OTTAWA-In a rare double, one of Ottawa’s most prominent political couples was awarded honorary doctorates Wednesday by Carleton University.
And Joe Clark and Maureen McTeer delivered messages that were true to the beliefs both have conveyed throughout their public lives. Stand up for diversity and equality and Canada will continue to be a world leader, they told graduates in separate addresses.
“Our diversity, the growing equality of rights in Canada and our example and our success as a community are Canadian assets, which are as important to our future as our resource and material wealth,” Clark said.
“If we fail to value and invest these clear assets, our place in the world will decline,” he said.
Clark is a former prime minister and foreign minister. McTeer is a lawyer, author and human rights activist. They received their honorary doctor of laws diplomas along with about 300 students in law, criminology and psychology at the fourth of eight convocation ceremonies at Carleton, the last of which takes place on Friday.
In her address, McTeer said that education comes with a responsibility to take stands that may be unpopular. She reminded the audience that many rights and customs taken for granted today are recent advances — including the fact that many women decide to keep their own last name when they marry.
“People mocked me when I kept my own name when I married 37 years ago this month,” she said.
“The point of this privilege of education, whose degree you receive today, is to help you to always stand up.”
McTeer placed extra emphasis on standing up for women’s rights. A lifelong advocate of gender equality who fought to include reference to women in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, she has recently spoken out against the Harper government’s refusal to include abortion in its funding initiatives for maternal health in the developing world.
“I hope that many of you will commit yourselves to justice and fairness and that you will stand and be concerned and counted on issues — such as women’s equality, such as maternal health — indeed, on all issues of this extraordinary time that you have grown up in,” she said.
The graduates mingling over cheese squares and cupcakes at the reception after the ceremony said they would take Clark’s and McTeer’s messages to heart. Some said they were reassessing their career plans to work more directly with people in need.
Omar Ibrahim was helping his little sister reach a fruit kebab after receiving his degree in law and criminology. He said he had always planned to get a job in law enforcement or government, but after working with a group home in Orléans, he’s considering becoming a professional youth counsellor.
Ibrahim said he was elated that a former prime minister was chosen to speak at his ceremony. “I was excited when I heard he was going to talk. I think he hit the nail right on the head.”
Jennifer Anderson said she’s also planning a major change in her career path. The 22-year-old graduate in criminology and psychology took a semester off and volunteered at a Cambodian orphanage for children affected by HIV/AIDS and is now applying to nursing school. “I just decided it wasn’t for me and I wanted to help people. In the orphanages, I really respected what nurses do,” she said.
Both graduates said they were cautiously optimistic about their job prospects. Ibrahim hopes to take advantage of his contacts.
“It all depends. I’ve got a lot of friends who graduated in front of me who I’m in contact with daily, so maybe they can help me get through the door. But overall, it’s always going to be difficult.”
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