Opening Address at Community-University (CU)
Expo 2013: Engaging Shared Worlds

Corner Brook, Newfoundland, Thursday, June 13, 2013

Thank you for your warm welcome.

I have been looking forward to this important gathering on community-university partnerships.

As we are in Newfoundland, I am also conscious of following in the footsteps of some truly great public speakers in this province, including the legendary Judge Prowse of whom it was once said:

“Whenever the judge addressed anyone more than a few feet distant, he bellowed in a voice such as the skipper of a fishing schooner might use when shouting to his crew in the teeth of a howling gale.”

As someone who gives a lot of speeches, that is a hard act to follow!

Nevertheless, I’ll do my best.

This international expo is such a unique and important event on our calendar.

One of the curious features of globalization is that it both enables and requires greater collaboration—between nations and within nations—and collaboration is the very essence of this conference.

Here, you will take the next step in building the community-university networks and partnerships that have such potential to bring about positive social change. 

Post-secondary institutions and the communities in which they exist are natural partners in this effort. The extent to which they are able to work together in common cause will go a long way towards determining our success in the years and decades to come.

The goal, as you know, is to have an impact. You want to make a difference.

I recently came across an insight by Tony Wagner, the first Innovation Education Fellow at Harvard’s Technology and Entrepreneurship Center. Speaking on the school-to-work transition, he suggests the world no longer cares what you know; rather, what matters now is “what you can do with what you know.”

It is a significant shift that can be applied more broadly in our world today. A similar drive to find ways to apply our knowledge for social change lies behind this conference.

Of course, we must be careful not to hinder new discoveries by placing too much emphasis on immediate results and practical application. The history of medicine, to take just one example, demonstrates the timeless importance of uncovering knowledge for its own sake. 

In actual fact, what we know and what we do with that knowledge represent two ends of a spectrum. Success at one end can and should lead to success at the other.

Universities can help strengthen communities—and vice versa—because a strong community supported by learning in turn has the resources and energy to foster robust educational institutions.

I often say that the most practical thing in the world is a good general theory when continually tested and refined against reality. It is impossible to overstate the importance of testing our assumptions, gauging our progress and taking action accordingly.

A wonderful example of university-community collaboration is taking place between the University of Waterloo and the City of Guelph, Ontario. Last year, that community worked with the university’s Faculty of Applied Health Sciences to conduct a “well-being survey” of residents.

The guiding framework for the survey was the Canadian Index of Wellbeing, a set of indicators that broadly measures Canadians’ quality of life. The aim is to go beyond simple measures of GDP. The indicators measure well-being in the following spheres:

• Community vitality;
• Democratic engagement;
• Education;
• Environment;
• Healthy populations;
• Leisure and culture;
• Living standards; and
• Time use.

According to the organizers, the survey results will help to inform and improve public policy and services. The City’s goal is to ensure it is doing everything possible to allow residents “to lead healthy, active and happy lives.”

This is a great example of how our “smartness” can reinforce our “caring.”

Measurement is an important means of understanding the effectiveness of our efforts to bring about change. Bill Gates made this the theme of his annual letter this year to supporters of the foundation that he and his wife, Melinda, established.

The goal of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is to help those who are most in need, wherever they may live. It is an extraordinarily broad mandate that requires constant innovation and, as Gates outlines in his letter, measurement is one of the keys to success.

He writes:

“[…] I have been struck again and again by how important measurement is to improving the human condition. […] [A]ny innovation—whether it’s a new vaccine or an improved seed—can’t have an impact unless it reaches the people who will benefit from it.”

In principle, that is simple enough, but the reality is that the importance of sound measurement and evaluation is often overlooked. And measurement is not always easy to carry out.

Not only do we need to know how to measure accurately—in other words what methodology to use—but we also need to know what to measure.

When it comes to bringing about positive change, this is where universities and communities can work together to great effect.

Communities know what the needs are, and post-secondary institutions know the methods and possess the experience and the expertise to help determine how to go about meeting those needs—a wonderful combination of the what and the why.

It is a potent combination of strengths that can make a real difference to the quality of peoples’ lives. Think of Guelph, and the promise of its initiative focused on well-being.

Another great example of community-campus collaboration is taking place between United Way-Centraide and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. The aim of this partnership, which brings together researchers, academics and grassroots community organizations, is to ensure that social innovation is a key component of Canada’s innovation landscape.

This is so important because, as we know, every innovation has a ripple effect on our lives and society. It is especially critical that we recognize this fact given the rapid transformations we are seeing in how we work, live and play in the 21st century.

All indications are that the pace of change will only increase in the years to come.

As Neil Turok, Director of the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Ontario, puts it:

“What is coming is likely to be even more significant than any past transformation. We have already seen how mobile communications and the World Wide Web are opening up global society, providing information and education on a scale vastly larger than ever before. But this is only the beginning of how our new technologies will change us.”

If this is the case, you may be asking, how are we to best prepare for the future?

It is impossible to predict the extent or nature of the transformations to come, but I want to suggest that one way we can guide ourselves and our communities is by paying attention to our values. For Canadians, two in particular come to mind: equality of opportunity, and excellence.

For all that is changing in our world, the importance of achieving equality of opportunity and excellence remains paramount. We need to do both, and to do them well.

Another word for “equality of opportunity” is “inclusiveness,” which is the theme of a fascinating book I read this past year called Why Nations Fail. The authors are Harvard University’s James Robinson and MIT economics professor Daron Acemoglu, who is also senior fellow at the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research.

The thesis of their insightful book is that societies that are politically and economically inclusive thrive, while exclusive nations and societies fail.

Let’s apply this thesis to our own communities and universities, and within our nations. Let’s apply it to young people, in particular, who comprise so much of the student body at any university and who are so eager to contribute and make their mark in our communities.

It is so important that we ensure equality of opportunity—that we ensure inclusiveness—for the generation of young people now coming of age. It is no secret they are facing many economic, demographic and social challenges.

In Canada, youth from urban and rural, Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal communities are all facing this reality. As the Community Foundations of Canada puts it in a recent report: “Canada’s youth are growing up in an era of complexity and uncertainty that has delayed, or even destroyed, the landmarks that once signaled a transition from one phase of life to another.”

On the positive side, we also know that many young people today are remarkably flexible, unafraid of complexity and eager to challenge the status quo.

It is no exaggeration to say that the extent to which young people are able to exercise their creativity and drive will determine our shared well-being in the years to come. History tells us what happens when societies deny young people meaningful roles and opportunities. 

Post-secondary institutions and communities have a central role to play in unlocking the talents and energies of youth. Your aim is to inspire positive social change, and you understand the kind of creativity and experimentation that is necessary for renewal.

I am also certain that meaningful opportunities for young people will support the other important part of the equation of which I spoke: excellence.

The key to mastery in any field, it has been said, is to forever remain a student. Of course, this doesn’t mean staying in school indefinitely, but rather making a commitment to lifelong learning and discovery.

Each of you has embarked on a learning journey in attending this expo and working towards social change. I would like to commend you on this, and encourage you to keep learning and applying your findings. Just as necessity is the mother of invention, excellence is the product of relentless learning, innovation and collaboration.

As governor general, I have been inviting Canadians to imagine ways to build a smarter, more caring society, and a more fair and just world.

Your efforts are essential to our success. I wish you an enlightening and productive conference, and the very best with your important work.

In the words of George Bernard Shaw, a famous British author: “Some people see things as they are and wonder ‘Why?’ We dream of things that ought to be and ask, ‘Why not?’”

Thank you.