May 4, 2002
Church Point, Nova Scotia

I wish to thank the Université Sainte-Anne for this great honour. It has been my privilege to receive other such awards. But this one is especially touching. Because Université Sainte-Anne, and the Acadian community, reflect hopes, ideas and beliefs that are very close to my heart.

For all of you, this is a time for celebration. You have worked hard. With the abiding support of your families you have set high goals and achieved them. Université Sainte-Anne has prepared you to take on the world.

As you begin your journey, by way of advice, I would like to explain why I feel such a close connection to this place and to the community for which it is such an important symbol.

I come from a small mill town in rural Quebec. For my friends and I, the world beyond Quebec was still unknown. The lure of defining ourselves simply as rural Québecois was attractive to many. But my parents told us that all of Canada belonged to us. They challenged us to look outward. To dream large. To insist on claiming our rights as full citizens. To believe that I, as a Mauricien, a proud Quebecer and a proud Canadian should feel at home in any part of this great land.

This belief motivated me when I first came to Ottawa as an MP in 1963, with little knowledge of English and almost no one around me who could speak French. It guided me as a member of the government that passed the Official Languages Act. And it was with me when, as Minister of Justice, I worked side by side with Pierre Elliott Trudeau, to entrench minority language rights in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and to apply the principle of equality and full citizenship to the diverse array of cultures that make up the cosmopolitan Canada of today.

The success of Université Sainte-Anne validates everything I was brought up to believe. The Acadian heart beats strongly here in Atlantic Canada. In places like Clare, Saulnierville and Metéghan. And in places like Beauséjour in New Brunswick which I had the privilege to represent in the House of Commons. In all towns and villages like these, a proud people have retained their cherished identity and traditions.

The focal point is this university. Where students can obtain a first class French education Where l’Institut des études acadiennes is a portal through which new generations can know their heritage. And where, I am very pleased to see, many English students come to express their attachment to the bilingual reality of Canada.

If Université Sainte-Anne is about culture it is, above all, about learning - a high quality of learning.

My own education was full of adventure, perhaps too much. Had Rector Roberge been one of my teachers he would no doubt have joined a long line who begged my parents to take me home. But no matter how much trouble I got into at school, my mother and father would not give up on me. They insisted that I get a good education. They knew it was the ticket to a better life and a much wider world of opportunity.

As I reflect on what I put them through, I am reminded of an old joke that goes like this: "When I was fourteen, my parents were so ignorant I could hardly stand it. But when I turned twenty-one I was astonished at how much they had learned in seven years."

The influence of my parents was profound. We were the first generation of the Chrétien family to receive a higher education. More, they made the idea of a Chrétien going far in school a family expectation, not an exception.

Of course the context has changed dramatically since my youth. Higher education is no longer really a choice. In a global economy that is increasingly based on knowledge and skills it is becoming mandatory to achieving personal success.

That is why our government has placed a very high priority on enabling all Canadians to have access to education, skills and opportunities. With the deficit vanquished, we have, year after year, broken new ground with forward-looking strategic investments: from the Millennium Scholarships to the Canada Education Savings Grants which help parents save for the post-secondary education of their children; from investments designed to build an advanced research infrastructure at universities and colleges here in Nova Scotia and right across Canada; to the Atlantic Investment Partnership, which we created to help Atlantic Canadian researchers and entrepreneurs transform their new ideas and processes into thriving businesses.

And we are just getting started. I am very excited by the Knowledge and Innovation Strategy that we recently announced. It invites all Canadians to engage with us on the next steps needed to ensure that our country remains one of the most innovative and inclusive in the world.

Before I close, I want to touch on one other defining part of my personal and political credo.

We learned young in my family to think beyond ourselves, to reflect not only on personal gain but on the strength of the entire community and the welfare of our fellow citizens. It has been our good fortune to live in a nation where the idea of sharing is bred in the bone. Great adversity and privation have made it second nature to Acadians. As a nation, we have created instruments for sharing our prosperity, such as universal medicare, equalization and programs designed to ensure that every child gets the best possible start in life.

Internationally, this bedrock Canadian value has meant an abiding commitment to a more equitable sharing of the global wealth. To ensuring that the benefits of globalization are truly global.

Because of our record as an innovative leader in development assistance, my G8 colleagues gave Canada the lead on the issue of reducing the marginalization of Africa from the global economy. A marginalization that is expressed in some very depressing statistics: recurring conflicts and war, rising poverty, crushing public debt, inadequate education, and a crisis in health care of which an epidemic of HIV/AIDs is just a part.

Shortly, it will be my honour to host the G8 in Alberta. Endorsing a concrete Africa Action Plan will be the focus of our agenda. We envision a new partnership in which progressive African governments who are committed to democracy, human rights, good governance and open markets will be rewarded by developed nations with enhanced assistance and increased market access.

Helping Africa get on its feet is a reaffirmation of the Canadian belief in human dignity. It is in the interest of creating a more prosperous world with new markets. And it is profoundly in the interest of global security.

We have seen right here in Nova Scotia, home of two of the four brave young men our country recently laid to rest, the tragic consequences that can result from failed states in far away places.

My friends, at the risk of going on too long, I would like to close with a just a few more words of advice for the journey that awaits you.

Consider seriously the path of public service. I have been in public life for 39 years. And I tell you, from my heart, that it has rewarded me in ways that far exceed any possible material gain.

And when you dream, remember to dream large. As large as your Acadian forebears. As large as the founders of this university. As large as Wellie and Marie Boisvert-Chrétien. Large dreams will keep you young. I am the proof.

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