Moyez G. Vassanj

Two Indo-Canadians are among 74 new appointments to the Order of Canada, the country’s highest honor announced on Feb. 8.

“As it is a lifetime achievement recognition, there are no expected duties and obligations; but those who are so recognized keep on doing their humanitarian work, including good karma. That is what I shall be doing too,” one of the recipients, Onkar P. Dwivedi, retired political science professor of University of Guelph, told News India-Times. Noted Canadian writer Moyez G. Vassanj of Toronto is the other Indo-Canadian to receive the honor.

Aga Khan

“Any Canadian citizen can be nominated, but the person should meet the requirement set by the council. Each nominee, even if only one nomination has been received, is assigned to a researcher and it takes about two years to complete the selection process,” Lucie Brosseau of Redeau Hall, the governor’s official residence, told News India-Times. She said the Canadian Constitution allows up to 200 people to be honored with Order annually.

Three different levels of membership — companion, officer and member — honor people with accomplishments in various fields of human endeavor. The latest appointments included three promotions within the Order as companions, 17 officers, 54 new members and one honorary companion –– the Aga Khan.

Khan, the Imam of the Shia Imami Ismaili Muslims since 1957, has a large following in Canada. In 1967, he launched the Aga Khan Development Network, with branches around the world. Citing Canada as a role model for the world, he has selected Ottawa as home of a new global center for pluralism, a press release from the governor’s office said.

Dwivedi, who currently spends six months as a research scholar at the Globalization Research Center of the University of South Florida, Tampa, is an expert on public administration and the environment. He has been a political adviser to the Canadian and foreign governments and also the United Nations. He served as adviser with the World Health Organization and the World Bank in India, Papua New Guinea and Mauritius.

Vassanj, who was born in Kenya and raised in Tanzania, is a nuclear physics graduate from MIT. He changed his career in the late 1980’s to become one of Canada’s best-known writers. He won the 1990 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for ‘Gunny Sack.’ He is also the first person to have won the Giller Prize twice (1994 and 2003) for ‘The Book of Secrets’ and ‘The In-Between Life of Vikram Lall.’