Of the 12 Manitobans who received the Order of Manitoba on July 15 from Lt.-Gov. Philip S. Lee, two have strong Northern roots.

Those would be former MLA and MP Elijah Harper, and longtime Cross Lake volunteer Robert “Bob” Smith, who were bestowed the honour in a ceremony at the Manitoba legislature.

Smith is well known figure in Cross Lake, owing to his decades of community service as well as his position on the Cross Lake Community Council, an unpaid role that he has held for 20 years.

One of his most notable accomplishments came in 2006, when he landed a cadet program for Cross Lake. He now serves as commanding officer of the Royal Army Cadets Corp #38. Smith is also involved with local first aid and search-and-rescue efforts.

Harper, from Red Sucker Lake, is best known for his lifelong promotion of aboriginal issues, and perhaps most notably his role in bringing down the Meech Lake Accord, an effort for which Canadian Press named him Newsmaker of the Year in 1990. Sitting in the Manitoba legislature as the member for Rupertsland, Harper initiated a filibuster to prevent the Accord from passing due to a lack of aboriginal involvement in the creation of the Accord. He is a recipient of the Stanley Knowles Humanitarian Award and the National Aboriginal Achievement Award, and in 2004 was voted 83rd in the CBC “Greatest Canadian” contest.

Harper was first elected to the Manitoba legislature in 1981, picking up a total of 3,032 votes – or a very impressive 69.5 per cent share of the votes cast, giving the NDP one of the 34 seats they would win en route to taking the reins of government away from the Progressive Conservatives under Sterling Lyon.

Harper and the NDP returned with similar majorities in 1986, and Harper was again easily elected in 1988 with 2206 votes, but the NDP, led for the first time by Gary Doer, who was also named to the Order of Manitoba this year, were reduced to 12 seats. After the failure of the Meech Lake Accord, Harper was returned to office in 1990 with 77.4 per cent of the vote.

Harper resigned from the legislature in 1992, having served 11 years as MLA and four as minister of Northern affairs. He had represented the riding of Rupertsland for the entirety of his time in office, though the boundaries of the riding were adjusted in 1989 to include more areas of the far North. He then moved his attention to federal politics, running under the Liberal banner for the Churchill riding and narrowly defeating NDP incumbent Rod Murphy in the 1993 election, ending Murphy’s 14-year spell in office. Harper lost to the NDP’s Bev Desjarlais in the 1997 election, and subsequently when he tried to recapture his seat in 2000.

The 2010 class of Order of Manitoba recipients was announced May 12. Also named to the order were filmmaker Norma Bailey, community volunteer Marjorie Blankstein, Dr. David Grewar, business leader Kerry Hawkins, social advocate Betty Hopkins, literacy advocate Kathryn Knowles, Canadian Foodgrains Bank pioneer Bert Loewen, health care executive Carmel Olson, and nurse Keith Ursel.