Michael J. Fox and father of Nickelodeon slime among Order of Canada appointments

Michael J. Fox speaks at an event celebrating the 40th anniversary of the sci-fi adventure film "Back to the Future," in Toronto, on Friday, Aug. 22, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sammy Kogan

Michael J. Fox wears his Order of Canada pin everywhere.

He wears the little white pin on talk shows; he wears it to meet up with friends — his fellow Canadian New Yorkers Martin Short and Lorne Michaels make sure of it, he quips. And he wore it when he accepted the Presidential Medal of Freedom in the final days of Joe Biden’s presidency.

“My intrinsic Canadianism is a bigger part of me than my relationship with the States,” he says on a video call from New York, Emmy Awards lined up on the shelf behind him.

The actor and Parkinson’s advocate has worn the white pin for 16 years, since he was first named an officer of the Order of Canada. But he’ll soon be able to upgrade to the red version of the snowflake-shaped insignia as he’s promoted to companion, a higher rank within the order, whose living membership is capped at 180.

The “Back to the Future” star is among 61 people newly appointed to or promoted within the Order of Canada, including soccer icon Christine Sinclair, journalist Stephanie Nolen and infectious disease specialist Caroline Quach-Thanh.

It’s the last tranche of members chosen by former governor general Mary Simon, who was succeeded in the role by Louise Arbour earlier this month.

Fox loves the United States, he clarifies. It’s where he launched his career, met his wife and raised his family. But Canada comes first, he says, and the Order of Canada is an honour he doesn’t take lightly.

“What it seems to me this represents is being an ambassador or a representative of Canada: representing Canada in the things I do. Canada’s sense of community, its awareness of fellow Canadians and fellow people, and their situation is something I relate to,” Fox says.

Rideau Hall says Fox is being promoted for his “powerful global advocacy and unflinching honesty about Parkinson’s.”

The actor, now 65, was diagnosed with the progressive disease in 1991 when he was 29 years old.

Parkinson’s is classified as a movement disorder, and it happens when the brain cells that make dopamine stop working or die. The disease can cause tremor, stiffness and slowness, or problems walking and moving. It’s also linked to depression, memory problems and other symptoms that aren’t related to movement.

After his diagnosis, Fox went on to found the Michael J. Fox Foundation, which funds research into the disease and spreads awareness about the varying experiences of people who have it. It’s raised $2.5 billion for the cause so far.

“There was a feeling when I first got involved of being kind of on an island, waiting for the boat to come save us,” he says. “They said: don’t look for a boat, build a boat and take it where we want it to go.”

After he went public with his diagnosis, Fox decided he’d only take parts that integrate his Parkinson’s symptoms into the role.

In 2023, he released “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie,” a documentary chronicling his life in Hollywood and his experience with Parkinson’s disease.

And earlier this year, he had an arc on “Shrinking,” the Apple TV Plus show with a storyline about a therapist played by Harrison Ford who’s diagnosed with Parkinson’s.

In it, Fox’s character talks about having the disease and what Ford’s character can expect.

In both cases, Fox says, he pushed his advocacy to another level.

“In the last year, it was ... the advocate and the actor coming together.”

Like Fox, soccer star Sinclair is being promoted to a companion of the Order of Canada, with Rideau Hall calling her “one of the most influential athletes in Canadian history.”

“She is a powerful advocate for the advancement of women’s sport and has inspired generations of athletes globally,” her citation from the governor general reads.

Among the new officers of the Order of Canada is Yvan Cournoyer, who won 10 Stanley Cups in his 16 seasons with the Montreal Canadiens, ending in 1979.

So too is Niv Fichman, a film producer and founder of Rhombus Media. His credits include “The Red Violin” and “BlackBerry.”

Children’s TV producer Roger Damon Price, meanwhile, is a newly minted member of the Order of Canada.

His most visible contribution to the culture is the neon green slime that became a signature of the U.S. kids channel Nickelodeon. He introduced the viscous substance in the seventh episode of “You Can’t Do That on Television,” a CTV kids variety show that was picked up by Nickelodeon.

Less visible but more notable was his effect on the tone of children’s television.

He developed his shows in consultation with a child psychologist, who told him kids wanted to see themselves reflected on TV — that it would help them feel good about themselves.

Price also had a sense of what kids didn’t want: to be talked down to or lectured.

He says he used to tell TV executives that the equivalent of their children’s programming would be a prime time show in which someone appeared on screen and said: “Hi ladies and gentlemen, tonight we’re all going to have fun filing our tax returns and compiling all our receipts. And next week we’ll have even more fun — you might be lucky enough to get audited!”

Instead, Price’s shows were high-energy chaos, goofy and irreverent, with jokes conceptualized by the kids themselves.

Now 84 and living in Ottawa, the British-born Price is writing his memoirs. While he’s honoured to be named to the Order of Canada, he says it’s not how he measures success.

“What mattered to me was whether they were watching and benefiting from watching — not learning from watching. Because learning, that’s what they’re supposed to do in school.”

The new appointments also include public servants, such as Colin Robertson, a career diplomat who now hosts a Canadian Global Affairs Institute podcast. He said he’s “deeply honoured” that his foreign experience is being recognized.

He says it feels like recognition of the value of diplomats’ depth of knowledge.

“Diplomacy is absolutely essential given the fix we’re in around the world today and I think Canada can play a useful role, has played a useful role,” Robertson says.

Charlie Watt, a former senator and an influential Inuk leader, said receiving the award is something he can be proud of for the rest of his life.

Watt founded both the Northern Quebec Inuit Association and the Makivvik Corp. He also played an important role in negotiating the landmark James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement, Canada’s first modern land claim agreement.

The agreement set out environmental and social protections for Cree, Inuit and Naskapi territories and guaranteed their rights to trap, hunt and fish on those lands.

Watt served on the Senate from 1984 to 2018, starting when Pierre Trudeau was prime minister and ending when Justin Trudeau was.

The 81-year-old says this honour means even more because he received it from Simon, whom he grew up with in Nunavik, Que. Simon is just a few years younger than him.

“It was nice to get it from her,” he says.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 26, 2026.

-with files from Catherine Morrison in Ottawa.

Nicole Thompson, The Canadian Press