The late Cape Breton singer-songwriter Bruce Guthro is receiving Nova Scotia’s highest honour.
The former frontman of the Scottish rock band Runrig has been posthumously appointed to the Order of Nova Scotia.
The award honours those who have made outstanding contributions to their professions and communities.
“All of us can learn from their dedication and their search for excellence and their contributions to the arts, cultural preservation and promotion, health equity, journalism, and education,” Nova Scotia Lt.-Gov. Arthur J. LeBlanc says.
Guthro died in September at the age of 62 after a long battle with cancer. His wife attended the Order of Nova Scotia ceremony held at Government House in Halifax on Thursday.
“It’s been just amazing accepting this award on Bruce’s behalf,” Kim Guthro says. “We’re very proud of the contributions that Bruce has made in the community and his legacy, which will carry on for many years to come.”
She says he would have been happy to receive the award.
“He would be so proud to accept this honour. He loved Nova Scotia, loved his province, loved the people in the province, he supported everybody here,” Kim says. “I know he would be very proud to have the Order of Nova Scotia given to him today.”
LeBlanc says Guthro “exemplified the best of Canada and Nova Scotia.”
“Modest, intelligent, empathetic — he reached our very hearts as a performer, and as a writer, and as a mentor,” he says.
Other individuals who were recognized on Thursday include Acadian filmmaker Phil Comeau, health researcher Jacqueline Gahagan, journalist Stephen Kimber and filmmaker Sylvia D. Hamilton.
For more than 40 years, Hamilton has worked to uncover the stories of the struggles and accomplishments of African Nova Scotians.
“I need to try myself to find ways to make contributions, to find ways to make the community, the province, the world, a better place by uncovering stories about the commitment, the history, the struggles, and the love of people of African descent in this place,” Hamilton says.
She inspires others to make a difference.
“I think it’s important for people in the province to look around them and to look at the many communities that came here many years ago — that are coming — and to be generous with people,” Hamilton says. “And to be loving, and to put aside hate. In this moment there’s a lot of hate on the run.”
The Order of Nova Scotia was established in 2001.
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