Toronto/IBNS: Governor General Mary Simon has announced 78 new appointments to the Order of Canada including activists, authors, artists, Indigenous leaders and other accomplished Canadians.

Simon's office announcement included three new appointments of "companions," the highest level of the Order of Canada, 15 officers, which included one honorary officer, and 59 members.

Inducted into the order this year were a number of journalists including two whose work took aim at the presidency of Donald Trump.

Susanne Craig, a journalist, was made a member of the order for her work as an investigative reporter.

Craig, David Barstow and Russ Buettner won the Pulitzer Prize for explanatory reporting in 2019 for their joint investigation into Trump's finances.

"Our work ... particularly on Donald Trump and his finances, it shows that one reporter or a small team of reporters can really make a difference," Craig was reported saying.

"When reporters are laid off, or they're just not there to bear witness, things do go uncovered. We all benefit from a healthy press."

Adams, 89, the first Inuit appointed to the Senate in Canada, was honoured this year as an officer of the Order of Canada  for his "long-standing support of Indigenous interests and for advancing Indigenous representation in Canadian legislation."

Deantha Rae Edmunds, Canada's first Inuk opera singer, was made a member of the order "for her original compositions and her mentorship of young Indigenous musicians."

Born and raised in Richard Wayne Hill, Buffalo, New York, but now lives in Ohsweken, Ont. an Indigenous knowledge keeper inducted "for his efforts to recover and restore Haudenosaunee artifacts and ways of living," is being given an honorary appointment as an officer.

Another artist on the list of new members is Montréal-based novelist Kim Thúy's  2009 debut novel Ru was a bestseller and won the Governor General's Literary Award.

Also being honoured this year is retired general Raymond Henault, already a commander of the Order of Military Merit, the former chief of the defence staff and chair of NATO's military committee was  made a member of the Order of Canada.

Here's a complete list of the new appointees to the Order of Canada:

COMPANIONS: Serge Joyal, J. Wilton Littlechild, Ronald Daniel Stewart

OFFICERS: Willie Adams, Joséphine Bacon, Ian Burton, Richard Burzynski, William Arthur Stewart Buxton, Chang Keun, Wenona Giles, Réjean Hébert, Richard Wayne Hill Sr.,  Louise Imbeault, Firdaus Kharas. Linda Jane Manzer. Elder Albert D. Marshall, Paul Myles O'Byrne, Peter Robb Pearson, Steven Lewis Point

MEMBERS include Jodi Leanne Abbott, Yisa Folasele Akinbolaji, Sara Joy Angel, Antonio Ariganello, Nurjehan Aziz Vassanji, Glen Baker, Morris L. Barer, Anne Bassett, Ardyth Brott, Alfredo Caxaj, Susanne Craig, Patrick Gordon Crean, Michael de Adder, Raquel Zegarra del Carpio-O'Donovan, Debbie A. Douglas, Bronwyn D. A. Drainie, Deantha Rae Edmunds, Jeffrey Mark Farber, Deanne M. Fitzpatrick, Louis Hugo Francescutti, Patricia Sybil Pritchard Fraser, Tennys J. M. Hanson, Gen. Raymond Roland Henault (retired), Lorne Henry Hepworth, Victor Peter Hetmanczuk, John Pearson Hirdes, Lillie Johnson, Timothy Robert Jones, Richard Kroeker, Gary Alan Kulesha, Carol Anne Lee, Francine Lemire, André Leon Lewis, Kim Thúy Ly Thanh, George Edward MacDonald, Susan Margaret Macpherson, Medhat Sabet Mahdy, Lois McDonall, Noella Maria Milne, Deborah McColl Money, Osama El-Sayed Moselhi, Nikita James Nanos, John Andrew Olthuis, Linda M. Perry, André Pierre Picard, Bruce Godfrey Pollock, Bryan Earl Prince, Shannon Beth Prince, Joel Andrew Quarrington, Arun Ravindran, James M. Richards, Martine Monique Roy, Lino A. Saputo, Joseph (Jim) Spatz, George Mark Paul Stroumboulopoulos, Maia-Mari Sutnik, David Kin-Kay U, Zainub Verjee, Flavio Volpe.

(Reporting by Asha Bajaj)