Conrad Black ousted from Order of Canada, stripped of privy councillor status
OTTAWA - Conrad Black, who was convicted in the U.S. and served a prison sentence there, has been removed from the Order of Canada effective immediately, says the Governor General.
Black has also been stripped of his honorary position in the Privy Council of Canada, at the recommendation of Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
The announcement came in a terse release by Gov. Gen. David Johnston late Friday.
Last November, the Federal Court of Appeal dismissed an application by Black to personally address an advisory council that had been weighing whether he should be stripped of the Order of Canada.
The 11-member advisory council, which made the removal recommendation to Johnston, reviewed Black's membership in the order following his 2007 convictions for fraud and obstruction of justice in the United States. Black was given Canada's highest honour in 1990.
Five other Canadians — Alan Eagleson, David Ahenakew, T. Sher Singh, Stephen Fonyo Jr. and Garth Drabinsky — have been stripped of the Order of Canada. The Governor General's office said the decisions in these cases were based on various reasons, including being convicted of a criminal offence, a recipient committing actions not befitting of the honour, or a recipient being fined or reprimanded by a professional organization or association.
Black has been involved in a string of legal battles related to his U.S. convictions on fraud and obstruction of justice charges when he was the head of the Hollinger newspaper business.
Black has argued repeatedly that the U.S. case against him was the result of an unfair prosecution, pointing to the fact that an appeals court later tossed two of the three fraud convictions against him and two other Hollinger executives.
In the end, he served 37 months of a 42-month sentence in a Florida prison and returned to Canada in May of 2012. He returned under a special temporary permit given that he is no longer a citizen, having renounced his Canadian citizenship in 2001 so he could accept a peerage in the British House of Lords.
Black, who is now back in Toronto, is a columnist for the National Post and co-hosts a current affairs talk show.
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Coming soon: another lengthy National Post editorial.
OTTAWA - Conrad Black, who was convicted in the U.S. and served a prison sentence there, has been removed from the Order of Canada effective immediately, says the Governor General.
Black has also been stripped of his honorary position in the Privy Council of Canada, at the recommendation of Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
The announcement came in a terse release by Gov. Gen. David Johnston late Friday.
Last November, the Federal Court of Appeal dismissed an application by Black to personally address an advisory council that had been weighing whether he should be stripped of the Order of Canada.
The 11-member advisory council, which made the removal recommendation to Johnston, reviewed Black's membership in the order following his 2007 convictions for fraud and obstruction of justice in the United States. Black was given Canada's highest honour in 1990.
Five other Canadians — Alan Eagleson, David Ahenakew, T. Sher Singh, Stephen Fonyo Jr. and Garth Drabinsky — have been stripped of the Order of Canada. The Governor General's office said the decisions in these cases were based on various reasons, including being convicted of a criminal offence, a recipient committing actions not befitting of the honour, or a recipient being fined or reprimanded by a professional organization or association.
Black has been involved in a string of legal battles related to his U.S. convictions on fraud and obstruction of justice charges when he was the head of the Hollinger newspaper business.
Black has argued repeatedly that the U.S. case against him was the result of an unfair prosecution, pointing to the fact that an appeals court later tossed two of the three fraud convictions against him and two other Hollinger executives.
In the end, he served 37 months of a 42-month sentence in a Florida prison and returned to Canada in May of 2012. He returned under a special temporary permit given that he is no longer a citizen, having renounced his Canadian citizenship in 2001 so he could accept a peerage in the British House of Lords.
Black, who is now back in Toronto, is a columnist for the National Post and co-hosts a current affairs talk show.
Yahoo News Canada - Latest News & Headlines
Coming soon: another lengthy National Post editorial.
