OTTAWA - Gov. Gen. Julie Payette honoured 39 people with the Order of Canada Thursday, including actor William Shatner, writer Ann-Marie MacDonald and lawyer James Lockyer.
Shatner was given one of Canada's highest civilian honours for his 60-year career in theatre, television and film; MacDonald for her art and advocacy for women and on LGBTQ issues; and Lockyer for his work championing people wrongly convicted of crimes.
Mathematician Robert Langlands, filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin and actor Donald Sutherland were also made companions of the order, the most prestigious of its three levels.
Payette presided over the ceremony at Rideau Hall in Ottawa.
The order was established in 1967, Canada's centennial year.
Close to 7,500 people have been invested in the order since then.
