Cartoonist Lynn Johnston is among the inductees of the Order of Manitoba, announced announced Friday. Johnston, already a member of the Order of Canada, is one of twelve people to be inducted at a ceremony in July. The order is the Province of Manitoba’s highest civilian honour.
According to the CBC:
Johnston lived in the northern Manitoba community of Lynn Lake, 815 kilometres north of Winnipeg, for six years in the late 1970s and early 1980s. She now lives in northern Ontario.
When she heard she’d been nominated, Johnston said she tried to turn it down.
“I said, ‘I think this is wonderful, and I appreciate it, but I think it should go to somebody who lives in Manitoba and has lived all their life and, you know, people would probably complain,’ ” Johnston said.
“Then, I have a friend who lives in Winnipeg … and she phoned me and said, ‘You know, it’s not really about how long you lived in Manitoba. It’s mostly about the story line you did on the native community.’ “
The story featured in the comic strip saw one of the family’s daughters, Elizabeth, travelling to a northern aboriginal community as a student teacher.
