Rideau Hall, Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Welcome to Rideau Hall, the gathering place of the Canadian people. Our fellow citizens meet here regularly to share ideas, learn from one another and honour service, bravery, ingenuity and creativity.

Tonight, in this beautiful ballroom of this grand old building, we pay tribute to five of our compatriots with the 2013 Killam Prizes.

Rideau Hall is the perfect place to bestow these laurels of achievement. Assembling here gives us a special power to illuminate exceptional successes in research for all our country and all the world to see.

We fulfil a series of vital responsibilities when we shed light on extraordinary careers in research.

We inspire the emerging generation of young Canadian researchers to intensify their work. Doing so reinforces the outstanding community of original minds that has developed in our country during the past 50 years.

We speed the spread of knowledge across borders and disciplines. Sharing knowledge among many fields of study throughout the world ensures it can be tested, shaped and refined into timeless wisdom.

We reveal the impressive power of research to find answers, solve problems and improve lives.

And we express to these five incredible Canadians our sincere gratitude for devoting their lives to enriching ours. Their storied careers deserve to be known widely, acclaimed enthusiastically and celebrated joyously.

The Killam Prizes enable us to gather here to express that spirit of sharing, admiration and veneration. I extend my deepest thanks to Mr. Cooper and the other Killam trustees, and to the Canada Council for the Arts for helping make this award presentation such a wonderful occasion not only this year but also each and every year.

Tonight’s celebration is only the beginning of the events to mark the achievements of the 2013 laureates of the Killam Prizes. All five are invited to take part in the second annual Killam Prize Symposium to be held later this year.

This special discussion—held here in Rideau Hall and broadcast on CBC Radio Ideas—enables people across Canada and around the world to learn more about the ideas, insights and inspirations of five of our country’s most ingenious thinkers. It’s an excellent opportunity for us to flash a keen beam of light on their career achievements, as well as a rare occasion to tap into and profit from the wisdom of these five extraordinary minds.

We inaugurated the Killam Prize Symposium last November. The 2012 laureates delved deeply into some of the most basic yet profound questions in research. How do we find things out? What are the best conditions to make discoveries? Is the process of discovery more an art or science? The discussion was a smashing success.

I look forward to welcoming the 2013 winners to Rideau Hall for the second annual Killam Prize Symposium later this year. Like all Canadians, I can’t wait to find out your penetrating thoughts on learning, discovery and innovation gained from your lifetimes of remarkable research.

Your lifetimes of research are testaments of your service to Canadians and people throughout the world.

Your work saved—and continues to save—the lives of millions of children.

It brought safety and security to families throughout Northern Ireland.

It advanced our mastery of the computational power of machines to create more intelligent systems.

It revolutionized the way we look at the Earth and its climate.

It proves no divide exists between the humanities and sciences when it comes to answering metaphysical questions that have vexed humankind for ages.

On behalf of the people of Canada, I congratulate all five of you on earning this year’s Killam Prizes. I’m certain these honours are in good hands.

Even more, I thank each of you for devoting your extraordinary lives to realizing such peerless achievements in research.

For furthering our search for answers to some of the most pressing questions of our time and of all time.

For enabling Canadians and people throughout the world to gain greater insight into themselves, their lives and the world around them.

For brilliantly illuminating the path toward the smart, caring Canada and the smart, caring world we all dream of and hope one day to reach.