Eligibility

The person you nominate (the nominee) must be:

  • a long-term or former resident of Ontario (the nominee does not need to be a Canadian citizen)
  • someone whose career, in any field, has had a major impact or influence on the province, Canada or abroad

You cannot nominate:

  • yourself
  • someone who has passed away
  • an elected federal, provincial or municipal politician currently in office
  • a sitting judge of any court
  • one of Ontario’s Legislative Officers while in office (Auditor General, Ombudsman, Information and Privacy Commissioner, Financial Accountability Officer, Integrity Commissioner, Chief Electoral Officer)
  • a volunteer
  • someone for acts of bravery

Required information

In your nomination, you will need to provide:

  • A brief summary of:
    • why you think the nominee is worthy of nomination
    • how long you have known them
  • A detailed description of the nominee and their achievements. The description must include the impact of the achievement(s) on the province or beyond.
  • A minimum of two signed testimonial letters. The letters must be from two different people who are not the nominator. An electronic signature or scanned copy of the signed letters are acceptable. The testimonial writers should:
    • know the nominee
    • be able to explain the value and impact of your nominee’s achievements
    • support the nomination
  • The testimonial writers’ first name, last name, email address and phone number.

Additional information

You may include additional materials if they give more insight into your nominee’s accomplishments, such as:

  • supplementary testimonials
  • publications
  • media stories and news articles

Deadline

The deadline to nominate someone is March 31 of each year.

How to nominate someone

  1. Gather all the required information.
  2. Create an account (or sign in for returning users) on the Ontario Honours and Awards Portal.
  3. Submit your nomination through the portal.

Read our guide for tips on writing and submitting a nomination.

Selection process

An independent Advisory Council to the Order of Ontario reviews all nominations and makes recommendations to the Lieutenant Governor in Council of Ontario (LGIC) of nominees who, in the opinion of the Advisory Council, have the greatest merit for appointment (the term Lieutenant Governor in Council refers to the Lieutenant Governor acting on and with the advice of the Executive Council or Cabinet). The Advisory Council consists of the Chief Justice of Ontario, the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, the Secretary of the Cabinet and up to six additional members (who are also members of the Order of Ontario) appointed to the council by the Premier.

The Lieutenant Governor of Ontario serves as Chancellor of the Order of Ontario, and Honorary Chair to the Council.

Award presentation and insignia

The Lieutenant Governor invests the newest members of the Order of Ontario at an investiture ceremony. The members’ official portraits are taken and they’re invested with the Order of Ontario insignia.

The insignia is in the form of the Ontario trillium (the official provincial flower) and includes the shield and crown. Wearing the official insignia is governed by protocol (a number of rules), which vary depending on clothing, type of event and order of precedence.

About the Order of Ontario

The Order of Ontario is the province’s highest civilian honour. It is reserved for Ontarians from all fields of endeavour and backgrounds, whose excellence has left a lasting legacy in the province, Canada and around the world. Members of the Order are a collective of Ontario’s finest citizens, whose contributions have shaped – and continue to shape – the province’s history and place in Canada.

The Order of Ontario was created in 1986 and the first appointments were made in 1987. Members of the Order of Ontario are invested with their insignia by the Lieutenant Governor as the Queen’s representative.

Upon admission, members are invested with the Order’s insignia (a distinguishing mark or emblem worn to signify membership or achievement). Appointees are given the post-nominal letters, also called post-nominal initials or post-nominal titles (letters placed after a person’s name) to indicate the honour held by the individual.

Order of Ontario members

Search for appointees in the table below.

* deceased

Examples of appointees include:

  • Dr. Roberta Bondar, Canada’s first female astronaut and the world’s first neurologist in space
  • The Honourable George E. Carter, the first Canadian-born Black judge in Canada, instrumental in establishing legal aid services in Ontario
  • David Cronenberg, an award-winning director, producer, filmmaker, screenwriter, actor and author
  • Jane Jacobs, an urban writer and activist who championed new, community-based approaches to planning for more than 40 years
  • Arthur B. McDonald, an astrophysicist and 2015 Nobel Laureate Physics for discovering neutrino oscillations, which shows that neutrinos have mass
  • Ted Nolan, a former professional hockey player, former head coach of the Buffalo Sabres, and former head coach of Latvia’s national men’s ice hockey team. He established the Ted Nolan Foundation to support Indigenous youth and women across Canada
  • The Honourable Maryka Omatsu, Canada’s first female judge of East Asian ancestry. She was a member of the National Association of Japanese Canadians’ negotiation team in its quest for Canadian redress for the World War II internment
  • Rahul Singh, the founder of GlobalMedic, recognized on Time Magazine’s 2010 list of the world’s 100 most influential people for providing immediate catastrophic disaster relief using volunteer professional emergency workers