Convicted sex abuser, former SNC Lavalin CEO both stripped of Order of Canada

A convicted sex offender and a former engineering executive who was found guilty of corruption have been stripped of their appointments to the Order of Canada, the country’s highest civilian honour.

Peter Dalglish, a humanitarian worker originally from London, Ont., who founded the charity Street Kids International, was named a member of the Order of Canada in 2016.

Dalglish was convicted in 2019 of sexually abusing two boys, ages 11 and 14, in Nepal. He had been arrested a year earlier at a mountain home he had built in a village east of the capital of Kathmandu. 

He was sentenced to nine years and seven years for each count, to be served concurrently.

He denied any wrongdoing, and his lawyers at the time described the police investigation and trial as a travesty of justice.

The other man to be stripped of the Order of Canada was Jacques Lamarre, once president and CEO of the company formerly known as SNC-Lavalin.

Lamarre was made an officer of the Order of Canada in 2005.

Quebec’s engineering order stripped him of his licence and fined him $75,000 this past January after finding him guilty of corruption last year.

He had already retired as an engineer and announced in August 2025 that he was resigning as a member of the order. He called a ruling from the regulatory body’s disciplinary council unfair and unreasonable.

The ruling said the penalties stemmed from breaches during his tenure at the helm of the Montreal-based engineering firm, now known as AtkinsRéalis Group, between 2001 and 2009.

The offences included payment of financial benefits to obtain contracts in Libya, with some $2 million going to the family of dictator Moammar Gadhafi.

A notice on Friday in the Canada Gazette, the federal government’s official newspaper, said Gov. Gen. Mary Simon signed off on the appointment terminations on April 15.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 15, 2026.

By Canadian Press Staff | Copyright 2026, The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.