Landry, Aldéa

ENCAENIA, MAY, 2002
ALDÉA LANDRY
to be Doctor of Laws

When Aldéa Landry was still a child, the youngest in a large family living on the Acadian Peninsula, she became seriously ill. They transferred her to a city hospital where she was surrounded by the strange world of medicine and unfamiliar people all speaking a language she did not understand. It was terrifying. Yet whatever the experience taught her, it was not to shrink from the challenge of taking New Brunswick as she found it and trying to make it better.

She is today a symbol of a very different New Brunswick, having spent her life in the work of erasing the concept of two solitudes. She was educated in her first language, French, until she came to the University of New Brunswick Law School. Here she excelled as a student, whatever the obstacles of learning in a second language. When she graduated, she went to work for the New Brunswick Department of Justice as legal counsel with the Revised Statutes of New Brunswick Project. She went on to become director for legal translation and computerization of New Brunswick statutes. While a public servant, she developed her interest in law reform, especially in the areas of the status of women and family law. She represented the Department of Justice on the Interdepartmental Committee on the role of women in the New Brunswick economy and society, and later served on the Task Force studying reform of the law respecting matrimonial property, the basis on which the Marital Property Act of New Brunswick was written. She was an Acadian woman working in a now officially bilingual province, but in which the transformation was slow, and the challenges ever present.

For ten years, she went into the private practice of law with her husband, Fern, her life-partner and soul-mate. Working out of the northeast, she maintained her broader interest in matters of public policy and law reform. She continued to sit on the New Brunswick Human Rights Commission, became a member of the Board of Governors of the Université de Moncton, accepted appointment to the Advisory Council on the Status of Women, and served on the Planning Advisory Committee of the City of Bathurst. She became active politically, and entered with enthusiasm into policy formation for her party. In all, the overarching theme of her work was the struggle for human equality: linguistic equality, gender equality, social justice, and educational opportunity. In 1985, she became the President of the New Brunswick Liberal Party, the first woman to hold the position. By this point, she was not only a driving force in preparing her party for government, but she also continued to serve on numerous educational, legal, and youth-oriented bodies, including membership on the Board of Governors of the University of New Brunswick. At the peak of her form, she was chosen woman of the Year by La Federation des Dames d'Acadie, and in the same year, 1988, was named by Chatelaine Magazine as one of Canada's 25 most dynamic women.

She well deserved these honours for her many years of devoted public service. But the matter that brought her to national attention was the election of 1987, when she ran successfully for the legislature and was named to the cabinet, the first Acadian woman to achieve this distinction. In her term of office, she was Deputy Premier, Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs responsible for Aboriginal Affairs and International Cooperation, interim Minister of Fisheries, and of Housing, and Minister responsible for regional development. She chaired numerous cabinet committees and negotiated federal-provincial agreements. Yet none of her work was more satisfying than her work on official languages, literacy, policy and priorities, and youth. True to herself and her life's work, the social agenda of the province remained her abiding interest.

When she lost her bid for re-election in 1991, she deserved to feel let down. Surprisingly, one of her greatest challenges lay ahead. She agreed to co-chair, with former UNB President James Downey, a provincial commission on Excellence in Education. After two years of extensive consultation with stakeholders and the public, they issued two separate reports: Schools for a New Century, which analysed the provincial school system, and To Live and Learn, a fresh look at adult education and lifelong learning. Together, these studies provoked interest and discussion and laid out a roadmap for change that still bears consideration. Since the mid-1990s, she has lived in Moncton where she operates her own consulting firm, while she serves as a member of the Board of Directors of the Bank of Canada, of the Shaw Group of Halifax, and several other groups.

Aldéa Landry commands the admiration of all for her consistent advocacy of fairness and equality, and for her lasting contribution to New Brunswick. With her husband, whom she sadly lost only a year ago, she has built linguistic bridges, fashioned public policy, served the people, and encouraged excellence. Moreover, she has done so with infectious enthusiasm, warmth, and humanity. For all of this and for her unshakable loyalty to the University of New Brunswick, we honour her today.

From: Honoris Causa - UA Case 70, Box 4