Two distinguished members of UCalgary community appointed to Order of Canada

Two University of Calgary degree-holders are the among the latest group of remarkable Canadians being awarded one of the highest civilian honours of merit. 

The Office of the Governor General announced 88 new appointments to the Order of Canada including Charles (Chic) Clayton Scott and Dr. Marco Antonio Marra, PhD. These appointments are “how our country honours people who make extraordinary contributions to the nation.”

Charles (Chic) Clayton Scott

Chic Scott, BSc’69, BEd’81, was appointed Member of the Order of Canada. 

He is a renowned climber and skier who has traveled the world as a trailblazing mountaineer from Mount Logan to the Himalayas. He made the first winter ascent of Mount Assiniboine (1967), was the first to make the Jasper to Lake Louise High Level Ski Traverse (1967) and was the first Canadian to reach a Himalayan peak when he summited Myagdi Matha in 1973. 

Born in Calgary, Scott now lives in Banff and is an author and historian with an extensive catalogue of works about Canadian expeditions including the classic Summits and Icefields as well as his magnum opus Pushing the Limits: the Story of Canadian Mountaineering which tells the story of Canada’s 200-year mountaineering history, an award-winning tome considered to be authoritative. 

Scott also worked on the Clint Eastwood film, the Eiger Sanction (1975), assisting with the mountain-climbing scenes. 

Marco Antonio Marra, Hon. LLD’05 

Dr. Marco A. Marra, who received an honorary degree from UCalgary in 2005, was appointed Officer of the Order of Canada for how he “propelled Canada to the forefront of genome research. 

A world-renowned scientist, he led large-scale initiatives and groundbreaking work in sequencing the SARS coronavirus genome and highlighted the underlying causes of cancers and new treatment strategies.” 

Marra was born in Berwyn, Alta., and now lives in Vancouver where he is a distinguished scientist at BC Cancer’s Genome Sciences Centre and a professor at the University of British Columbia. 

The Order of Canada was created in 1967 – Canada’s centennial year – and since then, more than 7,600 people from all sectors of society have been invested into the Order.

The full list of the current appointees can be found on the Governor General website.