Governor General Mary Simon has officially stripped two prominent Canadians of their Order of Canada honours following criminal convictions in separate high-profile cases involving sexual abuse and corruption.
The decision was announced Friday in the Canada Gazette, the federal government’s official publication, confirming the termination of the appointments of humanitarian worker Peter Dalglish and former SNC-Lavalin CEO Jacques Lamarre.
Dalglish, founder of the charity Street Kids International, was appointed to the Order of Canada in 2016 for his humanitarian work. However, he was later convicted in Nepal for sexually assaulting two boys aged 11 and 14.
Nepalese authorities said Dalglish lured vulnerable children from impoverished families with promises of education, jobs and travel opportunities before abusing them. Police arrested him after raiding his residence in Nepal, where the boys were found.
Originally from London, Ontario, Dalglish received a combined prison sentence of 16 years from a Nepalese court following the conviction.
Jacques Lamarre, who became a member of the Order of Canada in 2005, was removed from the honour after being found guilty in connection with corruption and collusion involving SNC-Lavalin’s operations in Libya.
Lamarre served as CEO of SNC-Lavalin between 2001 and 2009. Earlier this year, a Quebec disciplinary council revoked his engineering licence and fined him $75,000 for his role in the scandal.
The engineering regulatory body concluded Lamarre authorized payments totaling $2 million to the family of Saadi Gadhafi, son of former Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi, as part of SNC-Lavalin’s business dealings in Libya.
The Order of Canada is one of the country’s highest civilian honours and can be revoked if recipients are found to have brought disrepute to the honour system.
Several other notable Canadians have previously lost their Order of Canada status.
Former media executive Conrad Black was removed from the order in 2014 after serving prison time in the United States for fraud-related offences connected to the Hollinger newspaper empire. Black had originally been inducted in 1990.
Singer-songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie also lost the honour following controversy surrounding claims about her Indigenous ancestry. Reports from family members in the United States challenged longstanding public narratives regarding her heritage, though Sainte-Marie has denied intentionally misleading the public.
Theatre producer Garth Drabinsky was stripped of the honour after being convicted of fraud tied to the collapse of Livent Inc., the production company behind Broadway hits including “Phantom of the Opera” and “Ragtime.”
The latest removals underscore the Canadian honours system’s ongoing efforts to maintain accountability and protect the integrity of one of the nation’s most prestigious recognitions.
