Order of Ontario recognizes U of T community members
Three University of Toronto faculty members have been recognized this week with appointments to the Order of Ontario, the province’s highest honour, including Professor Shashi Kant, the director of UTM's Master of Science in Sustainability Management program. His appointment was one of 23 announced Jan. 29 by the Honourable Elizabeth Dowdeswell, Lieutenant Governor of Ontario and Chancellor of the Order of Ontario.
“I am honored to be awarded the Order of Ontario,” says Kant. “I would like to express my sincere thanks to the Government of Ontario, members of the selection committee of the award, my nominator, all those who supported my nomination, and all those who supported me during the last 25 years in my work.”
“My special thanks to First Nations peoples and my students; I learned so much from them. The award may seem the recognition of my contributions, but for me it is the recognition of my belief and value systems which are guided by love for all, sustainability, human rights and social equity. With this award, the goal of my life has become global sustainability through the integration and promotion of love and sustainability. I have promised to myself that my remaining life will be completely devoted to global sustainability through love and the Canadian leadership in this field.”
The only Canadian to win the Queen's Award for Forestry, Kant has an international reputation as an expert in the intersection of forest management and human rights, and is a leader in his field for considering sustainability and social aspects of forest management. He is the founding director of the Master of Science in Sustainability Management program at UTM’s Institute for Management & Innovation.
The Order of Ontario recognizes individuals whose exceptional achievement in their field have left a lasting legacy in the province, in Canada and beyond.
"I am proud to welcome the 23 newest members of the Order of Ontario,” says Dowdeswell. “They continue a tradition of excellence, and represent the best of this great province. Their extraordinary achievements have contributed to making Ontario, and the world, a better place for us all."
The Lieutenant Governor will bestow the honour on the newest appointees during an investiture ceremony at Queen's Park on February 27, 2018.