Co-owner of the Langley-based Vancouver Giants and award winning artist Michael Bublé will be receiving the highest honour of the province– the Order of British Columbia.
“The entire Vancouver Giants ownership group, management team, staff and players would like to congratulate Michael along with his wife Luisana and their three children: Noah, Elias and Vida for receiving this prestigious honour,” the team said in a statement.
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This year, 160 British Columbians were nominated and last week Lt. Gov. Janet Austin announced the 13 recipients of the order – among them Bublé.
Bublé was born in Burnaby in 1975 and still calls the city home.
He says as a kid he attended every Vancouver Canucks home game, a devotion that today is expressed in his support for Canuck Place Children’s Hospice.
Bublé also supports the BC Children’s Hospital as an ambassador, the Burnaby Hospital Foundation and the Burnaby RCMP. His efforts supporting international charities include Dog for Dog, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and Children’s Hospital in Argentina.
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“As the representative of the Crown in British Columbia and chancellor of the Order of British Columbia, I am delighted to welcome 13 new members to the order,” Austin said.
“They have helped us to grow as a province, taught us to care for our environment, enriched our lives with literature and art, helped us to address past injustices and inspired us to become a more caring and inclusive society. To recognize these remarkable people, who are changing our communities for the better in many ways, is an honour of great personal significance to me.”
The Canadian artist has won 14 Juno awards and four Grammy awards. He joined the Vancouver Giants ownership group in December 2008.
“My grandfather was really my best friend growing up,” Bublé recalled. “He was the one who opened me up to a whole world of music that seemed to have been passed over by my generation. Although I like rock and roll and modern music, the first time my granddad played me the Mills Brothers, something magical happened.”
Due to COVID-19 pandemic the official Order of B.C. induction ceremony is scheduled to take place in Victoria some time in 2021.
This year’s recipients are:
- Shashi Assanand of Richmond;
- Ryan Beedie of West Vancouver;
- Michael Bublé of Burnaby;
- Shirley Chan of Vancouver;
- Neil Cook, MGC, of Cranbrook;
- Paul George of Gibsons;
- Rusty Goepel of Vancouver;
- John Malcolm Horton of Delta;
- Mel Krajden, MD, of Vancouver;
- Janet Nadine Mort, PhD, of Brentwood Bay;
- Tracy Porteous of Vancouver;
- Carole Taylor, OC, of Vancouver;
- Ruth Williams of Kamloops.
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