City of Québec, Quebec, Thursday, February 14, 2013

It is a great pleasure to join you here today. Thank you for your warm welcome and for giving me the opportunity to comment after hearing your testimonials. 

We heard from Mr. Molson and Mr. Dallaire —two leaders within their respective communities—who shared with us their experiences of philanthropy. How thoughtful of them.

Yesterday, Sharon and I attended a round-table discussion on philanthropy at Institut Mallet. Tonight, we will be attending the 54th edition of the International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament.

Although we have been to the Winter Carnival each year of my mandate, we have never attended the tournament. We wanted to change that this year. 

Imagine: Québec has been hosting the tournament in conjunction with the Québec Winter Carnival for over 50 years. It is a major event for over 2 300 young hockey players 11 and 12 years old from over 14 countries. And to ensure the smooth functioning of the tournament, over 12 000 volunteers participate—some have been doing so for more than 25 years. 

And more volunteers give to the Québec Winter Carnival, year after year after year. What dedication, what accomplishment! 

These volunteers ensure that the Carnival is a success every year. Because of their efforts, it is known as a great event not only in Canada, but also internationally. All this to say that it is volunteers—at Carnival, at the tournament, and here in this room—that are an attractive draw in Québec. 

We are so pleased to be here for several reasons. First, I am with kindred souls. One of the greatest experiences of my life was to co-chair the Centraide Montreal Campaign in 1995. The second reason is the importance of your cause, which is of course our cause.

Today you have gathered to ask a very important question: how do we ensure the practice of philanthropy for generations to come? 

It is a simple question, but there is no simple answer.

One of my priorities as governor general is to support and encourage the culture of philanthropy in Canada. It is important that we do so, because the need in our communities is real—and it is growing, putting at risk the vulnerable among us.

And ultimately, this imbalance threatens one of our most cherished values as Canadians: equality of opportunity.

In a democratic society, everyone has something to give. We also know that giving is like a muscle that gets stronger the more we exercise it. The more we give, the more likely we are to give again.

Let me share with you a story. Some two decades ago, Mother Teresa came to Montréal. One of our neighbours, moved by her work with the poor in Calcutta, asked Mother Teresa how she could help. She replied: “Just look around you. In your own neighbourhood there is a family who needs your care and love.”

Shortly afterward, I read a criticism of Mother Teresa’s work. Her shelter in Calcutta gave succour to perhaps 200 people in a city where millions lived in abject poverty. Her work was described as one small drop in an ocean. Could this be the case? Was this critic right?

From here, we go, interestingly enough, to my children’s birthday parties. My children, aged 2 to 9 at the time, would criticize the entertainment I was providing. They would ask me, “Why can’t you do a magic show like Dean MacFarlane instead of telling us ghost stories that no one believes?”

At that time, Andy MacFarlane was the dean of Journalism at the University of Western Ontario, where I was the dean of Law. Being quite competitive, I attended the next birthday party at the MacFarlane home, where Andy was dressed as a magician, with a long cape and flowing sleeves. He was performing a magic trick, turning water into wine.                  

He took a glass of clear water, raised it in the air, and uttered that magic phrase, “Abracadabra!” He then swept the glass into his sleeves while whirling 360 degrees, surreptitiously adding a few drops of red vegetable dye into the glass, and emerged with a glass of a lovely rose-hued liquid.

At that moment, I realized that Mother Teresa was changing the culture of Calcutta, and indeed that of the world. It was the transformation of the water—not the addition to it—that was improving the lives of so many families.

The shortcomings of this criticism were that we were looking at her work from the point of view of physics, rather than chemistry.

That is why we must strive to find ways to encourage those who come from philanthropic families and communities to continue the tradition of giving. Their contributions are essential to the smarter, more caring society of which we dream.

Thank you.