Member of the Order of Canada

• Awarded on: October 22, 2009
• Invested on: October 28, 2009

Ian Vorres has long been a prominent figure in bilateral relations between Canada and Greece, as well as a patron of the arts. A former art critic for The Hamilton Spectator, he organized the first major exhibition of Byzantine art in Canada. He is the creator and president of the Vorres Museum of Contemporary Greek Art and Folk Art, an important cultural centre in Greece. The first Canadian citizen to be elected mayor of a town in Greece, he is also the former president of the Hellenic Canadian Association and a former board member of the Canadian Mediterranean Institute. As well, to encourage young people to pursue academic studies in Greece, he has founded fellowships at Queen's University and at the University of Toronto.