Officer of the Order of Canada
Awarded on: 2002-10-10
Invested on: 2003-10-24
Shirley Douglas is one of our nation's finest performers and a renowned social activist. She has brought some of Canadian literature's most well-known characters to life, such as Hagar in The Stone Angel and Marilla in Anne of Green Gables. National spokesperson for the Canadian Health Coalition, an organization devoted to preserving public health care, she travels the continent, speaking in church basements and local libraries or at large public rallies and international forums. In Toronto , she founded a citizens' group committed to protecting not-for-profit health services. She volunteers much of her time to these causes, which she views as symbolic of Canada 's identity.