11 invested into Order of Manitoba

The Order of Manitoba officially has 11 new members, including medical researchers, Indigenous leaders and advocates, a former NHL player and Winnipeg's first and only woman mayor.

Lt.-Gov. Janice Filmon invested the latest recipients into the order — the province's highest honour — in a ceremony Thursday at the Manitoba Legislative Building in Winnipeg.

The new members of the Order of Manitoba are:

• Paul Albrechtsen, a trucking company founder and philanthropist.
• Marileen Bartlett, a Métis community leader and entrepreneur.
• Maria De Nardi, an entrepreneur and Italian community leader.
• Dhali Dhaliwal, past president of CancerCare Manitoba.
• Betsy Kennedy, chief of the War Lake First Nation, who is Manitoba's longest-serving female chief.
• Gary Kobinger, a researcher involved in the global fight against the Ebola outbreak.
• Wanda Koop, a contemporary artist and founder of Art City in Winnipeg.
• Reggie Leach, a former NHL hockey player known as "The Riverton Rifle."
• Bernadette Smith, an advocate for missing and murdered Indigenous women.
• Susan Thompson, who served as mayor of Winnipeg for two terms.
• Wanbdi Wakita, a Dakota spiritual leader, residential school survivor and a veteran of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry peacekeeping mission in Europe.