Lightfoot is an Order of Canada recipient.
http://gg.ca/media/doc.asp?lang=e&DocID=4090
The present Governor General is instituting a programme wherein members of the Order of Canada will mentor youth..
It will be interesting to see if he will be one.
TheStar.com | GTA | Order of Canada mentoring plan is Jean's dream
Order of Canada mentoring plan is Jean's dream
Governor General foresees network that can build bridges
Feb 25, 2008 04:30 AM
Dale Anne Freed
Staff Reporter
OTTAWA–Governor General Michaëlle Jean says it's time to raise the profile of the Order of Canada and put the country's highest civilian honour on the radar of all Canadians.
The best way to do that is by engaging recipients of the Order in a project to mentor youth, she says.
Her plan is to smart small and dream big.
"I've called upon the members of this Order across the country to create a mentoring network that will build bridges between the generations," Jean told a group of 37 honourees Friday in the ballroom of Rideau Hall at the 101st investiture of the Order of Canada.
"It is up to us to make this initiative a success," she said, scanning a crowd that included scientists, musicians and academics, and politicians – including former prime minister Jean Chrétien, invested as one of three Companions, the highest level of membership.
"You represent the best in all of us," she told the crowd. "I'm counting on you."
Chrétien said he's ready for the challenge.
"For me, it's not very far, I live very nearby," he said after the ceremony, indicating he's ready to help.
A day earlier, Jean met with the Star to outline her plans, which would see 20 young Canadians paired with 20 Order of Canada recipients in a cross-country pilot project.
"We'll start with 40 people ... because we're celebrating the 40th anniversary" of the Order, she said.
So far, hundreds across the country have clamoured to be some of the chosen 20 mentors, the Governor General said.
"It's not enough to give them a pin and a medal and say now you're invested to the Order of Canada," she said.
"They want to be put to work. They want to give back, they are eager to do that," said Jean, who, like all governors general, is automatically invested with the Order.
She daily wears her own Order of Canada, a white snowflake insignia, which is proudly pinned over her heart.
Since the Order was initiated in 1967 under Prime Minister Lester Pearson, more than 5,000 Canadians have received the honour.
The pilot project will be a partnership with Youth in Motion, a 10-year-old national not-for-profit organization based in Toronto and dedicated to arming youth with job and life skills, said Marni Schecter-Taylor, communications director for Youth in Motion, who was at the investiture.
Youth must be under 20 – the average age is 17 – and must show excellence in three areas: innovation, leadership and achievement, Schecter-Taylor explained.
Winners, who will be narrowed down from 300 applications received, will be named in Toronto in June, she said.
Although Youth in Motion sets youth up with mentors in a Top 20 Under 20 program, this will be the first year that youth are partnered with Order of Canada recipients, she said.
Selected mentors and youth will be matched up for a year. During that time they'll have access to the "Citizens' Voices" blog (which Jean's husband, documentary filmmaker Jean-Daniel Lafond, helped launch) "as a platform for their conversations, their dialogue," Jean said.
Former prime minister Paul Martin called the mentoring program " a tremendous idea ... a tremendous thing for the Order itself and for the recipients and obviously for the kids who would be benefiting."
"I think it will make the Order of Canada live," Martin told the Star on a visit to Toronto last week.
Many Canadians would be hard pressed to identify the Order of Canada or the recipients, said Martin, who appointed Jean to the vice-regal post in 2005, before stepping down as prime minister.
And he beams with pride at what he terms her "A+" report card rating so far.
"She has made a major mark on the world stage," Martin said.
Lightfoot as Mentor??
