Rideau Hall, Friday, May 8, 2015

What a pleasure to welcome all of you to Rideau Hall, the home of the people of Canada.

This is where we honour Canada’s very best and brightest. It’s where we say ‘thank you’ for helping to build a better country.

And of course that’s the motto of the Order of Canada: Desiderantes meliorem patriam—“They Desire a Better Country.”

You’re a diverse group, from all corners of this vast land, but you all have that desire to serve your country in common. All of us in this room do.

True greatness—the kind that we honour today, the kind that’s worthy of the Order of Canada—is the result of a career, of a lifetime, of hard work.

You work in medicine, business, politics, the arts, education and more.

You are volunteers and entrepreneurs and community leaders.

You’ve made contributions that have brought your respective professions and communities and regions to new heights.

You’ve made this entire country stronger, and improved its standing in the world.

We’re so fortunate to have the Order of Canada as a means of recognizing excellence. My predecessor, Vincent Massey, once described the office of governor general as “an instrument for Canada,” and I see the Order in much the same way.

It’s an important symbol of our values and our beliefs.

In fact, when someone asks me, ‘What is your vision for Canada?’ I point to the Order of Canada, in all its hopefulness and diversity and excellence. And many of you are involved in areas that my wife, Sharon, and I have focused on during our time here: innovation, learning, volunteerism, philanthropy and mental health.   

This week is Mental Health Week in fact and we have a number of pioneers in the field here with us today. This is an area where Sharon has shown passionate leadership, and we are encouraged by the advances that are being made in reducing stigma and improving care in this important matter.

I’m so proud that ours is one of the most merit-based, non-partisan and transparent honours systems in the world.

In two short years, we will mark the 150th anniversary of Confederation; we will also mark the 50th anniversary of the Order.

These milestones give us a wonderful opportunity to make sure ours is the best honours system it can be—to make a good thing even better.

One way we do this is simply by nominating as many deserving Canadians for awards and honours as we can.

There are so many worthy people out there, and I would like to call on everyone in this ballroom to think about nominating someone you know.  

I also hope that all of our newly-invested members of the Order of Canada will join us in raising its profile. Wear your snowflake with pride and tell your story.

Let me close by saying thank you and congratulations once again on your investiture.

This is a magnificent day; be proud of what you have achieved.  

Have a memorable celebration.