 Good morning everyone. It's my pleasure as the Dean of the Shulik School of Law to be able to welcome everyone here My name is Camille Cameron and it's a real pleasure to see everyone here for this special event I will begin by thanking elder-in-residence Debbie Eisen for the blessing and Eastern Eagle for performance of the honor song. Thank you very much The event we're having here today is the first honorary degree ceremony during our bicentennial Celebrations, it is wonderful to be having it in the community and to be sharing it with community members I'm now going to call on the provost and vice president academic of Dalhousie University Dr. Carolyn waters to give opening remarks Thank You Dean Cameron. I hope I can speak loudly enough for those at the back Good morning to begin with let me introduce the platform party I'd ask people to stand when your name is called and remain standing until everyone is introduced First A. Ann McClellan Chancellor of Dalhousie University Dr. Kale Dale Keith Interim President and Vice Chancellor of Cape Bretton University to my young Unamaki College Cape Bretton University The Honorable Michael McDonald Chief Justice of Nova Scotia Dr. Kevin Hewitt chair of Dalhousie Senate Camille Cameron deal Dean Schulich law school of law Jennifer Lou Allen Professor Schulich School of Law Naomi metallic Professor Schulich School of Law and Dr. Michael de Gagné President of Nipissing University and today's honorary degree recipient your platform party So just a little note here. I bring greetings from President Richard Florezone Who unfortunately is not well today, so I'm here in his stead Luckily, I have some notes from him, which I will cheerfully add ad lib to So it is really an honor to be here today to recognize Dr. de Gagné as our first Special honorary doctorate that we are awarding as part of our bicentennial celebrations Each one of these will be done in a special way at a special Convocation such as the one today and what a pleasure to start here in the native Friendship Center Dalhousie is proud to be one of Canada's first universities to celebrate as 200 Years as a university Milestone of course gives us an opportunity to reflect on the first 200 years But also to really start to dream and think about what our world could look like in the next hundred years one of our guiding principles as we plan for the last two years about how to celebrate this 200th anniversary Was how to use the occasion to foster better Integration with our community not just with our research But by having events where we actually are in the community and the community realizes how welcome they are on our campus And so what a perfect example so everyone Should be Keeping tuned with a very busy schedule for the 200th anniversary. We've had a poem Written by George Elliott Clark 35 pages, so I won't be reading it, but he will be in the our launch is tomorrow February 6 was the actual date of the declaration By Lord Dalhousie of the starting of Dalhousie University There will be their new music has been made. We're commissioning a new Ceremonial object which will better reflect The communities that are part of Nova Scotia and part of Dalhousie So there will be kitchen parties and there will be speakers and there will be many many events Over the the 12 months of this year, so we welcome you all and hope that you can really join us each one of our special honorary doctorates will be unique and as I said before Connected with the community that we're celebrating for that event So well illo for having us here today But we are very proud to recognize dr. Deguegne for the impact He has had an advancing reconciliation between the indigenous and non indigenous peoples of our land as a founding executive director of the Aboriginal Healing Foundation as an academic Whose expertise and research interests include Aboriginal post-secondary success and as a teacher Including years at our very own shulik school of law Dr. Deguegne has been dedicated to education and leadership that we need to truly have reconciliation So one of the special features of this honorary Doctorate event is that we have also not only lunch, but an afternoon panel Committed to discussing how we might achieve an advanced reconciliation in education and Their expertise includes people who are experts in anthropology as well as law political science Psychology and nursing So in this panel, we hope that everyone will Contribute and we will actually begin to see an action some of the principles that dr. Deguegne has dedicated his life to Dalhousie is particularly honored To doctor to award this degree this afternoon given our institutional commitment and one of our Strategic priorities to address truth and reconciliation Commissions calls to action and I'm proud to say that our law faculty has really been a leader in this area at Dalhousie So I'll just mention three First the establishment Many years ago. I might check with the dean here 28 1989 so you can do the math long-standing indigenous black and magma initiative to increase the number of Students from those two communities who who are admitted to law and are successful in the law program And I know we have some graduates here today Secondly The establishment of an ad hoc committee within the faculty to respond to the TRC Reports Recommendations and they have committed to a new resources to build a collection of material That all instructors can use to integrate indigenous and aboriginal subject matter In their teaching across the campus. So finally I like to give them credit They've introduced a new first-year course this year called aboriginal and indigenous law in context Where all students are introduced to magma people and magma culture in their first semester The second semester explores then how law applies to and is applied by indigenous people so we will surely hear more about this as As these programs are unfolding But doctor finally dr. Degagne. Thank you for your contributions to reconciliation and to education And thank you for being here today with us today as we acknowledge our 200th anniversary the work we've done and the work we still need to do Thank you all for coming Thank you very much dr. Waters Dr. Waters has indicated to you the things that make this a particularly particular honorary degree ceremony a little bit for a whole lot special They are all special and this one is special because of course we've chosen to have it here in this location It's also special because as dr. Waters indicated we are this afternoon Hosting a reconciliation in education symposium. We chose that particular topic reconciliation in education because it fits so well with dr. Degagne's own commitments and contributions which have been explained by dr. Waters And of course for the same reason it makes such good sense that we're hosting that symposium here in this place What better place to choose in the community to honor? Our honorary degree recipient and to host the reconciliation in education event I'm very pleased that we'll be hosting the afternoon event in collaboration with Cape Bretton University And I want at this point to thank professor to me young and his colleagues at Cape Bretton University for being such fine Collaborating partners in this event. Thank you Conferring an honorary doctoral degree is the highest honor a university can bestow I now call upon dr. Kevin Hewitt Senate to present the candidate for the degree dr. Vlaas honoris causa Good afternoon. Good morning Gives me great pleasure to describe some of the outstanding accomplishments Of our honorary degree recipient today dr. Michael Degagne Dr. Michael Degagne has spent his entire career helping people and working to establish a vision and the conditions for reconciliation between indigenous and non indigenous peoples in Canada Starting with his work with provincial and federal agencies and governments including Indian and Northern Affairs Canada and Health Canada and Continuing as the founding executive director of the Aboriginal Healing Foundation His leadership has inspired hope and action for healing and reconciliation Serving as president and vice-chancellor of Nipissing University in North Bay, Ontario since 2013 and by the way the first he's the first indigenous president of a Canadian chartered University Dr. Degagne imparts his belief that education is the key to a better world and An investment in one's personal future Education he is that he insists has the power to transform individuals and communities To illustrate the power that education has had on his own life Dr. Degagne likes to share the story of his father who started out as a farmer and became an educator Pursuing his degree one course at a time in a church basement in Fort Francis, Ontario Today each of dr. Degagne's siblings has a degree as do all of their children In addition to a bachelor of science in biology degree from the University of Toronto He holds a master's degree in administration from Central Michigan University a PhD in educational administration from Michigan State University and a master of Laws degree from York University's Osgoode Hall Dr. Degagne started his relationship with Dalhousie's Schulich School of Law in 2001 when he came to give an annual lecture to second-year constitutional law students on the significance of residential schools and the relationship of law and reconciliation He has returned each year since and in 2009 along with Schulich School of Law professor Jennifer Llewellyn He developed a short intensive course on the Indian residential schools settlements The first course of its kind in a Canadian law school to take up questions of law truth and reconciliation During his visits to Dalhousie Dr. Degagne has given several public lectures to both students and the wider community He recently agreed to serve on Dalhousie's indigenous advisory council and His long-standing relationship with the law school has provided significant inspiration and support for students staff and faculty members alike One of his nominators Schulich School of Law professor and Chancellor's chair in Aboriginal law and policy Naomi metallic writes Quote being the first indigenous president of a Canadian University is no small feat and Dr. Degagne is a trailblazer for those of us fellow indigenous academics He is bringing his knowledge on healing and Reconciliation to bear on the running of nipissing University and the institution and its students are benefiting from this on quote in 2010 dr. Degagne was awarded the order of Ontario for his dedication to improving the health wellness education and governance of Aboriginal peoples Two years later he received the Queens Diamond Jubilee medal which honors significant achievement and contributions by Canadians and in 2015. He was invested into the order of Canada Recognize for his support of residential school survivors and First Nations communities notably as the head of the Aboriginal Healing Foundation in In her letter of nomination professor Llewellyn writes quote Dr. Degagne has taken seriously the importance and power of education and knowledge as a means of Empowering and enabling others to succeed in efforts towards justice and reconciliation his commitment to education reflects his Conviction that learning and understanding are foundational to the work of transformation and renewed relationships for reconciliation In his various professional roles over the past 30 years He has advanced knowledge and understanding by supporting significant research projects and educational enterprises on quote so in Recognition of his inspirational leadership in working to establish a vision and the conditions for reconciliation between Indigenous and non-indigenous peoples in Canada. I Asked you madam Chancellor in the name of the Senate to bestow upon dr. Michael Degagne the degree of Doctor of Laws honoris causa Thank you very much. I see you Biola I Could hardly wait to get to the podium to to acknowledge so many friends and and familiar faces here and Thank you very much for coming I first want to make the acknowledgement of the traditional people upon whose lands we are meeting today Thank you to the elder from Batchewana and thank you to the drum and And and thanks to all of you for coming Congratulations to Dalhousie 200th anniversary. This is a very significant time for for you and so I thank all of you for for For putting on this very special event to kick off to kick off the festivities When my son was playing lacrosse and Had a great pleasure to do this today in front of my mother Laura long-time career nurse in Northern Ontario my wife Tammy and my son Alex, so it's nice to have them here But when he was playing lacrosse as a as a youngster We always tried to tell the boys that it was as important to do it make an assist as it was a goal All right, and so the phrase we used to say was When you drink the water always thank the person who dug the well so I want to make sure that I I thank my good friend my colleague Jennifer Llewellyn Working together now for 15 years and thanks very much for that for the for nominating me but to to working together I think to Establish a real bedrock for reconciliation in the in at the school of law and and further to Dalhousie Thank you to Naomi Naomi metallic also for for the nomination much appreciated and of course Dean Cameron for for all the support and encouragement that I've received from the faculty of law over the years And in the great tradition of post-secondary education in the in the Atlantic, you know There's so many great schools and so it's nice to see the group here with from Cape Bretton University And my colleague and Barbara at the back from Nova Scotia College of Art and Design So welcome welcome to all of you. Thank you. I wanted to I Get it. I get my chance now to say a few words about reconciliation and And and where we might go so I'll start out with something that's hard to hear and Would have been in the early 1990s when there was a meeting called in In Ottawa to plan Canada 125 so 25 years ago. We just passed Canada 150 and Some of you have had the good fortune to hear this speech, but I just wanted to flag it for you because it's an interesting listen of great many Aboriginal leaders and and Canadian leaders were brought together to talk about Canada 125 and in the planning and One of those leaders was a person that Viola and I had the good pleasure work with for many years George Erasmus and George as a former national chief and a chair of the Aboriginal Healing Foundation Was asked the question and I think it I think he caught it a little bit wrong. You know, he was asked the question George While we're here at this meeting for Canada 125 What do you have to celebrate? What do you have to celebrate and in a In a speech I think that that I've asked him years later if it was written down He said no, it just came from the top of my head. It's and it's out there on the internet. He said, you know What am I going to celebrate? He said, you know, maybe I should celebrate that it took until 1959 in this country for Aboriginal people to vote Maybe that's what I have to celebrate or or maybe that I Should celebrate that Aboriginal languages in this country have no legal standing Maybe that's something that we should we should celebrate think about He said, you know when a Million people in Canada are unemployed and the unemployment rate starts to get, you know, so above five six percent We get very very concerned, but he says What do you do when 90% of your people are unemployed? Maybe that's what I have to celebrate He says why can't Aboriginal people in this country as we celebrate Canada 125 have enough land and Enough control over their lives to afford dignity He said I don't like what's happening in this country. He said but What will it look like in 10 years What will it look like in 50 years How he said when we get to the year 2000 will things be different? They can't be different unless we do things differently unless we take a new approach So he says what can we celebrate? He said well, I would like to be able to celebrate Canada's leadership for the world in healing and Reconciliation and and a new relationship with indigenous people But he said it will have to be different and we are sick and tired of being your conscience those were hard words from George and he I Think for us We have to ask ourselves as you listen to that tonight, maybe on the internet it was captured in his voice Or if you reflect on those words We have we have to ask ourselves If we if he gave that speech today Would it still hold true? so 25 30 years later would it still have meaning would those metrics still be the same what are the conditions of indigenous lives Still be the same and the answer is that although we are trying as best we can the government of Canada finds that in the last 30 years and this is in a report I read some months ago that in In trying its best in the last 30 years with the investment of billions of dollars and and a lot of attention paid to programming that the conditions of Aboriginal life are not dramatically different We still talk about clean water We still talk about enough land. We still talk about child welfare where in most provinces less than 10% of the children are Aboriginal But over 60% are in the child welfare make up the child welfare system What's happening when more children today are in care of the child welfare system in Canada Aboriginal children Then ever went to residential school What have we learned by looking in the rearview mirror the past the Truth and Reconciliation Commission calls us To challenge us to look at our systems look at the things look at the systemic ways in which Aboriginal people relate to the rest of Canada and Some work has been done and we have been called to act in education and post-secondary education and health in the criminal justice system but We have a lot left to do and we have Now a real challenge So where does the light come from? Where do we where do we see? Potential where do where will we be better? When we replayed George's speech at Canada 175 we hope that it's dramatically different How will we be better? So this is the discussion that we're going to have this afternoon about education because I believe it's at the very core of Our of our capacities to do better three quick points about education I Challenge us I think to do better earlier We have a story that we tell indigenous students. We said you can be anything. You can you want to be anything But in Northern Ontario where I'm from it is rare in small communities with large groups of indigenous students in high school It is rare that we even offer to them Courses that allow them to transition to university They can't get there from where they are and so we ask why don't you want to go to university? I'd love to but in my high school. They don't offer the courses that allow me to and So we're always playing catch-up and I think as a society. We have to take a look at What we're promising indigenous students what we're promising indigenous young people and then offer them very clear transition to a to something better Providing them access to university In the citation we talked about my father the the who came from a farm in Northwestern, Ontario and I was lucky to have two parents who were who had university education and How he worked in a parts department at his family store and then decided he was going to do University education in that first course he talked about in the church basement of the church in Fort Francis Allowing him access to a world that he didn't think he would ever have in remote Northwestern, Ontario Same thing years later when he went into a master's program at Central Michigan University And the reason that he had access to that program was because they came to Sudbury where we were living at the time And they opened up a little campus at the community college and said we're gonna offer master's degrees And he signed up and then he later came to me and said you got to take this program. It's fantastic It's it's it's great. And I that's when I signed up and that's when my graduate experience started So never underestimate that access point the idea that We need to start to bring education to students and not and spend less time having them come to us. I Think we need to have greater efforts on support. We do very well Promising students opportunities in the universities we can get them in the front door But we have to take a look at how they're great. We're graduating them. Are they graduating do they have the support once they're inside our institutions? I Think the other thing we have to look at is the danger that every indigenous student. We see needs remediation that every one of them needs help and Ignoring the ones that are excellent and are already performing at a very high standard. So we need to be both offering help and Supporting and rewarding excellence This is important and it's important to do and it's very difficult to do because you have to do it one-on-one I and you have to go to those promising indigenous students and say We want you to come to Dalhousie University and we're gonna help you get there when I first started in the the federal government I worked in a in a in a cubicle like everybody else does and Next to the window though. There was there was you could that sort of conveys to many of you my status at the time so I Thought that somebody was going to just discover how brilliant I was and how hard a worker I was and was going to come down from the heavens and and And recognize my work and help me get get a leg up and climb the public sector ladder It didn't happen for many years oddly enough. I had to do it myself But one of the one of the real turning points for me was And this was unbelievable at the time For anybody who of you have worked in government the Deputy Minister of the Department of Indian Affairs came down from upstairs and Came looking for me and he said we're starting a new program for First Nations executive leaders and We'd had me ten people and we'd like you to be one of them He asked me I enrolled in that program It changed everything about my life and my work trajectory and all it took was someone who I respected Then someone in authority to say You're the one you can do it and we need you to we want you to enlist so it Absolutely life-changing And I think the last thing I'll say about education is and reconciliation is is that indigenous people have a role to play here, too I get concerned when I see the truth and reconciliation Maybe 90 of the 94 calls to action start with we call upon the government, too We have waited too long for the government to change our lives and it's now time for us to take a look at enlisting the support and encouragement of Non-Aboriginal people of the rest of Canada Canadian society in helping us achieve reconciliation I'll tell you a little story When I was in university, I worked part-time in the summers at Via Rail Canada And so I was an operator on the phone line when you called in to make a train reservation anywhere in Canada and Something I highly recommend one summer I spent on the night shift midnight to eight and It's a different world. It's a different world In many ways those overnight operators kind of opera we all kind of operated a lonely hearts club People who just needed someone to talk to across Canada people who were lonely People who never got out They said well, who can I call and they would call us by name because there was only five of us in all of Canada And they would call us by name and so I'd like to talk to Joe was he around yes And I'd say Joe Betty's on the line and that's that's how we did it. That's how we did it and we would get the same calls from the same people and people were very very invested in the train and We would get calls that say oh, it's John calling It's eight minutes late out of Salmon Arm, and so you'd write that down now remember this was 1982 For those of you who are not born then there was no capacity For people to Google when the train was coming Okay, there was no capacity and really most of the stations were unmanned so we didn't in Toronto We didn't even know when the train if the train was late We'd get and so we relied on this little informal network of people who had really no responsibility to do this But did it anyway, and I remember getting a call the I frequently received it from a guy in northern Ontario And he lived not too far from an unmanned station So there's no phone in there. There's no operator There's no way to sit to let you know When the train is coming and he would call and he'd say how's the train coming Mike, and I'd say well It's not good. It's it's an hour and a half late out of out of you know, horn pain And he'd say okay. Well, that's not good. There's there's six or seven people down there at the station I'll get my wife up will make sandwiches and coffee and we'll go down there And we'll tell them it's going to be late and maybe give them a little bit to eat because this was the middle of the night and They're waiting and they have no idea when it's coming and I thought to myself How impressive that was for me for a couple of reasons first of all that's a very generous thing to do And it's a very kind thing to do But it suggests something different it suggests something Higher than that which is responsibility It suggests that we are responsible To each other as a community That we have to care for each other and that there is I believe a Tremendous wellspring of this kind of care and responsibility That is waiting for the indigenous community in Canada There are people who want to help who want to reach out and feel it's their role and responsibility to do so So I think the third point I make today is is to make sure that indigenous people Look for the ways in which Canadian society not institutions, but individuals Really wish to help and I have to say that my my time spent with the shulik school of law has been Profound. I really do feel that you are here to help here to reach out and for those students here who are considering a Career and law look no further than this institution. We need you we want you to come and We want you to make a difference in the in the lives of our communities So thank you very much for this high honor. It's you you have no idea what it means to me. So thank you very much Thank you very much Mike if I may use your first name for those inspiring words I did not ask him to put in that plug for the law school, but now that he's done it I will only repeat it and encourage Encourage all of you in the same way he did That concludes our ceremony for today, but before we finish and Go to lunch. I just have a few thank you's I want to make at this point First of all, of course, I want to extend a very warm Thank you to the Mi'kmaq native friendship center when we approach them with the idea that we might have this event here We got nothing but support and encouragement and a really warm reception And I hope as they said in that movie the name of which escapes me now This is the beginning of a wonderful relationship. We might be able to Replicate it with other events. So thank you very much to the Mi'kmaq native friendship center Again, I'll repeat my thanks to elder Debbie Eisen for the smudging and the blessing and of course to Eastern Eagles for Performing the drumming and the honor song. I Want to also again thank Cape Breton University for being our collaborators In this event and especially with regard to the collaboration For this afternoon's symposium reconciliation in education I will say a particular. Thank you to Elizabeth Sanford and Christina Coakley anytime an event like this happens You know, there are always some people there who do a lot of hard work and without it The event would not have happened. So I want to mention them in particular And finally to everyone here to the platform party and to each one of you for joining this event and for being a part of it We really do appreciate you being here We look forward to as many of you as possible participating in the afternoon symposium that concludes the ceremony you're now invited to join us for lunch and We look forward to having a chance to chat with as many of you as possible. Thank you very much