1998 Fredericton Encaenia - Ceremony B
Gordon, Pamela
Doctor of Laws (LL.D.)
Orator: Patterson, Stephen E.
Citation:
ENCAENIA, MAY, 1998
THE HONOURABLE PAMELA GORDON
to be Doctor of Laws
Today is a special day in the history of UNB's Faculty of Nursing. With us at this Encaenia are four young women from Bermuda, who, among others not able to be present, are the first from that island to earn Bachelor of Nursing/RN degrees through UNB's distance education program. While they have done all of their work in Bermuda and have carried out the practical aspects of their program there, they have traveled here to Fredericton to celebrate their achievement with the class of 1998 and the rest of the UNB family. In a sense, they symbolize the blending of old and new that we find in our university today: a university with an electronic campus that stretches far beyond the hillside in Fredericton, yet with the high standards and ancient traditions that have given it stature in the world community.
What makes the occasion doubly special is the presence here today of the premier of Bermuda, the Honourable Pamela Gordon. We welcome her and the members of her family who have traveled with her to mark this milestone in the link between UNB and her people.
Pamela Gordon is a distinguished and accomplished person in her own right. Little over a year ago, she was sworn in as Bermuda's first female premier, the youngest in the island's four centuries as a British colony. When one considers that women in Bermuda have enjoyed the vote for scarcely more than 50 years, her appointment is all the more significant. Her father, who died before she was born, was also a politician. A medical doctor, he worked to win equal-rights legislation for the island's Afri-Caribbean population. From her childhood, however, Pamela Gordon chose her own direction and voiced opinions that proved she had a mind of her own. She was educated in Bermuda and in Canada, and began her working life in the tourist industry as a restaurant manager and real-estate sales accountant. In 1990, she was appointed to the Bermuda Senate, and in 1992 was appointed to the cabinet as Minister for Youth Development, Sports and Recreation. As such she represented Bermuda at Commonwealth and Olympic Games. Of special concern to her was the use of drugs in sport. After serving as a member of the National Drug Strategy Ad Hoc Committee, she initiated Bermuda's Drug Free Sport Policy in 1995. In that same year, she was appointed Minister of the Environment before being chosen to lead the United Bermuda Party and become premier.
Pamela Gordon assumed the helm at a time of great controversy. After observing the difficulties caused by independence and autonomy for other Caribbean nations, Bermudians chose by popular vote to remain a dependent territory of the United Kingdom. By an overwhelming margin, the people of the island expressed their satisfaction with their relatively high per capita incomes, no income tax, and economic and political stability. For Pamela Gordon, the real issue is not independence, but fairness and equity for all Bermudians. She believes in economic stability, and she promotes tourism and encourages Bermuda's business links to preserve it; but she also wants improvements in education and social services. While some people have been surprised that she should have emerged as leader of the party that her father opposed, others have seen that in many ways she is her father's daughter. "Dr. Gordon was strong willed," says her mother. "My daughter isn't much different."
Pamela Gordon is very much a woman of the 1990s. She is a single parent intensely proud of her two children. She is a woman who networks with other women. She is a leader seeking to balance the competing needs of her island people. And above all she is a practical visionary who sees the promise of careful innovation while maintaining the structures and traditions that have brought her and her island territory to its present prosperous state. Like UNB, she sees the value of both the old and the new. Today we celebrate her presence here, and invite her now to join our family by accepting this UNB degree, honoris causa.
From: Honoris Causa - UA Case 70, Box 3
THE HONOURABLE PAMELA GORDON
to be Doctor of Laws
Today is a special day in the history of UNB's Faculty of Nursing. With us at this Encaenia are four young women from Bermuda, who, among others not able to be present, are the first from that island to earn Bachelor of Nursing/RN degrees through UNB's distance education program. While they have done all of their work in Bermuda and have carried out the practical aspects of their program there, they have traveled here to Fredericton to celebrate their achievement with the class of 1998 and the rest of the UNB family. In a sense, they symbolize the blending of old and new that we find in our university today: a university with an electronic campus that stretches far beyond the hillside in Fredericton, yet with the high standards and ancient traditions that have given it stature in the world community.
What makes the occasion doubly special is the presence here today of the premier of Bermuda, the Honourable Pamela Gordon. We welcome her and the members of her family who have traveled with her to mark this milestone in the link between UNB and her people.
Pamela Gordon is a distinguished and accomplished person in her own right. Little over a year ago, she was sworn in as Bermuda's first female premier, the youngest in the island's four centuries as a British colony. When one considers that women in Bermuda have enjoyed the vote for scarcely more than 50 years, her appointment is all the more significant. Her father, who died before she was born, was also a politician. A medical doctor, he worked to win equal-rights legislation for the island's Afri-Caribbean population. From her childhood, however, Pamela Gordon chose her own direction and voiced opinions that proved she had a mind of her own. She was educated in Bermuda and in Canada, and began her working life in the tourist industry as a restaurant manager and real-estate sales accountant. In 1990, she was appointed to the Bermuda Senate, and in 1992 was appointed to the cabinet as Minister for Youth Development, Sports and Recreation. As such she represented Bermuda at Commonwealth and Olympic Games. Of special concern to her was the use of drugs in sport. After serving as a member of the National Drug Strategy Ad Hoc Committee, she initiated Bermuda's Drug Free Sport Policy in 1995. In that same year, she was appointed Minister of the Environment before being chosen to lead the United Bermuda Party and become premier.
Pamela Gordon assumed the helm at a time of great controversy. After observing the difficulties caused by independence and autonomy for other Caribbean nations, Bermudians chose by popular vote to remain a dependent territory of the United Kingdom. By an overwhelming margin, the people of the island expressed their satisfaction with their relatively high per capita incomes, no income tax, and economic and political stability. For Pamela Gordon, the real issue is not independence, but fairness and equity for all Bermudians. She believes in economic stability, and she promotes tourism and encourages Bermuda's business links to preserve it; but she also wants improvements in education and social services. While some people have been surprised that she should have emerged as leader of the party that her father opposed, others have seen that in many ways she is her father's daughter. "Dr. Gordon was strong willed," says her mother. "My daughter isn't much different."
Pamela Gordon is very much a woman of the 1990s. She is a single parent intensely proud of her two children. She is a woman who networks with other women. She is a leader seeking to balance the competing needs of her island people. And above all she is a practical visionary who sees the promise of careful innovation while maintaining the structures and traditions that have brought her and her island territory to its present prosperous state. Like UNB, she sees the value of both the old and the new. Today we celebrate her presence here, and invite her now to join our family by accepting this UNB degree, honoris causa.
From: Honoris Causa - UA Case 70, Box 3
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