Toronto, Ontario, Monday, May 12, 2014

Thank you for welcoming me. I am delighted to be here.

I would like to thank Principal Sumner, the faculty and the students of Wycliffe College for honouring me with a doctorate from this illustrious institution. I am especially touched to share this honour today with my very good friend, the Chancellor of the University of Waterloo, Mr. Prem Watsa and a new friend, Reverend Gordon Smith.

I would like to speak briefly today on three major themes.

First, as governor general, I would like to share with you my vision of Canada as a smart and caring nation.

Second, I would like to speak about this College and its mission.

And third, I would like to talk about a specific opportunity we have in Canada today, and discuss how it relates to my first two points. Let me leave you to guess for the time being as to what that opportunity is.

My installation speech given three-and-a-half years ago was entitled, A Smart and Caring Nation: A Call to Service. In it I focused on three pillars: supporting families and children, encouraging philanthropy and volunteerism, and fostering learning and innovation.

All three pillars are aspects of a successful nation, but today I would like to focus specifically on learning and innovation as an avenue towards a smarter, more caring Canada and as a sphere where Wycliffe College has a long tradition of distinction in learning and the potential for more.

On this, there are three touch points: 1) John Wycliffe himself; 2) the innovation which led to the creation of this College in the late years of the 19th century; and 3) the opportunity which I’ll speak to at the end.

Through his teaching which gave us the first English Bible, the Oxford theologian John Wycliffe was a leader of the advance party of the Protestant Reformation. By 1530, three important figures then took the Reformation to full flood.

They were John, Marty and Fred. John was Johannes Gutenberg, who "invented" the printing press and went bankrupt for his pains in 1453.

Marty was Martin Luther, who translated the Bible from the original Hebrew and Greek into the vernacular so that ordinary people could read the Word of God in their own language that they understood. Thus began the disintermediation of established religion and doctrine.

Fred was Frederick the Elector of Saxony, who protected Luther in his castle for one year to translate the Bible. Without him the established church would have prevented this innovation and Luther, like Tyndale in England, would have been a martyr but with no German Bible. 

All three of these individuals were essential to the Reformation. It required John's technical innovation, Martin's social innovation and Frederick's governmental innovation. For evidence, remember that China had moveable type many centuries before Western Europe. China had its Johns but not its Martins and Freds.

Thanks to this innovation in learning, Western Europe emerged from the Dark Ages and surpassed the more advanced civilizations of China, India and Islam. It led to the rise of cities, the eradication of feudalism and the divine right of kings, the industrial revolution, democratic governments and public education.

Now, I am told that this College‎ was founded by a lay movement at St. James Cathedral after a clerical faction had campaigned to exclude evangelicals from important diocesan offices and committees. It was inspired by the doctrinal themes of the English Reformation. It maintained the rights of laity in Church governance, simplicity in worship, and ecumenical relations with other Protestant denominations, especially in postsecondary education.

These are the ingredients of a smart and caring nation: people of keener minds and kinder hearts.

And these lessons are particularly apt at this time and in this country because we are living through a new communications revolution heralded by the rise of the Internet. But this revolution is even broader, more pervasive and powerful and faster in its transformation of the way we communicate and learn than the one of Wycliffe, Gutenberg and Luther.

Remember, it took more than three centuries for the printing press to reach a majority of the population of Western Europe. The Internet took less than a decade to reach a majority of the world's population.

And there’s a local connection, in the form of three of the prophets of this modern communication revolution who did their work only a few meters from this spot: Harold Innis, Marshall McLuhan and Northrop Frye.

To quote McLuhan:

“I wouldn’t have seen it if I hadn’t believed it.”

Now let me come to my third theme today, which is the great opportunity we have in this country to promote healing and reconciliation between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Canadians.

It is an opportunity in which Wycliffe College can play a meaningful role.

In late March, I had the great privilege of attending the final national Truth and Reconciliation Committee event in Edmonton.

It was an extraordinary day. The existence of residential schools will forever be among the great wrongs of Canadian history—an example of the profound harm of which each of us is capable when inequality, paternalism and racism prevail over our sense of common humanity.

Reconciliation is so important, both for the individuals who have been directly affected by residential schools, and for our entire country.

I was honoured to be named an Honorary Witness to the proceedings. These events, which have been held across Canada, see residential school survivors, as well as those who were involved in running the schools, bravely standing up to share their stories.

My role in Edmonton involved listening, reflecting and then pledging to educate Canadians on the history of residential schools and their devastating impact on people and communities.

As leaders in faith and in education, the students, faculty and leadership of Wycliffe College can similarly play a role in reconciliation.

Some of you will already be familiar with this dark chapter in our history. Those of you that are not, can listen, and learn, and become involved in the effort.

The way ahead, of course, is to foster a society that respects and celebrates diversity. One that embraces its Aboriginal heritage, as well as the many diverse traditions we find here in Canada from around the world.

Education should never be about the narrow exclusion of cultures or worldviews. Rather, learning should be about growth and inclusiveness, discovery of the self, of others and of the world around us.  

As members of this wonderful college, I know how committed you are to making the country and the world more fair, just and equal. I recognize your thirst for knowledge and enlightenment.

I am humbled to receive this honorary doctorate of sacred letters from Wycliffe College. Thank you for this great honour.

And thank you for your contributions to building a smarter, more caring Canada.