As the new year rang in, the honours rolled out for Canadians making lasting contributions to their country and communities.
Among them, six Western alumni, with three named to the Order of Canada and three others, one posthumously, named to the London Mayor’s honour list.
Order of Canada
The Order of Canada is among our nation’s highest honours, celebrating the achievements and contributions of individuals dedicated to enriching the lives of others and building a better country.
The following Western alumni were among the 80 new appointments to the Order, announced by Her Excellency the Right Honourable Governor General Mary Simon.
Rosalie Silberman Abella, LLD’91
Rosalie Silberman Abella (Philippe Landreville/Sumpreme Court of Canada)
Born in a displaced persons camp to Holocaust survivors, Rosalie Silberman Abella became the first Jewish woman and refugee appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada. She set the bar with her landmark constitutional law rulings, shaping equality and human rights worldwide.
Justice Abella has been active in Canadian legal education, organizing the first seminar in which all levels of the judiciary took part, the first judicial seminar inviting persons outside the legal profession to participate, the first national education program for administrative tribunals and the first national conference for Canada’s female judges.
She is the recipient of more than 40 honorary degrees, including one from Western. Justice Abella is currently a visiting professor of law at Harvard Law School.
Donald Lawrence Triggs, MBA’68, LLD’18
Donald Lawrence Triggs (File)
With entrepreneurial drive and visionary leadership, Donald Triggs is renowned for reshaping Canada’s wine industry. As co-founder of Jackson-Triggs, he went on to grow Vincor International Inc. (later Constellation Brands), which became the largest winery in Canada and the seventh largest in the world.
Following the sale of Vincor, Triggs successfully developed and launched Culmina Family Estate Winery, an ultra-premium wine estate in British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley, with his wife Elaine and daughter Sara. Beyond business, Triggs and his family are committed philanthropists. With a passion for supporting students and education, they established the Donald L. Triggs Chair in International Business at Western’s Ivey Business School in 2007, when they also created a fund to support an annual lecture in international business. The Triggs also support the arts, including the Shaw Festival Theatre in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont.
“Protect your integrity. No one else will do that for you…Your reputation is like the linen, it’s so easy to stain, impossible to clean.” – Donald Lawrence Triggs, in his convocation address at Western in 2018.
Ian O. Ihnatowycz, MBA’82, LLD’13
Ian Ihnatowycz ©2015 Gerald Allain
Ian Ihnatowycz, president and CEO of First Generation Capital Inc., a private investment holding company, was appointed to the Order in recognition of his role as a philanthropic leader.
Leveraging his business success, he and his wife Marta established the Ihnatowycz Family Foundation to support education, health-care and arts initiatives.
In 2010, the couple established the Ian O. Ihnatowycz Institute for Leadership, a character-based leadership development program at Western’s Ivey Business School. In 2021, the Ihnatowycz family made a further investment, extending the institute’s teaching, research and outreach on building leader character.
The Ihnatowycz Family Foundation also supports The Royal Conservatory of Music, the Ukrainian Canadian Care Centre, Waterloo Eye Institute and SickKids hospital.
Ihnatowycz serves as vice‑chair of the Ukrainian World Congress (UWC) International Advisory Council, is a member of the Board of the Atlantic Council and is a recipient of the UWC St. Volodymyr Medal, one of UWC’s highest honours.
The Mayor’s New Year’s Honour List recognizes citizens “who have contributed in an outstanding manner” to the London, Ont. community in one of 11 categories.
Charlotte Cleland, BA’77
Charlotte Cleland (Victor Aziz Photography)
Named in the Distinguished Londoner category, which recognizes outstanding contributions to community collaboration or acts of goodwill by giving back to our city.
A retired teacher who continues to give piano lessons in London, Charlotte Cleland is being honoured for her dedication serving as festival administrator of the Kiwanis Music Festival.
For more than 45 years, Cleland has been a driving force, growing and ensuring the successful continuation of the festival. Her hard work has helped to provide an opportunity for artistic expression and personal growth among young musicians in an encouraging environment.
Besides providing performance experience and a learning experience critique of the performance, entrants may be identified by the adjudicators for monetary awards.
Each year, the festival returns about $45,000 to the community through awards to individuals and schools.
Beth Hundey, PhD’14 (awarded posthumously)
Beth Hundey (File)
Named in the Environment category, which recognizes contributions to the awareness, preservation and protection of the environment.
For more than 20 years, Beth Hundey was unwavering in her commitment to drive greater awareness of environmental issues and inspiration to protect and preserve natural spaces.
Hundey joined the Lakes and Reservoir Systems (LARs) Research Facility in Western’s geography and the environment department in 2008 to pursue a master’s degree. But she was quickly fast-tracked to a PhD, which she earned 2014. The findings of her doctoral research on nitrate sources in high elevation lakes were important, showing for the first time, what was driving unprecedented changes in mountain lakes; knowledge required to protect and preserve these important ecosystems. Her published work was also awarded the Association of American Geographers Henry Cowles Award for Excellence in Publication.
Hundey stayed on at Western as a research professor, continuing her career as a curriculum specialist and champion for climate change action. One of her greatest and most passionate contributions was helping to create the mass, open and award-winning online course Connecting for Climate Change Action, which braids together Indigenous knowledge and euro western science to inspire learners to take meaningful steps to mitigate climate change.
Brenda Zadorsky, BMus’74, Dip Ed’75
Brenda Zadorsky (Western Music)
Named in the Arts category, which recognizes contributions to fostering and/or the production of human creativity
As co-founder of the Amabile Choirs of London, Brenda Zadorsky has influenced countless lives.
With passion and inclusive mentorship, Zadorsky cultivated artistic excellence and a family-like community, growing the Amabile family of choirs from its original two to nine, and into a leading choral institution in Canada and beyond.
Zadorsky has also made her mark as a clinician and adjudicator, as well as a music consultant and teacher with the Thames Valley District School Board for 30 years.
She also taught music education methodology at Western, receiving several certificates for outstanding teaching and the Don Wright Scholarship for Vocal Music. In 2015, Zadorsky was inducted into the Don Wright Faculty of Music Alumni Hall of Fame.
As the principal of the Zadorsky School of Music, she continues to develop students who earn major music festival awards, university entrance scholarships and go on to performing careers in Canada and abroad.
