2005 Order of Manitoba
Recipients Background Information

Randy Bachman

Born in Winnipeg, Randy Bachman has become a legendary figure in the rock-and-roll world through his talents as a guitarist, songwriter, performer and producer. He has earned over 120 gold and platinum album and singles awards. His songwriting has garnered him the coveted number one spot on radio play lists in over 20 countries and he has amassed over 40 million records sold. His songs have been recorded by numerous other artists and placed in dozens of television, movie and commercial soundtracks.

His first scored Billboard radio chart success was with The Guess Who in 1965 performing the song Shakin’ All Over. The Guess Who went on to virtually own the pop charts with an unprecedented run of five million-selling singles, all the product of the gold-plated Randy Bachman-Burton Cummings songwriting team. By 1970, The Guess Who had sold more records than the entire Canadian recording industry to that point, even outselling The Beatles that year.

Bachman left The Guess Who at the height of their success to spend more time with his family. He formed Brave Belt in 1970 and eventually Bachman-Turner Overdrive eclipsing his earlier triumphs.

Randy Bachman has played an integral role in the evolution and growth of the Canadian music industry and continues to serve as both an inspiration and impetus for others to succeed.

Gladys Evelyn Cook

Gladys Evelyn Cook has volunteered with and been a mentor to troubled Aboriginal youth and adults throughout Manitoba for nearly three decades. A recognized First Nations Dakota elder for 18 of those years, she is a role model in First Nations communities.

For the past 26 years, she has spent an average of three days a week volunteering at the Agassi Youth Centre and the Women's Correctional Institute in Portage la Prairie. Acting as both an advisor and mother figure, she forms a special bond with the inmates whom she assists on their journey to recovery. She has also participated in numerous sharing circles for sexually-abused inmates.

In addition, over the past 30 years, Cook has been a volunteer with the St. Mary's Anglican Church in Portage la Prairie and the United Church in Beausejour. For 12 years, she has been a respected member of the Anglican Council of Indigenous Peoples (ACIP).

She has received numerous awards for her volunteerism including the Governor General’s Award, the Order of Rupertsland and the Manitoba Volunteer of the Year.

Dr. Albert D. Friesen

Dr. Albert D. Friesen, who holds a PhD in protein chemistry, is largely regarded as a founding father of biotechnology in Manitoba.

He was the first full-time employee and eventual president of the Rh Institute, overseeing the development and pharmaceutical approval of WinRho for the treatment of Rh disease in unborn and newborn infants. He has been instrumental in the founding and early stage development of several other health-industry companies including ABI Biotechnology, Viventia Biotech Inc., Genesys Pharma Inc., Medicure Inc., the Manitoba Science and Technology Fund, DiaMedica Inc. and Genesys Venture Inc., a life-sciences startup incubator.

The founder of the Industrial Biotechnology Association of Canada (IBAC) and past chair of its board of directors, his other significant contributions include being:

• A former member of the Manitoba Health Research Task Group, Economic Innovation and Technology Council, National Planning Council, XVII World Congress of the International Society for Heart Research and the committee to establish the Canadian Mennonite University in Winnipeg.
• A former member of the board, Canadian Hemophilia Society (Manitoba Chapter) and the Manitoba Health Research Council and a former chair of the Fort Garry Mennonite Fellowship.
• The current director and chair of the board of Wellington Mennonite Personal Care Inc., director of the board of the Eden Foundation and chair of the Business of Science Symposium (Winnipeg). His also a current member of the American Heart Association, the Aboriginal Summit Steering Committee and the Premier’s Economic Advisory Council.

Friesen is an adjunct professor at the faculty of pharmacy and a consultant to the Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences at the University of Manitoba. In 2003, he received the University of Manitoba’s Distinguished Alumni Award.

Irene Grant

Irene Grant’s efforts on behalf of women span over 70 years, nearly six decades of which were as a member of the Business and Professional Women's (BPW) Club of Winnipeg. She joined the BPW in 1945 when she returned from service with the navy WRENs.

In 1945, when she resumed her teaching career, she broke the barrier that kept married women from teaching in Winnipeg. Active with the Manitoba Teachers Society since the 1950s, she served on the committee that was instrumental in changing the retirement policy forcing women to retire at age 60, five years earlier than their male counterparts. She also worked successfully towards achieving pay equity.

Grant has represented the BPW at the local, provincial and national levels, serving as president of the Winnipeg club and on the provincial executive as well as being programs and projects chair on the national board. During this time, she helped lead BPW's sponsorship of numerous workshops and seminars addressing the needs of working women.

Grant also worked with the Family Law Reform Committee to effect passage of the Family Maintenance Act and the Marital Property Act and, from 1972 to 1982, she was the citizen’s advisor to Legal Aid Manitoba. She helped found the Fort Garry Women's Resource Centre and presented at the 1978 federal Task Force on Canadian Unity.

For 12 years, she served as a member of the Land Use Committee of the Manitoba Environmental Council and chaired the environment committee for the Provincial Council of Women of Manitoba for a three-year period.

Other awards and honours include the Government of Canada Person’s Day Award, a life membership in the International Peace Gardens and a life membership in the Canadian Federation of Business and Professional Women's Clubs.

Dr. Chander Gupta

Dr. Chander Kanta Gupta is an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Manitoba and the only recognized uro-gynecologist in the province. She is active on the staff of the St. Boniface, Victoria and Seven Oaks general hospitals as well as the Health Sciences Centre.

She is highly regarded for the outstanding contributions she has made to women's health in Manitoba in her roles as clinician, teacher, role model, mentor, patient advocate and lobbyist. She was a pioneer in performing Manitoba's first tension-free vaginal-tear (TVT) procedure to correct urinary incontinence in females. This minimally-invasive procedure has improved the quality of life for countless women, allowing them to regain their self-confidence and self-respect.

Gupta has also been an active member and proponent of Manitoba's Hindu Community for more than 30 years and has served on the board of the India School of Dance, Music and Theatre.

Other awards and honours include: the 2004 Manitoba Medical Association Physician of the Year Award and the 2001 and 1994 Teacher of the Year Award given by the department of obstetrics and gynecology.

Edward Head

Edward Head, honorary senator of Manitoba's Métis Nation, has enriched communities across Manitoba while working tirelessly towards the betterment of his people. He has known their struggles and rose to be a leader in Manitoba, serving as president of the Manitoba Métis Federation from 1975 to 1976 and continuing to act as a mentor and leader within the organization ever since.

He played an instrumental role in the establishment of Native Communications Incorporated (NCI). He has provided strong leadership on issues of Métis hunting rights, for which he was named the lead commissioner for the Commission for the Métis Laws of the Hunt.

Today, Head provides advice and works on many of the issues faced in natural resources including co-management and Manitoba Hydro. He is also active with the Métis Survivor Family Wellness Program.

Terrance Hind

Terry Hind has served the people of Manitoba through his exemplary career and also in his service to many charitable and sporting organizations.

In 1954, he became the general manager of the Winnipeg Goldeyes Baseball Club and developed the organization through nine years of service. He was elected a City of Winnipeg alderman from 1962 to 1965. He also served the Winnipeg Blue Bombers as assistant general manager and general manager until 1970.

He was instrumental in establishing juvenile, junior and senior baseball league teams and serving as coach and manager of many championship teams. He was a gifted pitcher in senior leagues. He was general manager of the Winnipeg Maroons hockey team which won the Allen Cup in 1964 and was responsible for taking the Maroons to Europe on two occasions to play against European teams.

He has contributed to many charitable organizations including:

• Winnipeg Harvest, member of the Sunshine Club fundraiser
• Manitoba Marathon, board chair
• Meals on Wheels, board member for three years
• Sir Hugh John McDonald Memorial Hostel for Wayward Boys, eight years
• United Way of Winnipeg, Speakers Bureau chair
• Member of the Manitoba Baseball Hall of Fame, Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame, Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame and the Manitoba Hockey Foundation.

Martin Johnson

Martin Johnson is a former battalion chief with the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service who has made a mark on Manitoba and its people in a number of ways.

When he retired in 2003, Johnson had been a firefighter for more than 40 years, 25 of which he served as a union executive holding positions from vice-president of the United Fire Fighters of Winnipeg to president of the Manitoba Professional Fire Fighters Association. He was an originating member of the Winnipeg Firefighter Safety Committee and is considered directly responsible for the advancement of safety for firefighters in Manitoba.

The founder of the Firefighters Burn Fund, he has also been its leader for the past 27 years. The burn fund has raised millions of dollars for burn treatment and fire and burn prevention. It has created two burn units in Winnipeg – the Manitoba Firefighters Burn unit (adults) and the Firefighters Burn Fund Children's Burn Unit – which serve the citizens of Manitoba, northwest Ontario and Nunavut. The charity has also purchased advanced burn-care equipment for Winnipeg hospitals and has funded advanced training for many of Manitoba's burn ward doctors and nurses at courses throughout North America.

Johnson was also instrumental in founding the Burn Camp, the first firefighter-sponsored camp of its kind in North America, where child burn survivors are able to enjoy a normal camp experience while learning to deal with the traumatic physical and psychological scars caused by a serious burn. Today, there are over three dozen Children's burn camps in North America and the concept has spread to Europe and Asia.

Johnson has been a cub leader (nine years), a past president of the Winnipeg Ringette League and a ringette ice convener for Transcona. As the past president of the Manitoba Professional Fire Fighters Association, he advocated and lobbied for the reinstatement of heart and lung coverage under the Workers Compensation Act.

Johnson accepted the Laureate Award of Excellence from the Health Sciences Centre Research Foundation on behalf of the Firefighters Burn Fund.

Ovide Mercredi

A Cree from Grand Rapids, Man., by the late 1960s, Ovide Mercredi had begun his role as a political advocate for First Nations Peoples. A graduate of the University of Manitoba faculty of law (1977), he is well-recognized on the national stage as a lawyer, a negotiator and an activist who believes in Mahatma Gandhi's approach to political activism.

He served two terms (1991-1997) as the national chief of the Assembly of First Nations (AFN), becoming the longest-serving national chief. Actively involved with the constitutional law and Aboriginal constitutional reform issues, in 1992 he led the First Nations delegation during the constitutional discussions that resulted in the Charlottetown Accord which recognized a legal duty to honour treaties and Aboriginal self-government as a distinct third order of government.

Prior to his election as national chief, Mercredi served as AFN vice-chief for the Manitoba region and was an active member of the AFN national executive committee. In 1989, he represented the AFN in Geneva, seeking improvements to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. He also acted as AFN spokesperson and representative at the United Nations Indigenous Peoples Working Group.

He has served as commissioner of the Manitoba Human Rights Commission. He was also a member of the Alcoholism Foundation of Manitoba and the Senate ad hoc Committee on Native Studies. He has spoken in India, Australia, Great Britain, Scotland and Germany, and has lectured at various American universities. He published a collection of his speeches in his book In the Rapids – Navigating the Future of First Nations. Mercredi is currently a professor of native studies at the University of Sudbury.

Other awards and honours include an honourary doctorate in civil law from Bishop’s University in Quebec (1994); the Thakore Foundation Award in recognition of his work toward the accomplishment of justice and self-government for First Nations Peoples in Canada (1993); an honourary doctorate in civil law from St. Mary's University in Halifax (1992) and a nomination by the Mahatma Gandhi Foundation for World Peace for the Gandhi Prize.

Kathleen Richardson

Kathleen Richardson is a Manitoban who is recognized across Canada for her philanthropy and volunteerism. For her dedicated community service, in 1994 Richardson became a Companion of the Order of Canada, the country's highest honour.

She is a past member of the Manitoba Arts Council, Winnipeg Art Gallery and the Pan-Am Games Society. She is currently the honourary chair of the Winnipeg Humane Society's capital campaign, Unleash The Potential, working to raise $9.5 million for a new animal shelter.

Richardson has also served on a number of corporate boards including Gulf Canada, Barclays Bank of Canada, Sun-Life Assurance Co. and James Richardson & Sons, Ltd. She has won the Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Manitoba and the Edmund C. Bovey Award from the Council for Business and the Arts in Canada.

As president of the Kathleen M. Richardson Foundation, she has supported such arts organizations as the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, the Winnipeg Art Gallery, Contemporary Dancers Canada, the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, the Manitoba Theatre Centre and the Prairie Theatre Centre. Her foundation also provides grants to such community groups as the Compassionate Friends of Winnipeg and CancerCare Manitoba.

She is perhaps best known for her long association with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, chairing their campaign for a permanent home which officially opened in January 1988. This year marks Richardson's 50th year of support, commitment and leadership to the RWB, a relationship she continues to nurture in her capacity as honourary chair of the board of directors.

Glenora Slimmon

Glenora Slimmon was raised in Saskatchewan and began her career of service there working for the 4-H Extension Division of the University of Saskatchewan until 1957 when she took the position of women's editor with Country Guide magazine. Her next position was with Federated Co-operatives. She was president of the Consumers’ Association of Canada from 1966 to 1969. From 1972 to 1974 she worked with the Barbados government on a CIDA-sponsored project. This was followed by three years with CUSO during which she organized the farmers of Barbados into co-operative production and marketing groups.

In 1977, she and her husband retired to Brandon where she continued her co-operative development activities with Westman Media Co-operative, Brandon Farmers’ Market (as a founder), Seniors for Seniors Co-op Inc. and Parkview Housing Co-op. She has continued her association with Seniors for Seniors as the full-time volunteer director. She also sits on a number of regional health committees.

Maurice Strong

Maurice Strong, a senior advisor to the secretary-general of the United Nations and former senior advisor to the president of the World Bank, is one of the world’s most influential political and environmental activists.

Strong served on the board of directors of the United Nations Foundation, a UN-affiliated organization established by Ted Turner’s historic $1-billion donation. He is also a director of the World Economic Forum Foundation, chair of the Earth Council, former chair of the Stockholm Environment Institute and former chair of the World Resources Institute.

Born in Oak Lake, Man., Strong has amassed a fortune in a career spanning over five decades at some of Canada's most prestigious companies. He has run several companies in the energy and resources sector including the Power Corporation of Canada, Ontario Hydro and Petro-Canada. He is currently the chair of Technology Development, Inc., which funds research in the groundbreaking field of applying nanotechnology towards creating affordable and eco-friendly energy sources.

In 1970, he led the UN Conference on the Human Environment in Geneva, after which he became the executive director of the UN's environmental program. Strong also co ordinated the UN's emergency relief efforts in Africa in the mid-80s and was in charge of the historic 1992 Earth Summit in Rio. He recently took part in the reorganization of the UN's University for Peace, located in Costa Rica, and continues to help the university redefine its mission for the 21st century.

Other awards and honours include appointment as a Companion of the Order of Canada in 1999 and being chosen to receive the Distinguished Canadian Leadership Award in 2003.