Rideau Hall, Wednesday, June 1, 2016

Good evening, Queen Elizabeth Scholars and supporters!

How far we’ve come since the launch of the program!

We established this program to help some of the Commonwealth’s best and brightest grow as leaders and global citizens.

And what is our ultimate goal?

To help build a better world.

I’m so pleased to welcome to Rideau Hall all of you who have supported this scholarship program.

And I’m particularly delighted to welcome 11 scholars from Canada, Ghana, India, Nigeria, Trinidad and Tobago and Kenya.

I’m looking forward to hearing from each of you about your experiences as Queen Elizabeth Scholars.

It’s wonderful to see all of you here together, and to see the beginnings of the global network of scholars you are forming.

One of the important reasons we established this program was to improve global talent exchange between Canada and other nations.

I’m therefore happy to note that currently, there are 245 active scholars taking part in this program.

Almost 80 per cent of participants are Canadian, with the other 20 per cent hailing from our Commonwealth partners.

And our goal is ambitious: by 2018, we aim to have 2 000 Queen Elizabeth Scholars participating!

We’ve made great progress and I’m looking forward to sharing this news with Her Majesty when I visit London for her 90th birthday celebrations next week!

I offer my sincere thanks to all of the donors and supporters, who have worked so hard and given so generously to make this program a reality. One cannot talk about this program without acknowledging the leadership and dedication of Mr. Chrétien and his team. The passion with which you have embraced this program is inspirational. 

I would also like to commend Community Foundations of Canada, the Rideau Hall Foundation and Universities Canada for their collaboration in implementing the program.

And sincere thanks and congratulations to our initial cohort of Queen Elizabeth Scholars on your participation in this program.

Have a wonderful evening!