Veteran Canadian musician Art Bergmann has been made a Member of the Order of Canada.
"Canada is changing," he tweeted Wednesday. "To award someone like me with the keys to the empire is a courageous move, hah!"
According to the office of the Governor General, the 67-year-old is being honoured for his “indelible contributions to the Canadian punk music scene, and for his thought-provoking discourse on social, gender and racial inequalities.”
Bergmann, who was born in Vancouver but currently lives in Alberta, was a key figure in the Canadian punk scene in the late ‘70s. Before launching a solo career, he was a member of bands like the Notorious Smorg Brothers, Young Canadians and Poisoned.
Nominated for Most Promising Male Vocalist at the Juno Awards in 1989, he went on to win for Best Alternative Rock Album in 1996 (for What Fresh Hell Is This?).