Veteran music producer Bob Ezrin says he's "beyond proud" to be among this year's recipients of the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award, especially as a newly repatriated Canadian in the midst of renouncing his U.S. citizenship.
The dual citizen said Thursday that he declared his intent to give up U.S. ties in January and is awaiting approval, which could take months.
Ezrin said he spent much of the past year straddling the border but has moved permanently to Toronto, ending nearly four decades of U.S. residency, in large part over what he expected from a second Donald Trump presidency.
He's particularly concerned about threats to Canadian sovereignty and says he values distinctions like his Governor General’s award for lifetime artistic achievement — considered Canada's highest honour for the performing arts — because they recognize Canada's uniqueness and bolster national pride.
"I renounced it because I want to come home, you know. I'm Canadian and born here, grew up here, learned everything I know pretty much here. And I'm not happy with the direction in which the United States is going at this moment," Ezrin said hours after the Governor General’s Performing Arts Awards Foundation announced the laureates.
"We could have stayed and try to get politically involved and fight, but I also recognize that the political situation in the United States does present a bit of a threat to Canada. And so if I'm going to fight anywhere, I'm going to fight here."
Ezrin earned the distinction for a lengthy and varied career that began with hit after hit in the 1970s and '80s for rock acts including Alice Cooper, Kiss and Pink Floyd, including Cooper's song "I'm Eighteen" and Pink Floyd album "The Wall."
He joins a new cohort that includes actors Graham Greene and Patrick Huard, classical composer Denis Gougeon and multidisciplinary artist Sandra Laronde of the Indigenous performance company Red Sky Performance.
“I don’t want to downplay how emotional I became when I heard about it, and how important it is to me as a proud Canadian," Ezrin said of the honour.
"Because I think the more we focus on how special we are as a country, the stronger we will be. And we need to be strong now. We need to be strong. We need to be united. We need to be resolute, and we need to protect our country and our Canadianness. It's beyond valuable. It's priceless."
Trump has repeatedly said Canada should become America's 51st state, stoking fears and resentment among many Canadians who are also alarmed by sweeping tariff threats.
Ezrin said he was especially concerned by "a very real attack on our sovereignty" that's "very different from the last time" Trump was in office.
"This time, we're being eyed as a land of great resources, and also we're being eyed in terms of our borders in the North and somebody in Washington has decided that it would be strategically advantageous to the United States if they just controlled us," said Ezrin, who has also worked on music for Andrea Bocelli, U2, Deep Purple, Peter Gabriel, Rod Stewart, Taylor Swift and Nine Inch Nails.
"We have a kinder and gentler country, and that's very valuable and very important."
Other awards announced Thursday include the Ramon John Hnatyshyn Award for Voluntarism in the Performing Arts, going to Halifax-based performance artist and disability advocate April Hubbard, and the National Arts Centre Award for extraordinary work in the past performance year, going to musician and ethnomusicologist Jeremy Dutcher.
The foundation also announced details of its mentorship program, in which past award recipients guide emerging artists. This year, filmmaker Atom Egoyan will help Joshua Odjick of Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg First Nation write, produce, and direct his first short film.
Greene was lauded for a stage and screen career spanning more than five decades and credits around the world, while Huard was recognized for work as a producer, screenwriter and host, as well as star turns in films including “Les Boys,” and “Bon Cop, Bad Cop.”
Ezrin said he's still working with Cooper and Deep Purple on new projects, and has a production studio set up in Toronto, although he also does a lot of work remotely.
He said he was surprised to learn late last year that he'd received the performing arts award and "was certainly humbled by it."
"I'm happy to be a recipient. I'm beyond proud," he said.
"I think it's so important that we have this kind of thing, these kinds of awards where we recognize our specialness, our uniqueness, the depth of talent in this country, and where we bolster our national pride and our sense of artistic sovereignty."
The awards celebration is set for June 14 at the National Arts Centre.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 20, 2025.
Cassandra Szklarski, The Canadian Press
