Two Cape Breton cultural leaders to receive Order of Canada this week in Ottawa

Celtic Colours International Festival co-founder and Artistic Director Joella Foulds, and Cape Breton’s Magazine and Breton Books publisher Ron Caplan will be among the 44 Canadians invested into the Order of Canada by His Excellency the Right Honourable David Johnston, Governor General of Canada, during a ceremony at Rideau Hall in Ottawa, Friday May 25.

Joella Foulds has long been a champion of Cape Breton’s music and culture. A musician, broadcaster and arts activist, she is also the co-founder and artistic director of the Celtic Colours International Festival which, since its introduction in 1997, has grown to become one of Canada’s premiere musical events, and a cultural highlight of Nova Scotia’s tourism season, collecting accolades from regional music awards to national and international tourism awards. The festival has also been successful in extending Cape Breton Island’s tourism season well into the Autumn, and introducing the musical culture of the Island to visitors from more than two dozen countries.

For decades, Ronald Caplan has been preserving the cultural traditions and living history of Cape Breton Island. As the publisher of Cape Breton’s Magazine, he traveled throughout the Island to gather and share the everyday, yet extraordinary, stories of the region’s English, French, Acadian and Mi’kmaq residents. He has preserved the Magazine’s image as a cultural, social and historical record of a time gone by, but has also made it fully accessible to today’s historians and the general public through the publication’s online version. Also an author himself and the publisher of Breton Books, which published its100th title in February 2010, he continues to volunteer with heritage organizations in Nova Scotia.

Established in 1967 by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, the Order of Canada is the centrepiece of the Canadian Honours System, and recognizes a lifetime of outstanding achievement, dedication to the community and service to the nation. The Order recognizes people in all sectors of Canadian society. Their contributions are varied, yet they have all enriched the lives of others and made a difference to this country.

Foulds and Caplan will be invested as Members of the Order. Membership recognizes a lifetime of distinguished service in or to a particular community, group or field of activity.