 Hello everybody, members of the Class of 2020. It's Camille Cameron here, aka the Dean, coming to you live from the Weldon Law Building, live but maintaining my social distance requirements. In normal times, graduation day would come, we'd get together with all of you, faculty, staff, students, and we'd be able to celebrate in person. We'd be able to tell you congratulations, but as you know, as we all know, we certainly are not living in normal times. So we're coming to you instead, at least at this time, virtually, to say virtually what we can't say to you in person. So, from the bottom of my heart to you, congratulations. You've done it. We're proud of you. I want to thank you so much for spending three years of your life with us, and I want to thank you so much for doing everything you've done to build a great community here in the Weldon Law Building, that community that we all value so much. It's amazing for you to think, I'm sure, that you're no longer law students, you're lawyers. I wanted to tell you what a fantastic group of alumni you're joining. You're leaving here with a great education, and I have every confidence in you that you're going to do great things with that education and make us proud just as our current alumni make us so very proud. So again, congratulations. Thank you. You've done it. We're proud of you. All the best. Hi, Class of 2020. On behalf of the LSF, I want to congratulate you. I know this is an unconventional convocation, but it's important to not let that cloud the good things. I hope we can all look back at our time at Weldon and remember the friendships, the endless cups of coffee, and how far we've come from first year. Congrats. Hello to the class of 2020. Normally, I would be reading out your names across the stage and shaking your hands in person. I realize that this is a poor substitute, but I do want to congratulate each and every one of you on a job well done. This is a major milestone in your life, and you should be very proud. As I said, I wish I could give my best to each and every one of you in person, but if you permit me a small indulgence, I'd like to congratulate one of you number, who I remember running around the halls of this school about 20 years ago when I was a junior faculty member. You may remember this guy. I'm going to turn it around. Congratulations, Stephen. Thank you. And congratulations each and every one of you. Really job well done. And I hope you come and visit us many times in the future. Congratulations, everyone. Way to go. It doesn't seem that long ago that some of you were 1Ls and I was reassuring you that, yes, indeed, you would graduate. And look, here you are. Excellent job. We look forward to doing it in person in the fall. Take care. Hello, class of 2020. Congratulations on your JD. That is a wonderful accomplishment, and I wish I was able to say it to you in person. I know you're graduating into a strange and disconcerting world, but I have every faith that you will have opportunities to use your skills and to serve your communities. I hope and pray that you and your loved ones are all well. I wish you all the best in the future. So good luck and take care. Congratulations, class of 2020. You did it. Well, that's a walla look, which means I am so proud of you. It was a pleasure to meet so many of you and teach you, and I just want you to take this moment and celebrate all your hard work. You did it. You deserve it. And I wish you only the best. Bye. My name is Marty Leonard, and I'm the Dean of the Faculty of Graduate Studies at Delhousie. And on behalf of everyone at FGS, I want to congratulate you on being awarded your graduate degree in law. We're so proud of you, and we wish you all the very best for the future. Hey, graduating class of 2020. Just wanted to say congratulations on a job well done. I'm really proud of you. Happy to walk you into the family of well-done alumni. Go out and do great things. Don't be a stranger. You know where to reach us. Don't forget us when you're famous. Hey, everybody, congratulations on finishing law school, especially in these really unique circumstances. Look, thank you very much for choosing Chulik and letting us be part of your lives for three years. And now just make sure you figure out what your thing is and go do it. Dear class of 2020, you've made it. Congratulations. Thank you for three great years together. And it was fun to teach you all, and now I wish you all the best in your career, and I hope that you will be able to celebrate. So stay in touch and see you soon. As the acting director of the Indigenous Blacks and MiGMA initiative, I want to say a huge congratulations to you, the graduating class of 2020. I wish you all good luck in your future endeavors and congratulate you on this significant accomplishment. All the best in the future, and please take care. On behalf of the Dalhousie Law Alumni Association and our more than 7,500 alumni from all over the world, I'd like to welcome you to our alumni family. We look forward to keeping you engaged with the law school, and when we are able, having you join our events and celebrations in various cities. We wish you every success and happiness. Congratulations. Hi, Chulik grads. In a normal year, you would have received about 50 emails from me by now about tickets and gowns and how to say your name properly. Fortunately, this year is a little different, but despite this is still your convocation day. We miss you and we are so proud of you. Congratulations, Class of 2020. Hey, everyone. I hope this speech finds you well wherever you are. Currently on my fifth attempt, so hopefully I get it right this time. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, I won't get to see your reactions to this. But it's truly an honor to have been selected to represent the Class of 2020. I'll admit it's also a bit intimidating to be asked to speak on behalf of such an incredible group of people. And summing up the past three years in five minutes, it's an impossible task. But I feel lucky to have this opportunity to leave you with a few final thoughts and to say goodbye, at least for now. Especially in light of the abrupt way that our time together came to an end. In recent months, things that used to seem so important have gotten pushed to the margins. Things that we never thought we'd have to worry about have become all-consuming. But we can't let recent events distract us from the importance of this moment in our lives. We've all accomplished something truly impressive. One thing I've found over the past three years is how quickly a feeling of accomplishment can go stale if you let it. There's often an anticlimactic feeling that comes with achieving something that you've been working towards for a long time. I think all of us have experienced this to one extent or another. For myself, I can remember the thrill of being accepted to my first choice law school. But as September approached that feeling quickly gave way to a sense of dread, I realized I would actually have to go to law school. Then I showed up on the first day and was surrounded by 180 other people who would accomplish the same thing as me, and more in most cases. Over the course of our law school careers, we all passed many milestones, arch and small. The big ones I think we all know, passing your first major assignment or exam in 1L, doing your first moosh, surviving 2L, finishing 3L. The smaller victories are a little bit more unique to each of us, but no less important. For myself, it may surprise some of you to know that I was initially terrified to speak in class. I can remember my hands literally shaking from the adrenaline rush after raising them for the first time. But then three years later, most of you can probably directly attest to the fact that, at times, it can be hard to get me to shut up. Each of these accomplishments feels great for a while, but in law school it's not long before you're given any amount of decline. If you're not careful, it's easy to forget everything you accomplished to get to where you are now. Now is the perfect time to think back on each of your personal victories over the past three years. What we're celebrating today is the sum of all those moments. Never forget how much of an accomplishment it was just to get your foot in the door that you're now walking through. Whenever you're facing some new challenge that you don't feel like you're up to, remember how many times you had that exact same thought over the past three years. And remember how you proved yourself wrong each time. I'll never stop being amazed by everything that you were all able to accomplish while completing your law degree. You've ran societies. You've volunteered in the community through pro bono. You've won competitive moots. You've worked on political campaigns. You've completed master's degrees. Some of you have raised children. You've competed in university athletics at a high level. You've won law games twice and closed up the dome and made it to evidence the next morning. All of these are truly incredible accomplishments in their own way. But while today is a day for celebrating our accomplishments, it's also a day for acknowledging everybody who helped get us to where we are now. All of our support systems are different, but I know that we all have one. For me, I want to thank my dad, who gave me the initial inspiration to be a lawyer. And he continues to give me an example to strive towards. My mom, for all of her endless encouragement and for helping me set high standards for myself. My brothers, for always being willing to argue whenever my latest dumb, hot take was. And to Emily, for all of her endless support, for all of the stress and long nights over the past three years. I also want to thank the professors. Law school can be a harsh and unforgiving environment where it can be seen that way, especially at first. But I always got the sense from the very first day that the profs truly cared about us. Not just educating us, but helping us thrive and succeed in law school and beyond. And finally, I want to thank all of you, my friends and classmates. We couldn't have done this without each other. I think we're all still struggling to adjust to our new reality and all of the uncertainties that come with it. I think we're struggling to keep and maintain connections with each other despite significant obstacles. But when you think about it, law school was a time when we formed connections despite many reasons not to. We were all graded on a curve, we were all competing for a limited number of jobs, and we were all being trained for a profession where argument and confrontation is baked in. But in spite of all this, I think law school brought us closer together in ways that many of us maybe didn't expect at the beginning. Now, admittedly, there are a few differences between our current situation and law school. But I think the past three years should tell us that shared struggle and shared experiences can bring out the best in us. They can bring us together. I think it's important that we hold on to this moving forward. All of you have proven your ability to thrive and succeed in under-challenging circumstances, and I know you will continue to do so moving forward. I wish you all the best of luck, and please, please stay in touch.