Saskatoon accountant receives Order of Canada

From accountant to the Order of Canada, Saskatoon’s Shelley Brown has shown she desires a better country.

Gov. Gen. Julie Payette invested 39 recipients into the Order of Canada during a ceremony at Rideau Hall on Thursday.

Brown was the lone Saskatchewan inductee amongst distinguished individuals that included celebrity actors Donald Sutherland and William Shatner.

“Saskatchewan was probably under-represented at the ceremony. I think we’ve got a lot of very worthy candidates in Saskatchewan that have certainly contributed a lot to our communities and a lot to the Canadian economy. So, I think we could do better in terms of candidates from Saskatchewan,” she said over the phone on Friday in Ottawa.

“It’s an incredible honour. It still seems a bit surreal, particularly the whole ceremony yesterday and just hearing the accomplishments of all of the individuals that were inducted yesterday is very humbling but I’m just very honoured and very pleased to have been amongst that group.”

Brown was recognized for distinguishing herself as a trailblazer for women in accounting.

Upon graduating in 1978 from the University of Saskatchewan (U of S) College of Commerce, now the Murray Edwards School of Business, she worked her way up with a passion for the accounting profession.

Brown became a senior audit partner and strategic business advisor with Deloitte Canada with a client portfolio consisting of companies primarily in the mining industry. She retired last year after 30 years in public practice.

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Brown was the former chair of the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants, the first chair of the Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada and worked through the unification of the accounting profession in the country.

“One of the areas that was so rewarding for me, and I was so fortunate to be a part of, was the unification of the accounting profession in Canada,” she said.

“We formerly had three accounting designations in Canada and during my time on the board of the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants, I was involved in the unification of the profession. And that was, I would say, one of the highlights of my career and one of the accomplishments that will carry on and bring rewards to our profession for many, many years to come.”

As a senior partner and board member at Deloitte Canada, she has inspired other women in the field through her transformative leadership.

“What I advise women is to stay true to themselves. Don’t try to be something that you’re not or don’t feel that you have to fit into a male role just to succeed and to advance in your careers,” Brown said.

“At the senior level, and this is not only in accounting practice and public practice, but also in the corporate world is still largely male-dominated and I think that there is lots of room for women to advance, to take on leadership roles and I would just encourage them to stay the course and continuing to work towards equity.”

She was also recognized on Thursday for her decades of dedication and commitment to the non-profit sector, serving on such boards as the U of S board of governors and the Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital Foundation.

“It’s been an amazing journey in terms of bringing the Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital to reality. It’s been over a 20-year journey from the time that the concept first was initiated … it’s now a fully functioning children’s hospital and one that we can be extremely proud of in Saskatchewan,” Brown said.

“It’s a wonderful facility and we can say that it is world-class.”

Established in 1967, nearly 7,500 people from across the country have invested into the Order of Canada. Its recipients take to heart the motto of the Order: desiderantes meliorem patriam, which means “they desire a better country.”

“Absolutely, I think that throughout my career I have always worked to give back to the communities that I’ve lived in and worked in. And I think that is very important,” Brown said.

“It’s just important that we all do our part in terms of contributing to our communities and building our country. We are so fortunate to live in a country like Canada and I think we each need to do our part to continue to have it be a great country to live in.”