Lemieux to be knighted

It's about freaking time!

From TSN

QUEBEC - Hockey legend Mario Lemieux and Rene Angelil, the husband and manager of pop icon Celine Dion, were inducted Wednesday into the Order of Quebec.

The honour added to an unforgettable week for Lemieux, the principal owner of the Pittsburgh Penguins, who won the Stanley Cup last Friday.

"It's important to be recognized," said the NHL Hall of Famer, who also led Pittsburgh to a pair of Stanley Cups wearing the Penguins uniform in the early 1990s.

"I've been in Pittsburgh for 25 years. A bit more than one-half of my life has been spent (away), so to be recognized in Quebec is something very special."

Dion accompanied Angelil to the ceremony inside the provincial legislature along with the couple's young son, Rene-Charles.

"It's a great honour," said Angelil, who was also joined by his daughter, Anne-Marie, and son-in-law Marc Dupre.

"I'm touched, I'm very proud to be a Quebecer."

To ensure the spotlight stayed on her husband, Dion tried to stay away from the cameras and did not speak to journalists.

Outside, police kept a group of onlookers, who hoped to catch a glimpse of Dion and Lemieux, a safe distance from the building.

Former Supreme Court of Canada justice Louise Arbour was also among those inducted into the Order.

The ex-United Nations Commissioner for Human Rights, who presided over international tribunals that investigated the Rwandan genocide and the carnage in the former Yugoslavia, was named a grand officer of the Order, the highest rank. Angelil was named an officer and Lemieux a knight.

"It's very important for me," Arbour said. "I was absent from Quebec, I didn't work a lot in Quebec, so to have this kind of resonance here is an honour.

"I think it's very inspiring."

In all, Premier Jean Charest admitted more than 30 people to the Order.

"Quebecers are paying homage to some of their most illustrious fellow citizens," Charest said at the ceremony.

The Order of Quebec is the province's highest honour and is given for meritorious service.

It was instituted in 1984 by Quebec's lieutenant-governor on the advice of the government of then-premier Rene Levesque.