http://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.c...rder-of-canada
video at link above..
OTTAWA - Stoney Lake's Ronnie Hawkins gave a fist pump in the air Wednesday morning after being congratulated by Governor General David Johnston as he accepted his honorary Officer of the Order of Canada honour at Rideau Hall in Ottawa.
The 79-year-old rockabilly legend came to Canada in 1958 from Arkansas. The honorary Order of Canada was announced in June “for his contributions to the development of the music industry in Canada as a rock musician, and for his support of charitable causes.“
There were plenty of laughs during Wednesday's Order of Canada investiture ceremony -- author and artist Douglas Coupland's selfie with Johnston, for example. Hockey broadcaster Dick Irvin complemented the Sun on its Montreal Canadiens belt buckle.
Speaking of the Habs, even the Governor General himself took a moment to speak about hockey when he quoted Hall of Fame goalie Ken Dryden in his opening address, before ending with "Go Carey Price!".
But, the order of the day wasn't hockey, or humour -- it was gratitude. A total of 45 Canadians were honoured for their "desire for a better country."
Rabbi Reuven Bulka -- broadcaster, community volunteer and founder of Kindness Week, called the honour the greatest he's ever received.
"It's the quintessential Canadian experience," he said.
Asked about where his drive to be a good Canadian comes from, Bulka believes it was something which developed from a calling into "an addiction." He tries to stay healthy and only sleeps four or five hours each night, trying to keep up with all he wants to do.
Honoured as Members of the Order of Canada were Arctic expedition leader Geoff Green, digital-age health expert Hether Menzies, entrepreneur Wesley Nicol, Community Foundations of Canada CEO Monica Patten, philanthropist Sara Vered, and astronaut Bob Thirsk was made an Officer of the Order of Canada.
“I’m gonna be chasing them high-society girls now,” Hawkins said in an June interview with The Examiner after the announcement of the honour.
“They called me last week” about the award, he said at the time. “Oh, my goodness gracious. I told them it’s gonna be hard for me to be humble now. For a rock and roll bar act, that’s the most fantastic thing I’ve ever heard. I don’t know how in the world I got in there, but I think it’s the greatest thing.
“Now I’ve won every award I reckon you can win in Canada ’cause I won all them music things,” Hawkins said.
“I used to joke about it and say the only thing I wish I could get would be the order of Canada.
And here it is.”
Hawkins recalled his arrival in Canada.
“When we came up here, a bunch of rednecks and hillbillies, poor people could go to doctors and hospitals even if they didn’t have any money,” he said. “That was the greatest thing any of us had ever heard of.”
Hawkins was a prominent player in the Toronto music scene in the 1960s.
In the 1950s and the 1960s, he said, “Yonge St. was the greatest place on the planet. Oh, my gosh. The law was all the bars were downtown, and they weren’t anywhere else. You had that little strip there, and we hit it lucky playing that rock and roll, and I’m tellin’ you what. Nero didn’t have as much fun as we did.”
“Thank you Canada,” he said. “We’re living in the promised land.”
Some members of his backing band The Hawks — Levon Helm, Robbie Robertson, Rick Danko, Richard Manuel and Garth Hudson — went on to form The Band. Hawkins performed in their acclaimed 1978 movie The Last Waltz.
In 1969, Hawkins hosted John Lennon and Yoko Ono for a stay at his Mississauga home during the Beatle member's Bed-in for Peace campaign.
Musician Ronnie Hawkins (L) shakes hands with Governor General David Johnston after being awarded the rank of Honourary Officer in the Order of Canada during a ceremony at Rideau Hall in Ottawa May 7, 2014. REUTERS/Chris Wattie (CANADA - Tags: POLITICS SOCIETY ENTERTAINMENT)