Recipients-2026

Robert Hilton Bennett, ONS
New Glasgow

As the Executive Director of Summer Street in New Glasgow, Bob Bennett has dedicated four decades to advancing inclusion, dignity, and opportunity for people with diverse abilities. Under his leadership, Summer Street has become a provincial model for inclusive employment, social enterprise, advocacy, and community partnership, transforming advocacy into meaningful action. Bennett has championed systemic change, strengthened partnerships with government, employers, and community organizations, and expanded opportunities for meaningful employment, independence, and community participation. His leadership has helped change the services available to people with diverse abilities, and how their contributions are understood and valued.

Central to Bennett’s philosophy is the belief that meaningful change is built collectively. He has always shared credit with those who work alongside him and, most importantly, those Summer Street serves. He has challenged perceptions of people with diverse abilities as simply recipients of support, demonstrating instead their desire and capacity to contribute, help others, and strengthen their communities.

Through the Participant Council and participant-developed Bill of Rights, Bennett ensured those voices help shape their own futures. His humility, compassion, and unwavering belief in human potential have changed attitudes, expanded possibilities, and created a lasting legacy of dignity, belonging, contribution, and shared accomplishment across Nova Scotia. Bennett is recognized for his transformative leadership, unwavering dedication to humanity, and profound contributions to the social fabric of Pictou County and the province.

Wadih M. Fares, CM, ONS
Halifax

Wadih Fares is a businessman, engineer, community leader and public servant whose contributions have helped shape the economic and social landscape of Nova Scotia. Arriving from Lebanon as an 18-year-old immigrant in 1976, he earned two engineering degrees before founding the WM Fares Group in 1984. For more than four decades, his leadership in engineering and development has helped build communities, advance major projects and create thousands of employment opportunities across the province.

His impact extends far beyond business. As Honorary Consul of Lebanon for more than 30 years, Mr. Fares has strengthened ties between Lebanon and Nova Scotia and supported generations of newcomers. His leadership helped advance the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21 to national museum status, while his work co-chairing a provincial immigration committee contributed to efforts to increase immigration and retention.

Committed to strengthening health care, he established a partnership with Lebanese universities to recruit ready-to-practise family physicians to Nova Scotia. His extensive public and community service has included leadership and governance roles with Dalhousie University and the Halifax International Airport Authority. A dedicated philanthropist, he has generously supported health care, universities, libraries, social services, sport and numerous community organizations.

Wadih Fares exemplifies leadership grounded in service, generosity, and an enduring commitment to Nova Scotia.

Dr. the Honourable John Hamm, OC, ONS, ECNS, MD
Stellarton

Dr. John Hamm was a dedicated family physician, community leader, and the 25th Premier of Nova Scotia, whose visionary governance profoundly shaped the province's economic, social, and civic landscape.

In a historic reflection of this moment, it was under Dr. Hamm’s administration in 2001 that the Order of Nova Scotia was formally established, ensuring a permanent infrastructure to recognize exceptional provincial excellence. His tenure was defined by transformative structural achievements, including building the modern Nova Scotia Community College system, investing in healthcare management and balancing the provincial budget for the first time in 25 years. He further secured the province's economic future by negotiating the landmark 2005 Offshore Offset Agreement, yielding an $830 million payment that allowed Nova Scotia to retain 100% of its offshore energy revenues.

Beyond governance, Dr. Hamm’s life embodied the spirit of public service. Before entering politics, he spent thirty years as a compassionate family doctor in Pictou County and served as president of the Nova Scotia Medical Society. Following his retirement from elected office, he continued his lifelong commitment to public welfare by chairing Assisted Human Reproduction Canada and co-chairing national celebrations marking 250 years of Canadian democracy.

Barbara-Ann Hamilton-Hinch, ONS
Dartmouth

Barbara-Ann Hamilton-Hinch, is a distinguished academic and community leader who has dedicated her personal and professional life to advancing education, health equity, and social justice for the Black and African Nova Scotian community.

As a full professor and the first person of African Nova Scotian heritage to serve as Assistant Vice-Provost of Equity and Inclusion at Dalhousie University, Dr. Hamilton-Hinch has pioneered structural transformations in higher education. Her groundbreaking research explicitly examines the impacts of systemic racism on populations that have been marginalized. Her academic innovations include co-creating Centering Black Canadian Health, the university's first undergraduate for-credit course focused on Black healthcare experiences.

Parallel to her academic leadership, Hamilton-Hinch has co-founded foundational community programs that bridge severe opportunity gaps. In 1998, she established the Connecting to Africa program to link youth with their ancestry through cultural travel. She also co-founded Imhotep’s Legacy Academy to improve STEM representation for secondary students of African heritage across the province. Furthermore, she was integral to developing Promoting Leadership in Health for African Nova Scotians (PLANS), which successfully increased admissions, retention, and graduation rates for Black medical students and other health professions. Her extensive civic contributions span numerous boards, volunteer initiatives, and tireless personal mentorship to uplift subsequent generations.

Matt Miglewood, ONS
Glace Bay

Matt Minglewood, is an extraordinary musician, songwriter, and cultural icon from Glace Bay who has served as a powerful ambassador for Nova Scotian arts and identity for over five decades.

A true legend in the rock-and-blues genre, Minglewood's music authentically reflects the character and resilient spirit of our province. Over a prolific career including twelve albums, he has toured extensively across Canada, proudly carrying the identity of Nova Scotia from coast to coast and traveling globally to perform for Canadian Armed Forces troops in Afghanistan. Rather than relocating to larger commercial music hubs, he chose to remain steadfastly rooted in Cape Breton, choosing to continue entertaining, inspiring, and mentoring local people directly within their own communities.

Parallel to his prominent artistic career, Minglewood has demonstrated a deep, lifelong commitment to regional philanthropy and civic duty. He has generously donated his time and immense talent to the Christmas Daddies Telethon for over thirty consecutive years, directly supporting less fortunate children and families in need throughout the maritime provinces during the holiday season. His profound musical connection and immense generosity have set an enduring standard of excellence that shapes the provincial arts industry.

Lynn Murphy, ONS
Halifax

Lynn Murphy, is a pioneering activist, community builder, and historian who has dedicated over 45 years to advancing and preserving the civil rights histories of Nova Scotia's LGBTQ2+ communities.

Since the 1970s, Murphy has provided foundational leadership to the province’s equity movement through key roles in the Gay Alliance for Equality and the Gay and Lesbian Association of Nova Scotia. Notably, she helped coordinate Halifax’s first ever Pride Week following the 1988 Pride March, establishing the multi-day model that informs modern regional festivals. As a member of the Atlantic History and Archives Network, she was instrumental in transferring GAE/GALA’s materials to the Public Archives. She has championed diverse cultural and literary spaces, volunteering to build the queer section at Red Herring Cooperative Books, serving on the Board of the Nova Scotia Rainbow Action Project, and coordinating the (mid-COVID) 2020 Secret Pride March.

Murphy’s enduring legacy arises from her dedication to elder support and historical preservation. She is a founding member of the Elderberries Society, which fosters vital social connections and intergenerational dialogue. Through Elderberries’ partnership with the Nova Scotia LGBT Seniors Archive, she has helped to safeguard decades of vulnerable records for future generations.

L. Jane McMillan, ONS
Antigonish

Professor L. Jane McMillan, is an acclaimed legal anthropologist, and researcher at St. Francis Xavier University who has dedicated three decades to advancing Indigenous rights, governance, and justice in Nova Scotia.

McMillan’s deeply collaborative, community-led scholarship has profoundly influenced public policy, legal discourse, and systemic change. Notably, her award-winning book, Truth and Conviction: Donald Marshall Jr. and the Mi’kmaq Quest for Justice, serves as a vital resource for understanding treaty rights and systemic inequities. Her extensive expertise in customary law has directly strengthened provincial justice infrastructure. She contributed foundational expertise to developing the Wagmatcook First Nations Court – the province's first self-determined Gladue and Wellness court, ensuring legal practices are meaningfully informed by Mi’kmaw knowledge, traditions, and rehabilitation frameworks.

Furthermore, McMillan has served as a trusted advisor to influential bodies, including the Mi’kmaw Tripartite Forum and the Advisory Committee for Nova Scotia’s Indigenous Justice Action Plan. Through her academic leadership, including directing the Deveau Institute for Indigenous Governance and Social Justice, she has secured millions in research funding to examine systemic barriers, Indigenous health, and socio-economic equity. Revered by community Elders for her integrity and humility, her life's work epitomizes the very action within reconciliation.

Judge Corrine Etta Sparks, OC, ONS
Dartmouth

Judge Corrine Sparks is a legal educator, jurist and community leader who has dedicated over thirty-five years to public service, equity, and human rights in Nova Scotia.

Appointed to the Nova Scotia Family Court in 1987, Judge Sparks became the first African Nova Scotian appointed to the provincial bench and the first Black female judge in Canadian history. Throughout her distinguished 34-year judicial career, she specialized in protecting vulnerable children and youth at risk, utilizing an approach firmly grounded in legal expertise, compassion, and human empathy.

Along with her work on the bench, Judge Sparks pioneered social context judicial education and advocated for equality within the legal system. She served on the Gender Equality Task Force of the Canadian Bar Association and helped launch a vital judicial mentorship initiative at Dalhousie University. Her historic 1995 decision in R. v. R.D.S. fundamentally shifted the Canadian judicial landscape by precipitating a critical national discourse regarding systemic racism, unconscious bias, and judicial neutrality. Following her retirement, she continued her lifelong service by accepting an appointment as a commissioner for the provincial Land Titles Initiative, adjudicating complex ownership claims to correct historical inequities and help Black residents secure clear land titles in historic African Nova Scotian communities.

Alan Syliboy, ONS
Millbrook

Alan Syliboy is a renowned Mi'kmaw visual artist, author, musician, and Elder who has made an extraordinary, sustained contribution to the cultural landscape of Nova Scotia for over five decades.

Overcoming profound challenges, Mr. Syliboy developed a dynamic contemporary visual language deeply rooted in Mi'kmaw petroglyph traditions and ancestral knowledge. His artistic practice spans multi-media installations, paintings, international animations, and children's literature, which plays a critical role in revitalizing the Mi'kmaw language. His large-scale public installations – including prominent murals at the Halifax Stanfield International Airport and the Tufts Cove piece along the Halifax waterfront—have permanently transformed everyday spaces to honor Mi'kmaw history and presence in public memory.

Deeply relational, Syliboy centers his practice on collaboration with Elders and extensive mentorship of younger artists. He established a vital creative studio within Millbrook First Nation to ensure the community-based transmission of traditional knowledge. He has also enhanced provincial arts governance by serving on influential cultural bodies, including the East Coast Music Association and the NSCAD University Board of Governors. Through his continuous leadership, Syliboy has driven a profound institutional shift in how Indigenous art and heritage are valued across Canada.

Syliboy’s artistic vision, dedication to cultural preservation, and lifetime of profound leadership within Mi'kma'ki have seen him contribute to such lasting contributions as the International Arrivals section of the Halifax Stanfield International Airport, Canadian coinage struck by the Royal Canadian Mint, and the historic Treaty of Peace and Friendship Commemoration Medal.

Shelly Lynn Whitman, ONS
Black Point

Shelly Whitman is an internationally renowned humanitarian, scholar, and community leader who has positioned Nova Scotia as a global hub for international peace and children's rights. As Executive Director of the Dallaire Institute for Children, Peace, and Security at Dalhousie University, Dr. Whitman leads pioneering, interdisciplinary research translated directly into scenario-based training and educational tools used by security forces worldwide. Her strategic vision effectively counteracts and disrupts the systemic recruitment and use of children as soldiers in global conflicts.

A prominent architect of global policy, Whitman co-authored the landmark Vancouver Principles on Peacekeeping and the Prevention of the Recruitment and Use of Child Soldiers with the Government of Canada. This critical framework has been officially endorsed by over one hundred nations. Furthermore, her profound expertise has shaped domestic and global safety through high-level appointments on Public Safety Canada’s Expert Committee on Preventing Radicalization to Violence, and as Canada's representative to the UNESCO International Expert Group on Preventing Attacks Against Education.

Through extensive cross-sector collaborations and high-impact media advocacy, including a global campaign to elevate peace education at the G7 summit, she has consistently amplified human rights on the world stage. Whitman's compassionate leadership, ethical mentorship, and relentless public service continues to touch countless lives, bringing immense distinction to the province and to Canada.