Thank you Madam Registrar.

President Wells, Chief Ava Hill and honoured guests of convocation.

Warm greetings to you the graduates of fall 2021, and to your proud families and friends. I am very happy to be with you today even if we cannot see each other in person.

This is my third convocation as Chancellor of Brock University. And I am here today I admit with mixed emotions, which I am sure that many of you share.

I am both excited and sorry, glad and a little sad. I am finally here on campus sharing the excitement of a graduation ceremony and looking forward to admitting our graduates to their degrees.  But sorry not to be able to shake each of your hands or even to bump a few elbows.  I am glad to welcome you as new members of the alumni network of Brock University. But a little sad not to be able to congratulate you one on one.

No doubt you the graduates are feeling some of this mix of relief, celebration and a little nostalgia.  It has been such an astonishing and difficult 18 months since the pandemic restrictions began.  You have gone through an experience that you would never have expected when you came to Brock eager to be part of the university community.

You have had to participate in and perform through unprecedented remote learning. You have been asked to do things that you could not have imagined. And you have been missed on campus in ways that you could not have predicted or wanted.

But you admirably rose to meet this challenge. And you are successfully graduating today. So, it’s a day of celebration and it should be a special one.  I want to honour every one of you for your hard work, for your resolve, and for your resilience. You have learned more about yourselves and your abilities to face down challenges than you might ever have under conditions of pre-pandemic times. I applaud you.

And I want to applaud your teachers and leaders who made such extraordinary efforts to help you and to help all in the university community navigate through the pandemic. They too have lived through times and experiences they would never have believed, and they have stayed committed to creating the best possible conditions for you to learn and to move forward to your next steps.

A year ago, I stood in the Healing Garden near the white pine tree planted by my predecessor Shirley Cheechoo and spoke about why I was excited to take on the role of Chancellor of this University. I said then that I believe that a university is one of the most important institutions in our society because it offers the young opportunities to expand their minds, to build their skills and to widen their expectations.

Brock University‘s four priorities are ones that I support completely : offering a transformational university experience, building research capacity, enhancing the life and vitality of the region, and fostering a culture of inclusivity.  I am convinced by what has happened in the past year that we need, more than ever, a university that gives its students the experiences and knowledge to see farther, to collaborate with each other and to engage with their communities more deeply and effectively. I believe this is what a university must do to remain relevant and to develop the skills of those who will live and work in this very challenging 21st century.

Before I close, I want to say a word about our Honourary degree recipient today, Chief Ava Hill of Six Nations of the Grand River.  Chief Hill, I honour you for your long service to your community, for your leadership in championing opportunity, especially for the young, and for the example you are to so many young women.   You have been a community leader, a political activist, a spokesperson for Indigenous issues and rights on an international level.  Your courage, eloquence, integrity and commitment to reconciliation are exceptional. I am delighted that you are joining the Brock University community as a Doctor of Laws and as a new member of our Board of Directors.  And I hope to work with you and Brock’s committed leaders to encourage Indigenous and non-Indigenous students to participate and contribute together through studies, sports and culture to the university community.

Finally, I turn again to you the graduates.  You are going out into a world still shaken, perhaps transformed, by the pandemic and its consequences, by the growing challenge of the climate emergency and by the need to create a more equitable and sustainable future.  I am confident that your time at Brock has equipped you with the skills and creativity to meet what is out there.

Congratulations. I wish you well. And please come back to Brock whenever you can.  We will be happy to see you again, this time in person.

Thank you.