The Poet Laureate of Ontario (french: Poète officiel de l’Ontario) is the

poet laureate A poet laureate (plural: poets laureate) is a poet officially appointed by a government or conferring institution, typically expected to compose poems for special events and occasions. Albertino Mussato of Padua and Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) ...

for the

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''Roman province, provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

in Canada. The position was established in 2019 as an office of the

Legislative Assembly of Ontario The Legislative Assembly of Ontario (OLA, french: Assemblée législative de l'Ontario) is the legislative chamber of the Canadian province of Ontario. Its elected members are known as Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs). Bills passed by ...

in honour of musician and writer

Gord Downie Gordon Edgar Downie (February 6, 1964 – October 17, 2017) was a Canadian rock singer-songwriter, musician, writer and activist. He was the singer and lyricist for the Canadian rock band The Tragically Hip, which he fronted from its form ...

Establishment

The ''Poet Laureate of Ontario Act (In Memory of Gord Downie), 2019'' was introduced in December 2017 as a

private member's bill A private member's bill is a bill (proposed law) introduced into a legislature by a legislator who is not acting on behalf of the executive branch. The designation "private member's bill" is used in most Westminster system jurisdictions, in whi ...

to the legislature by Percy Hatfield, the Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) for Windsor—Tecumseh. Passage of the bill into law on December 12, 2019 was attended by members of Downie's family, during which time MPPs read

The Tragically Hip The Tragically Hip, often referred to simply as the Hip, were a Canadian rock band formed in Kingston, Ontario in 1984, consisting of vocalist Gord Downie, guitarist Paul Langlois, guitarist Rob Baker (known as Bobby Baker until 1994), bassi ...

lyrics and paid tribute to Downie. The first poet laureate was originally scheduled to be named in 2020, after being selected by a legislative panel chaired by speaker

Ted Arnott Theodore Calvin Arnott (born April 8, 1963) is a politician in Ontario, Canada. He was first elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario on September 6, 1990, representing the Riding of Wellington. He is a member of the Progressive Conservativ ...

, however the announcement was delayed until 2021. The appointee will hold the role for a two-year term. On April 28, 2021, Randell Adjei was named the first poet laureate.

References

External links

*
Bill 6, Poet Laureate of Ontario Act (In Memory of Gord Downie), 2019
at the

{{Global Poets Laureate, state=autocollapse Ontario Culture of Ontario