Valedictory Address

"Valedictory Address UNB" (18 May 2011): 1-2. (UA Case 68, Box 1).

Hello Class. It's a pleasure to be here speaking to you and to your guests today. I want to thank you for giving me this opportunity. I have spent much of my time at UNB speaking on your behalf to decision makers in this university, and outside. Today it is an honour to be speaking to you.

So here we are, in our caps and gowns, having just walked across this stage to gather that certificate we have worked so hard for over the last four, five, six plus years. We have learned a lot here at UNB. Our time in the classroom has prepared us for this day and for what is to come next, whether that is the beginning of our careers, further education or something else altogether. But our time at UNB has been about so much more than simply what we've learned in the classroom.

We have lived for the past number of years in a community of learning. In this community we have met and interacted with people from various walks of life: people whose foundational beliefs varied greatly from our own, people whose backgrounds seemed foreign to what we knew, people who spoke and behaved in unfamiliar ways. We learned together how to interact with one another, and worked to understand these differences, better understanding ourselves and our own values in the process. I can't speak for all of you, but I know that I am not the same person I was when I came here at the age of 18, knowing exactly what I thought I wanted to get from my time at UNB. You taught me so much more than I could have ever expected. We have built each other into a strong group of individuals ready to face whatever challenges the world will throw at us.

UNB is the University of New Brunswick. Many of you, including myself, graduated from a New Brunswick high school having grown up in a New Brunswick community. Many of us will choose to stay in this province or come back to raise our own families and to be near those that we love. This is a great and beautiful province and I am proud to claim it as my home. I want only what is best for New Brunswick and for the people who live here, but I have noticed over the past years something about this province that is true of people existing in nearly every community. There is a great deal of cynicism and prejudice existing just below the surface for many people, influencing every decision they make and every interaction. Most often this prejudice is born of simple frustration, grown into resentment, which has embittered the person involved. If only that original frustration could have been dealt with or explained away, as it is most often based only on a misunderstanding. Sometimes it is specific to a religious group, sometimes it is about different cultures and ethnicities, often times in our province it is specific to the issues surrounding bilingualism-misunderstandings toward Anglophone and Acadian cultures.

Existing in this community with you for the last number of years has taught me a lot about what kind of community, what kind of province I want to live in. I am thrilled to say today that the future of our province, our country, our world rests squarely on our shoulders. We have the opportunity to break this cycle of prejudice and to foster communities with the same values of acceptance and respect that we built here at UNB. As we step outside the safety net of our own community, my wish, my challenge to you is to preserve those values, to not let the prejudice of others embitter you toward your neighbors and to never let situational frustration build that prejudice within yourselves. We are sitting here in this incredibly diverse community with our colleagues, our classmates, our friends. The people surrounding us have contributed to our UNB experience and have helped to shape us into the people we are today. We have learned that it is the same diversity that confounded us four years ago, that unites us today and makes us strong. We can walk out these doors today and together we can begin to change the way our world operates.

I want to congratulate all of you for your accomplishment and to celebrate with you on this special day, as we join the thousands of UNB grads that have come before us over the last 225 years. We are formally stepping into a proud legacy, following in the footsteps of great people, many of whom are sitting in this room, today. Go and accomplish great things, as I know you are prepared to do, and never forget your time here. UNB will always unite us. Nothing can take that away.

Congratulations and I'll see you tonight at the Crowne Plaza.