Deepa Mehta, lung transplant innovator among Order of Ontario recipients

Film director Deepa Mehta and lung transplant innovator Dr. Shaf Keshavjee were among the 25 people named to the Order of Ontario on Wednesday.

Lt.-Gov. David C. Onley invested the recipients with the order at a Queen’s Park ceremony on Wednesday afternoon. It’s the province’s highest official honour.

“The Order of Ontario recognizes extraordinary Ontarians who have made a lasting mark on the province, the country and the world,” Onley said.

“This group of remarkable citizens has made a difference in the lives of so many people over the course of a lifetime, and I’m proud to invest them with Ontario’s highest honour.”

Tenor and actor Michael Burgess, veteran journalist Brian Stewart and Dr. Gail Robinson, who founded Canada’s first rape crisis centre, also received the order.

Mehta, a film director who is on the Toronto International Film Festival’s board, received the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement last year.

Dr. Keshavjee made advances in organ preservation and repair that have significantly increased the number of donor lungs used in transplants.

Sister Helen Petrimoulx, a Windsor nun who opened a home for refugee women and children, was honoured for her work to fight human trafficking. This year, Petrimoulx was also awarded the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee medal.

Nominations are made by members of the public. Nominations for next year’s awards close on March 16.

Click here for a full list of the 2013 Order of Ontario appointees.

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