Historians at the Order of Canada: Stephen Otto

Just to say I was delighted to see Stephen A Otto among the latest Order of Canada honorees.  I suppose Stephen's field was "heritage," rather than "history" narrowly defined, but he has long been the guy I go to when there is something really obscure about Toronto history I want to know more about.

In recent years he has been the leader and inspiration for the organization Friends of Fort York in Toronto and editor of Fife and Drum, its much-more-than-you-would-expect newsletter.  He has always been a spark for heritage preservation causes and civic improvement in southern Ontario. "Yes," said a mutual friend once when I told him I was doing some writing for Steven's newsletter, "he is a wonderful fellow. And terribly hard to say no to."  I'm glad the Order of Canada knew to say yes.