YMCA Fellowship of Honour Ceremony

Ottawa, Tuesday, January 27, 2009

I am delighted to be here with you today. Thank you for such a warm welcome.

We have come here to pay tribute to eight exceptional people for whom civic engagement can be summed up in four letters: YMCA.

Four letters. Four letters that mean so many things to so many people, here in Canada and around the world.

For a child, they represent an unforgettable stay at a summer camp.

For a youth, they represent a way to break free from isolation, to make friends and to thrive, in part by getting involved in sports.

For a father or a mother, they epresent a safe environment where their children will be cared for.

For a homeless person, they represent a place to sleep.

For a newcomer, they represent language instruction or an integration program.

For a senior, they represent an exercise facility that allows them to remain active and healthy.

For me, those four letters represent the best example of a community taking care of itself.

What is truly remarkable about the YMCAs is that they are not a public- or private-sector initiative.

They are born of the desire of citizens to improve the life of their community and, by extension, the life of every woman, every man, every child in that community, regardless of ability, age, origin or belief.

Like you, I believe that if we are to open ourselves to the world, we must first open ourselves to the realities of our own communities.

I believe that the YMCAs help to redefine the ties that bind us to one another by helping us to discover new ways of living together as a society.

Ways that show more solidarity; ways that are more human.

It goes without saying that things have certainly changed since the YMCA first opened its doors in Canada, over 150 years ago.

Formed by a group of young men in the Sunday School room of the St. Helen Street Baptist Church in Montréal, the YMCAs have evolved to meet the changing needs of and to keep pace with an increasingly complex world.

The YMCAs, or the “Y” as they are often known, have expanded their mission to reach out to all citizens, including the most vulnerable in our society.

And they have done this while upholding the values on which they were formed: the growth of all persons in spirit, mind and body, compassion, fellowship, social responsibility, and inclusion, to name but a few.

Values that are timeless and act as a counterbalance to the individualism of recent decades.

Values that inspire the commitment of those we are honouring today.

Rich Bailey, Mollie Cartmell, Ralph Connor, William Gallaway, Gavin Hume, Lorne Larson, Don McCuaig and Gordon Saunders, your peers have recognized in you your leadership, your daring, your community spirit, your dedication, which some of you have exemplified over many years.

You have devoted yourselves tirelessly to an institution you believe in and have become its lifeblood, the very pillars on which it stands.

You have helped it to evolve and to make a difference here at home and beyond our borders.

Today, the YMCA offers services to nearly two million people in some 250 communities across Canada. Without a doubt, the work that you do has an impact not only on the institution itself, but also on the day-to-day lives of so many of your fellow citizens.

We cannot put a price on what you do, and I sincerely believe that this country would not be what it is today—a wonderful place to live, where anything is possible—without your contribution and the many spaces of solidarity that are the YMCAs of Canada.

As governor general of Canada, I thank you, from the bottom of my heart.