Paul Shaffer Order of Canada

December 28, 2007 ~ OTTAWA — Her Excellency the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean, Governor General of Canada, announced today 61 new appointments to the Order of Canada. The new appointees include three Companions (C.C.), 18 Officers (O.C.), and 40 Members (C.M.). These appointments have been in effect since October 25, 2007. Recipients will be invited to accept their insignia at a ceremony to be held at a later date.

Awarded for the first time in 1967, during Canada’s Centennial Year, the Order of Canada launched the creation of our country’s own system of honours.

On the recommendation of the Advisory Council of the Order of Canada, the Governor General is pleased to announce the following appointments:

Two people of Regional interest are:

Paul Shaffer, C.M.
Bedford, New York, U.S.A. and Thunder Bay, Ontario
Member of the Order of Canada

For his contributions as an internationally renowned musician who has also shared his time and talents with educational, health care and arts groups, notably as a supporter of Epilepsy Canada, the Kiwanis Music Festivals of Canada and Lakehead University. For more information on Paul Shaffer see below.

Sister Margaret Smith, C.M.
North Bay, Ontario
Member of the Order of Canada

For her contributions as a health care executive and as an innovator who brought new programs to northern Ontario that greatly improved the delivery of health care and social services in that region.

Born in 1921, in Woodlawn, Ont., (near Ottawa), Smith went on to graduate as a registered nurse from the Ottawa Civic Hospital School of Nursing in 1943. She then entered the community of the Sisters of St. Joseph‘s of North Bay.

Smith served as the director of nursing and school of nursing at St. Joseph‘s General Hospital in Port Arthur from 1947-55 and served as the executive director of the hospital from 1959-63 and from 1965-68.

Before retiring as executive director of Thunder Bay‘s St. Joseph‘s Heritage which she held from 1988-92, Smith held executive director positions at Sudbury General Hospital and St. Joseph‘s General Hospital in North Bay and was also the co-ordinator of health services at the Sisters of St. Joseph of Sault Ste. Marie.

The Smith Alcohol and Drug Abuse Clinic at 35 N. Algoma St. opened its doors in 1972. To this day the clinic offers a range of substance abuse and gambling treatment options as well as training and educational components for people dealing with substance abuse. The clinic was renamed in 1997 and is now known as the Sister Margaret Smith Centre.

Smith currently resides in North Bay, where she lives at St. Joseph‘s Motherhouse.

To see a list of all who received the Order of Canada
http://www.gg.ca/media/doc.asp?lang=e&DocID=5252

Paul Shaffer has been David Letterman’s musical director and sidekick for 20 years.

He began his career in 1972 as musical director of a Toronto production of “Godspell.” He played piano in “The Magic Show” on Broadway in 1974, then spent the next five years with the original "Saturday Night Live" for which he played keyboards, composed special musical material, and, in 1980, became a featured performer.

In 1977, he took a brief break from the show to star in the CBS comedy series “A Year at the Top,” produced by Norman Lear and Don Kirshner. After his return to “Saturday Night Live,” he collaborated with Gilda Radner on the songs for her Broadway show, in which he also appeared. He also served as musical director for John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd, performing as the Blues Brothers, for two albums and their national tour.

In addition to recording his own albums, “Coast to Coast” (1989), two cuts from which were nominated for Grammys, and “The World’s Most Dangerous Party” (1993), Shaffer has recorded with such diverse artists as Diana Ross, Yoko Ono and Robert Plant’s Honeydrippers. He composed the LATE SHOW theme song and, with Paul Jabara, wrote the number one '80s dance hit “It’s Raining Men,” performed by the Weather Girls and re-recorded by Geri Halliwell for the "Bridget Jones' Diary" soundtrack, topping the British pop charts in 2001. In 2002, he received his first Grammy, Best Country Instrumental, for his participation in the “Earl Scruggs And Friends” album project.

His theatrical film roles have included “second banana” in the Mike Nichols-directed “Gilda Live” (the movie version of Gilda Radner’s Broadway show) and Artie Fufkin, the promo man, in Rob Reiner’s “This Is Spinal Tap.” He appeared along with Miles Davis as part of the street musicians’ scene in the Bill Murray movie “Scrooged” and had a cameo as the harried passenger in John Travolta’s cab in “Look Who’s Talking Too.” Shaffer is heard as the voice of Hermes in Disney’s animated feature “Hercules” and the television series based on the film. He produced the music and soundtrack for and appears in “Blues Brothers 2000,” for which he received an RIAA-certified gold record.

Shaffer has served as musical director and producer for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony at the Waldorf-Astoria since its inception in 1986. He led the band (including Eric Clapton and Nile Rodgers) for the “We Are the World” finale of Live-Aid in 1985 and, in 1990, was chairman of the American Red Cross recruiting drive. Shaffer hosted CBS’s 1994 New Year’s Eve special from New York’s Times Square and was musical director of the closing concert at the 1996 Olympic Games. He appeared with the Blues Brothers at the 1996 Super Bowl halftime show and was musical director of the 1999 Concert of the Century at the White House, featuring Eric Clapton, B. B. King, Gloria Estefan, ’N Sync and others, to aid music programs in public schools. He was privileged to musically direct Paul McCartney’s “Concert For New York,” which honored and raised money for victims of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. He also was honored to appear with Faith Hill on the “America: A Tribute To Heroes” telethon.

He holds two honorary doctorate degrees: one from Five Towns College; the other, from Lakehead University in Canada.

In Canada, Shaffer is a quoted supporter of the Great Lakes Heritage Coast project for the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. He is an on camera fund raiser for the Royal Conservatory of Music via their Historic Register Project and the rebuilding of their concert hall in Toronto.

He was a vocalist on the recording of “Tears Are Not Enough”, the Canadian contribution to the Aid for Africa campaign of 1985 and performed the song with Bryan Adams at Live Aid. He hosted the Juno Award show in 1991 and has appeared on CBC’s Rita McNeil Show as well as hosting the Casby Award Show on CTV two years in a row and recording with the Canadian artists Jeff Healy and Luba.

He co-hosted, with Ken Taylor, the first Terry Fox Run For A Cure For Cancer in New York’s Riverside Park.

In Thunder Bay, Paul was chairman of the 1988 drive which purchased a Cat Scan Machine for McKellar General Hospital. He chaired in 1996 a campaign which raised $26,000 for the Northern Cancer Research Foundation. He holds an honorary doctorate from Lakehead University.

With his father, he dedicated a seminar room at Lakehead University in his mother’s name and is the benefactor of a yearly bursary there. He was the recipient of the first star in the Victoriaville Walk Of Fame, in support of the merchants of Downtown Thunder Bay South.

In September of 2005 he dedicated a new, state of the art boardroom at Lakehead University to his late father. In November of that year Paul received the Arts and Letters Award from the Canadian Association of New York.

Cruise Ship Clelia II visits Thunder Bay - Friday, July 03, 2009

THUNDER BAY, ON ----- July 3, 2009 ---- Today marks the return of passenger service by water to the city of Thunder Bay. The passenger vessel Clelia II can easily be seen from Hillcrest Park at the city’s new marine passenger terminal. The Pool six pier, once home to one of the world’s largest grain terminals has been reborn as a first class passenger terminal. This is a work in progress, and when the landscaping and paving are complete it will become an integral part of the city’s Marina Park.