 13, 2026).

More from the original reporting: alumni.utoronto.ca/news/u-t-community-members-recognized-order-canada

Until the next issue

The class keeps arriving.

Sixty-nine stories end this issue, but the university doesn't pause between them. A new orientation week is already being planned; a lab somewhere on campus is already running the next experiment. Alumni Digest will be there in October for the next one.

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