Kelowna resident bestowed with the Order of Canada

Photo: Royal Roads University

Kelowna resident Dr. Milton McClaren is one of Canada's newest recipients of the Order of Canada.

Dr. McClaren was a long-time associate professor and director of field relations at Simon Fraser University's faculty of education and, according to an article, "spent three decades as an outspoken education critic, technology advocate and internationally known environmentalist."

McClaren was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada, "for being a pioneer of environmental education and a trailblazer in the technological development of distance learning in British Columbia," according to a description of his accomplishments on the Governor General of Canada's website.

He was one of 85 people across Canada bestowed the honour this year.

Although now retired, McClaren says he's not finished just yet.

"There's still a lot to be done," says McClaren, who is spending the summer teaching at the Summer Institute in Environmental Education in Kelowna, as he's done every July for the past 27 years.

He will then co-teach a course on global climate change at the Global Change Institute in Aspen.

Among his many accomplishments, McClaren is a founder and director of the Telecommunications Centre in Kelowna and co-designer of the Southern Interior Telecommunications Project, a forerunner to the Provincial Government Network.