The Order of Canada pin isn't very big. I know this because my Dad has one, and so do a few other exceptional people I've met. The pin is metallic, white, and resembles a flower with six petals. You get the Order of Canada pin when you are special - when you are a Canadian who has made a difference to our country. You don't have to be a celebrity to get one. Since 1967, more than 4,000 remarkable Canadians have received the Order of Canada. It is Canada's highest civilian honour for lifetime achievement.

Which brings us to David Ahenakew. Mr. Ahenakew is an aboriginal senator, and a former First Nations leader. In 1978, he was awarded the Order of Canada for the work he had done on behalf of his people.

Last Friday night, Mr. Ahenakew gave a speech that did not sound like it had come from a member of the Order of Canada. It sounded like it had come from someone who had just attended an Aryan Nations cross burning. Time, and good taste, does not permit us to repeat everything Mr. Ahenakew said. We do know, however, that Mr. Ahenakew said that Adolf Hitler was right when he "fried," quote unquote, six million Jews. He said that Jews were a "disease," and the Holocaust helped to eliminate the disease. He said that Hitler "cleaned up" a lot of problems.

This is not a debate about the Holocaust, or Hitler, or history. It is about a pitiful old man who made some unforgivably hateful comments, and in the process muddied that little of Order of Canada pin found on his lapel.

Mr. Ahenakew, do us - and yourself - a favour. Give it back. You don't deserve it.

(Global TV editorial, December 2002)