Montreal, Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Education is not a privilege.

It is an acquired right in this country.

Mind you, this concept is a relatively new one in our history.

Historian Georges Langlois reminds us that at the beginning of the 19th century, country schools were set on fire in this province.

And still today, in so many countries around the world—including the one I was born in—too many children do not have access to education or it is denied to them.

Yet learning is the best—if not the only—means of escaping misery and expanding your horizons.

I know because my father devoted his life to teaching and taught me from a very young age that knowledge and knowledge institutions were always to be respected.

And my mother began sharing her love of reading and writing with me while I was still a little girl sitting on her knees.

She was the first person to tell me about the infinite wealth to be found in all books, from the classics to the modern, philosophy to poetry.

For her part, my grandmother constantly told me that education is the doorway to freedom. This from a woman who made clothing and sold it on the streets to send her children to school.

In Kabul, Afghanistan, while visiting a microfinance project, I told this story to Afghan women who, like my grandmother, have found themselves widowed and left to raise their children alone, women who have had to find a means of ensuring their own financial independence in order to provide for the survival and education of their daughters and sons.

If you were to go to any developing country and ask parents what their priority is, they would all tell you that it is education.

It was so moving to share this with them. To tell them that it was my grandmother’s courage and my mother’s courage—because my mother also raised her two children alone—and my family’s insistence on education that have made me the person that I am today: the Governor General of Canada.

It is our responsibility to pass on the love of learning to our children and to teach them the importance of making an effort and striving for excellence.

As I have traveled across Canada, I have also had the privilege of meeting with a number of people in Aboriginal communities who are facing unacceptable situations and huge challenges.

If there is one thing that the elders—women and men who are working to find solutions—affirm loud and clear, it is that the future depends on education.

I have the utmost respect for those who encourage knowledge to be broadened, expressed and explored.

Because it is precisely in institutions like yours that the capacity for thought is cultivated and becomes a collective force.

I do not believe that education is merely a passing on of knowledge or expertise.

Education must also be a means of giving children and adults the possibility of becoming agents of change in our communities.

And of being in a better position to assume more shared responsibilities in a pluralistic, knowledge-based world.

In fact, education gives citizenship a broader meaning, giving us the tools to face today’s challenges and the will to meet them head on.

To shape the world, we must first and foremost shape our place in it.

And the world starts here, in our neighbourhoods, our communities, the places where we live and dream.

I firmly believe that it is through the deepening of thought that societies evolve.

And societies that prevent the spread of thought are denying themselves vital resources and incredible possibilities for renewal.

Take dictatorships for example. Free thought is one of the first things they try to eradicate.

The absence of thought leads only to boredom, desperation and—most tragically of all—to hatred and violence.

The world is currently presenting us more challenges than ever before.

Every day, we are asked to go beyond what we already know.

Whether it be mixing cultures, which is so clear in an immigration-based country like ours.

Or finding a balance between ancestral ways of life and the global knowledge-based economy.

Or a means of protecting ecosystems that have been made vulnerable from years of abuse and carelessness.

Or discovering new modes of creation to celebrate life in all its dimensions.

Or revitalizing certain knowledge in a context of globalization that people often find ruthless.

Or giving young people everywhere the desire to make their dreams come true by acquiring knowledge and expertise to the benefit of the greater good.

Or giving our young people access to what our country has to offer: for example, two languages instead of only one. Two languages widely spoken in the world.

We face a very wide range of challenges.

And it is through education that we prepare ourselves, and the younger generations, to meet them with determination and hope.

Education is a promise of freedom.

The freedom to choose, the freedom to understand, explain, create, be filled with wonder, and improve.

And because we learn about freedom and civic responsibility in institutions like yours, we must protect them and ensure their influence on the community.

I would like to sincerely thank you for yours efforts to modernize our approach to postsecondary education.

As a citizen of the world, I must congratulate you for the work you do to encourage our students to have educational experiences outside of Canada.

I know how much they are worth. And I hope that more and more young Canadians have the opportunity to experience new realities and form new friendships.

It is also our responsibility to create opportunities for our young people to have the kinds of experiences that will give them a better understanding of citizen involvement.

Thank you for inviting me to speak to you today. I wish you all every success.