Algonquin College dean, former NHLer Jim Kyte among eight locals appointed to Order of Canada

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Jim Kyte, former NHL brawler, one-time Ottawa Citizen columnist, Algonquin College dean and a champion for accessibility and inclusion in sports is one of eight locals newly appointed to the Order of Canada.

Kyte, 60, will be invested as a Member of the Order of Canada in a ceremony later this year as one of 83 new appointments to the Order of Canada, unveiled Thursday by Governor General Mary Simon.

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The appointees include one Companion, 16 Officers and 64 Members of the Order of Canada.

Two of the appointments are promotions within the order and two are for non-Canadians who were appointed Honorary Officers.

Kyte said he was “gobsmacked” to learn he had been appointed.

“When I found out I was shocked and obviously very humbled and very proud to receive the Order of Canada,” Kyte said via Zoom from his cottage Wednesday.

That “gobsmacked” feeling is just about equal to the emotions Kyte felt as a young adult after becoming a first-round draft pick in three leagues in three consecutive years.

“I was a first-round draft pick three years in a row — in the Central Junior Hockey League, the Ontario Hockey League and the National Hockey League. I remember going back to Glebe High School and being dragged to the library to read in the newspaper that I had been drafted first overall in the (CJHL).

“This (feeling) is pretty equivalent, actually,” Kyte said.

Kyte remains the only legally deaf player to play in the NHL and has been a staunch advocate for the hearing-impaired and for accessibility and inclusion in sport.

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“Throughout his career, he championed the rights of athletes with physical disabilities to achieve greater accessibility and inclusion in sports,” according to Kyte’s official Order of Canada bio.

“Off the ice, he has been a role model to others as a volunteer with numerous charities, an advocate for disability rights, and a distinguished voice for deaf and hard of hearing Canadians.”

Kyte is “profoundly deaf” with 100-decibel hearing loss and made his way through his early school days by teaching himself to lipread.

“I’m from a family of five boys and one girl and all the boys are deafened. When the school board found out that we all inherited my father’s hearing loss, they wanted to send us to Belleville. And back in the 1950s and 60s it was known as the Belleville School for the Deaf and Dumb.

“My mother became the head of the parents’ association and she fought the school board. She wanted her boys to be integrated,” Kyte recalled. “My mother was a big advocate for her children and I’m a big advocate for my children and other people with disabilities.”

Advocacy came naturally to Kyte and he drew on those experiences after a devastating car crash derailed his pro hockey career in 1997.

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After retiring from pro hockey, Kyte ran hockey camps for deaf children in Toronto, Winnipeg and Ottawa.

He now partners with the charitable organization ABLE2 (Ability Benevolence Liberty Empowered), based on Parkdale Avenue, and works as an advisor with Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities.

“I’m the only deaf player to play in the history of the National Hockey League … I hope I’m not the last deaf player to play in the NHL,” Kyte said.

“Being in that position, you want to be a role model and open doors behind you. But anything to do with accessibility … whenever I see an injustice I think it’s important not to turn a blind eye. To step forward to make the world a better place,” he said.

“Everybody has a role to play. I think we live in the best country in the world and we want to make the country better.”

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Other local residents are also set to be invested in the Order of Canada:

Stephen Poloz, of Orléans, a renowned economist who served as president and CEO of Export Development Canada, then as governor of the Bank of Canada was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada.

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“He helped facilitate our country’s international trade and promote its economic well-being. A frequent speaker, visiting scholar and author, he continues to share his significant expertise at home and abroad,” his bio reads.

The “visionary” Jozef Straus was a “critical player” in the rise of Canada’s high-tech industry as co-founder of JDS FITEL and CEO and co-chair of JDS Uniphase. Straus was appointed as an Officer of the Order of Canada.

“He was at the vanguard of innovations in data communications and fibre-optic technology,” his bio reads. “A discreet and generous philanthropist, he contributes to many causes and organizations, notably those supporting disadvantaged or marginalized communities, the arts, education, science, health and nature.”

Leonard Edwards, a “distinguished” senior public servant and diplomat recognized for his contributions to foreign and domestic policy and Canada’s economic growth, was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada.

Edwards served as ambassador to both Korea and Japan. The Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada, the Canada-Korea Forum, and the Centre for International Governance Innovation have “all benefited from his leadership and expertise.”

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Brian Evans of Nepean was Canada’s first chief food safety officer and the country’s second-longest-serving chief veterinary officer. He was praised for his leadership during the 2003 bovine spongiform encephalopathy outbreak (commonly known as mad cow disease) and played a key role in the establishment of Canada’s Council of Chief Veterinary Officers. He was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada.

William Janzen served as director of the Ottawa office of the Mennonite Central Committee Canada for more than 30 years. According to his Order of Canada bio, Janzen has influenced government policy development and contributed to refugee resettlement, citizenship, development aid and peace building.

“He was instrumental in the creation of the Private Sponsorship of Refugees program, which mobilized Canadians to support incoming refugees, notably from Southeast Asia, and marked a turning point in Canada’s immigration policy,” his bio reads. He was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada.

Patrick Lahey was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada as one of the world’s pre-eminent experts on submersibles and a “leading voice for safe practices in the deep diving industry.”

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Lahey is co-founder of Triton Submarines and invented and built dozens of vehicles for research, exploration, entertainment and tourism.

“A skilled pilot, he led diving missions to the deepest parts of the oceans, becoming the second Canadian to reach the bottom of the Mariana Trench.”

A senior journalist who headed both CBC’s Washington bureau and CTV’s parliamentary bureau in Ottawa, Joyce Napier was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada in recognition of her “proficient” bilingual reporting in print and broadcast media.

She has covered major political stories and served as Radio-Canada’s Middle East correspondent for five years, where she became “a familiar figure in her blue flak jacket as she reported from and lived in a war zone.”

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