'There's lots that can be done': ER doctor one of four Albertans appointed to Order of Canada

Published Dec 28, 2023 • 4 minute read

Dr. Louis Francescutti speaks to the media during a news conference at a new 36-bed transition facility referred to as the Bridge Healing Transitional Accommodation Program in Edmonton on Jan. 12, 2023. Photo by David Bloom /Postmedia, file

Walking to work Thursday morning after being appointed to the Order of Canada, 70-year-old Dr. Louis Francescutti said he’s not thinking of retirement but of big problems he still hopes to help fix.

The emergency physician is among several Albertans who are the latest to be appointed to one of the country’s highest honours. Francescutti’s appointment recognizes not just his work in medicine but his advocacy and support for some of society’s most vulnerable.

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“There’s lots that can be done,” he told Postmedia, adding that with the political and social will, the homelessness crisis could be solved.

“There’s so many problems that are still facing us that need to be addressed,” he said.

Francescutti practices at the Royal Alexandra Hospital and the Northeast Community Health Centre, but highlighted the importance of work being done at the Bridge Healing program. It offers transitional housing for as many as 36 people experiencing homelessness who have been discharged from Edmonton emergency departments.

“The program works at a fraction of the cost of anything else out there. So what we need to do is stand up and get every patient in emergency that is homeless — which are the patients with the greatest need — a place to stay,” he said.

Francescutti also teaches advocacy at the University of Alberta, something he says wouldn’t be necessary if the system was working.

“Let’s challenge the system to do better.”

He said he’s proud of his work on an education program aimed at preventing injuries among teenagers, and his time at the helm of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and as the president of the Canadian Medical Association.

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“That gave me a pretty large pulpit to be able to spread the message and try and change how organizations think, especially the medical community,” he said, adding that he is looking forward to working on addressing the negative health effects of loneliness.

Thursday’s announcement saw 78 appointees to the Order of Canada, an honour reserved for those who have made an extraordinary mark on the country. Three appointments are promotions within the order.

Wilton Littlechild, a lawyer and former Treaty 6 Confederacy Grand Chief, was promoted to the Order of Canada’s level of companion for his contributions to reconciliation and for his longtime work promoting Indigenous athletes in international sports events.

Littlechild was first named a member of the order 25 years ago.

In 1976, he became the first Alberta Treaty First Nation person to receive a law degree from the University of Alberta, and was elected the member of Parliament for Wetaskiwin in 1988. In 2009, he served as a commissioner of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and has worked internationally to advocate for the rights of Indigenous people.

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Edmontonian Jodi Abbott was inducted as a member for her leadership in health care, and for her mentorship of young athletes.

Abbott, raised in Edson, became a figure-skating judge at 16.

“I loved skating and my mother, being a strong community volunteer, told me I needed to give back to the sport,” she told Postmedia last year.

Abbott is the University Hospital Foundation’s president and CEO, and along with being a world and Olympic-level figure skating official, was president and CEO of NorQuest College for a decade.

Glen Baker was recognized for his contributions in neuropsychopharmacology — an interdisciplinary science that examines how drugs affect the mind — as a researcher, administrator and mentor. A University of Alberta professor emeritus, Baker is the former chairman of the department of psychiatry.

His work has been widely published, and the university notes that he has served on many grant panels and advisory boards as well as organizing committees for several national and international conferences in his field.

The list of new officers of the Order of Canada published Thursday also includes broadcaster George Stroumboulopoulos, Willie Adams, the first Inuit senator in Canada, guitar-maker Linda Manzer, editorial cartoonist Michael de Adder and pollster Nik Nanos.

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Journalists, including New York Times Pulitzer Prize winner Susanne Craig and Globe and Mail health reporter André Picard, were also recognized.

Gov.-Gen. Mary Simon said in the announcement she valued the chance to celebrate those that have benefited others, but also pointed to those that haven’t been given the nod.

“I encourage each of us to become catalysts for the change we want to see in the Canadian honours system by nominating individuals whose exceptional accomplishments may have gone unrecognized through the years,” she wrote.

Francescutti lamented that the honour couldn’t be shared with his colleagues and those that have supported him, including his parents, who immigrated to Canada from Italy in the 1950s.

“It’s through the combined efforts of a lot of people that I’ve worked with over the years that I’ve been successful in receiving this.”

-With files from The Canadian Press and Postmedia

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