OTTAWA -- Just shy of a year after he was informed that he was going to be given Canada’s highest civilian honor, The Manitoulin Group’s founder Douglas Smith of Gore Bay, Ont., will officially enter the Order of Canada, this week, at Rideau Hall in Ottawa.

Her Excellency The Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean, Governor General will preside over an Order of Canada investiture ceremony at her home Friday morning.

This year, she will be investing 47 others besides Manitoulin's founding trucker and Wayne Gretzky’s remarkable father Walter will be among the honorees.

According to the Governor General’s statement, Smith “has made important and lasting contributions to economic and social development in northern Ontario. As founder of Manitoulin Transport, he provided stable employment and created spin-off economic benefits for the residents of Manitoulin Island by maintaining his national trucking company’s head office in this rural region.

"He is also a generous philanthropist who has ensured that health care, sporting, cultural and charitable groups can continue to offer services and programs to those living in northern communities.”

Anyone who has met or done business with Smith knows that he is a man of honor and ingenuity.

Smith’s trucking career started there in 1957 when his family’s company, Smith’s Wholesale, purchased a truck to cart produce from Southern Ontario to their island home for distribution. Today, his company, which is now run on a day-to-day basis by his sons Jeffery and Gordon, boasts 60 terminals across the country.

Today it's a modern equipment fleet in excess of 2,668 units. It has about half a dozen carrier companies under its road transport umbrella as well as freight forwarding, customs brokerage, warehouse and distribution, and logistics divisions.

Smith is the second trucking magnate to receive the honor. The first was Trimac pioneer Bud McCaig, who was invited into the Order in 1999.

The Order of Canada was established in 1967 to recognize outstanding achievement and service in various fields of human endeavor.

Appointments are made on the recommendations of the Advisory Council for the Order of Canada, an independent council chaired by the chief justice of Canada. Any group or individual is welcome to nominate deserving individuals as candidates for appointment.

Smith was nominated by a group led by some of his colleagues on Manitoulin and when he received notification of the award last year, Smith told todaystrucking.com that he was caught completely by surprise.

(Click here to read that profile on Mr. Smith and reaction to his Order of Canada by his friends and family).