Two longstanding contributors to Canadian track and field are among this year’s new appointees to the Order of Canada, a national honour roll that recognizes outstanding achievement, dedication to the community and service to the nation.
Four-time Olympian Bruny Surin, as well as fellow Olympian, retired judge and Commissioner with Athletics Canada The Honourable Justice Hugh L. Fraser, O.C, were two of 135 Canadians that figured on the list released by Rideau Hall on Wednesday.
Surin was chosen for his excellence in track and field, for supporting student-athletes and for promoting healthy lifestyles across the province of Quebec. The Montreal resident is a four-time Olympian who ran the third leg on Canada’s 4x100m team that won gold at the 1996 Games in Atlanta. Over his decades-long career, Surin graced the podium at several world championships as a member of Canada’s relay teams, and was twice a world indoor champion in the 60m in 1993 and 1995.
The award, he says, caps off a dream that developed when he moved to Canada at seven years old.
The Order of Canada is really the pinnacle… it brings back great memories for competing for Canada,” he said.
“I remember after winning the 1996 Olympic games, people in Canada were saying ‘we won’, not ‘Bruny and Donovan and the team won’… that’s when I realized how big this was.”
After retiring from track and field, inspired to give back to his community, he founded the Bruny Surin Foundation, which raises money annually to support athletes in Quebec, and conducts awareness and education campaigns to promote active and healthy lifestyles for young students. He was pleased that his appointment was also based on his work off the track.
“To me it showed they recognized that, all the work we are doing… it means a lot.”
The Honourable Justice Hugh L. Fraser, O.C. of Ottawa, Ontario, was inducted for his transformative contributions to Canadian sport as an internationally recognized expert in sports law and as a Olympian. Justice Fraser had competed for Canada as a sprinter at the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal, and later became recognized as an international expert in sports law. He served on the first ad hoc Court at the Olympic Games in Atlanta in 1996, has been on the Court of Arbitration for Sport for 25 years, and currently serves as the lead commissioner of Athletics Canada.
Like Surin, Fraser moved to Canada as a young child. He said that being recognized with such a high honour, years after moving to the country from Jamaica as a seven-year-old, feels humbling.
“I’ve been able to spend the majority of my life here and take advantage of the educational opportunities this country had to offer, to represent the country internationally, and then to get involved in sport even more afterwards… it’s hard to find words to describe how meaningful it is to me.”
Athletics Canada CEO David Bedford said he was thrilled to hear that Surin and Fraser were being recognized with such a high honour.
“Both Bruny and Hugh did Canada proud on the track, however they continue to distinguish themselves off the track, to the benefit of athletics in Canada,” he said. “Both of these men are integral to their sport well past their competitive career. We congratulate both of them on this prestigious honour, and thank them for their ongoing contributions to athletics in Canada.”
A total of 135 Canadians were named to the Order of Canada this year, including former senator Murray Sinclair, internationally-acclaimed author Yann Martel, and Air Canada’s first female pilot Judy Cameron. See the full list here.
