Honorary Doctorate from the Université Laval

City of Québec, Sunday, June 14, 2009

It is with great pleasure and humility that I thank the Université Laval most sincerely for conferring upon me this honorary doctorate.

I am especially moved because this institution is the first Francophone university and one of the oldest in the Americas.

It is in this place that knowledge took root in French on this continent, already so rich in the timeless traditions of the Aboriginal peoples.

This French language, which I learned in my native country, my Haiti, and that my husband, our daughter and I speak with relish in this country where we have put down roots, is part of the heritage of the Americas and is one of its greatest treasures.

I know the extent to which education—both the institutions themselves and the women and men devoted to them—can be used to spread culture, defend thought and pave the way for the sharing of experiences and knowledge.

But I believe that education also acts as a powerful tool for development and reconciliation that allows us to question and move beyond generally accepted ideas. Education is the key to freedom.

I know this because I was born in the poorest country in the Americas, where education represents the ultimate and surest way to rise above misery and play an active role in rebuilding life.

I know this because even here, in Canada, in regions like the Arctic, where the resource potential is an enticement to exploitation, only education—and of this I am absolutely certain—will give young people the means to be involved in developing their communities and contributing to national prosperity.

Education is the most effective way to take control of one’s destiny, while ignorance, in the words of René Lévesque, could lead citizens blindly into exploitation in all its forms.

Institutions like yours are not only an essential part of our collective identity, but also “agents of change,” to quote historian Jean Hamelin.

He goes on to say that they are the lifeblood of a region that is opening itself to the world. To this, I would add that they are the lifeblood of a community that is opening itself to others.

This reconciliation between being open to the world and to others and preserving one’s uniqueness, one’s personality, I would say, one’s identity, is unquestionably the most pressing issue facing the world today.

Because there is a new global consciousness on the rise, one that is becoming increasingly apparent and concrete.

This global consciousness has been enriched over the years through the blending of cultures and encounters, through the speed of our means of transportation and communication, and even through the universality of the challenges that today require a unified and global approach, whether we are talking about protecting the environment, overcoming economic difficulties, or defending human dignity wherever it comes under attack.

This global consciousness is rooted, I believe, in a “love of democracy” that, according to Montesquieu, is also “that of equality.”

I believe that every place of dialogue, where thought and action commingle with imagination, serves to affirm that consciousness that encompasses the full breadth of human experience, while in no way denying or renouncing the roots put down by every woman, every man, every young person, wherever they may be.

It is therefore with a view to achieving greater human solidarity that I, as governor general of Canada, seek every opportunity to promote dialogue between citizens who are committed to improving the lives of those around them, who know that every action, every gesture has a much broader impact and that the Earth is not round so that we simply revolve incessantly around the status quo of the “fend for yourself” mentality.

In both our advanced democracies and those that are emerging after years of oppression and misery, the women and men who teach us to be from one place and from every place are the true architects of this global consciousness.

It is these women, these men, these youth, these vital members of the community who make up what we continue to refer to as civil society.

It is these institutions, these organizations, these civic associations that are both the safeguards and springboards of our established and new democracies.

This is why it is especially important to me to bring them together, to invite them to join in the dialogue in the hopes of better meshing their efforts from one end of this vast country of ours to the other, from one horizon to the other and well beyond our borders, to echo their words and their actions, and to be inspired by them.

In this era of complex polyphony, when the hope of some is dashed by the uncertainty of others, when the greed of some is impervious to the destruction of others, it seems to me that civil society is responding more than ever to an urgent need to reassess our weaknesses and strengths, as well as the bond of fellowship that connects us to one another.

As I travel across this country, I make every effort to examine, to take a closer look at what brings us together, at what we have in common, at what we have to say to one another, at what constitutes the strength of our ability to live together in harmony. I feel that this is infinitely more important than continuing to focus on our differences. I make a point of creating these opportunities for encounter so that we can take a closer look at the fundamental responsibility that we have to carry on the expression and exploration of life in all its dimensions.

On the international stage, I have to date conducted 11 State visits, from Africa to South America, from Eastern Europe to north of the Arctic Circle; I have also undertaken several official visits to Haiti, Europe and Afghanistan, and wherever my travels have taken me, I have been greatly impressed every single time by the same kind of ingenuity, compassion and commitment that we see here at home of women, men and especially youth, within social and similar organizations, who are more concerned by what we have in common, by all that we can accomplish together by sharing our ideas and perspectives in a spirit of solidarity and fellowship, than by what separates us.

Who are more interested in pooling our strengths to meet today’s challenges than in putting forth our efforts independently of one another.

All of these networks of builders embody an incredible force of renewal and are our greatest asset on this earth.

That is why my husband, Jean-Daniel Lafond, and I believe in their ability to change the way people think, to ease tensions and put forward innovative and daring solutions.

That is why we believe that the dialogues we initiate, the discussion forums we make possible and in which we participate—either online via the Citizen Voices Web site, which we created on the gg.ca site and that I invite you to visit, or the many other opportunities for encounter, such as the Urban Arts Forums, Youth Dialogues, Art Matters forums, that we organize across Canada and as part of our visits abroad—are rewarding experiences. The resulting collaborations are what these State and official visits are all about and are part of what we like to think of as cultural and human diplomacy.

We believe that these spaces for dialogue are essential to civilization and may even embody the fairest and most indispensable voice of this global consciousness, which can be heard around the world, provided that we know how and are willing to hear it.

Some people are surprised that we give those whom many accuse of being utopian, as though that were a flaw, the chance to speak.

Others choose to ignore these opportunities to come together, where the commitment of the world’s civil societies is celebrated.

To these and others, I say that the world could use a little utopia, as Édouard Glissant and Patrick Chamoiseau expressed in a recent appeal to President Obama; a sentiment we share.

They added that utopia is the only realism that can untie the knot of what is impossible.

And so I invite you, dear graduates of 2009, to cross that boundary of the impossible with me and to invent a world where our combined strength can at last overcome all tyranny and prejudice.

Life would then be as far-reaching as the future spread out before you.

Enjoy the journey, dear friends, and may you find great happiness and success.