Vanier, Georges Philias

ENCAENIA, MAY, 1966
GEORGES PHILIAS VANIER
to be Doctor of Laws

For the blending of two proud peoples into a nation single and harmonious, a world groping for patterns looks wistfully to Canada. And in Canada by God's beneficent grace, the world has seen, in many capacities, in war and peace, and for the span of a generation, a shining image of Canadian man and woman.

Our beloved Governor General, whose spirit no battle wound can crush nor years diminish, has throughout his manly career combined a soldier's devotion to duty with the dignity of a Grand Seigneur.

At his side has been a consort as dedicated as he, as charming, and as beloved. Together they have demonstrated -- more directly than a hundred commissions -- how fruitfully can be wedded the two great stocks of this land. Abroad and at home, at Rideau Hall and the Citadel, in matters of State, in ministrations of charity, in every province of this broad Canada, they have shown their feeling for the nation's life, their interest in its organizations, societies, and groups, and their love for its men, its women and, above all, its children.

We cannot, alas, each be the son of a French father and an Irish mother, or the scion of English forbears and the daughter of a French mother; we cannot all be so enviably at home in both tongues, or so admirably endowed for high office. But in our private lives we can, whether English-speaking or French, all seek the blessedness of the
Vaniers' family life, and pray for their religious faith, which serves its church but knows no barriers.

Excellence,
Avant de vous présenter pour le Doctorat honoris causa, le titre le plus élevé que confère l'Université provinciale de langue anglaise, je voudrais essayer de vous communiquer dans l'autre idiome notre respect et notre admiration.

Au Nouveau Brunswick, province la plus bilingue du Canada -- bilingue, car un peu plus de la moitié d'entre nous parle anglais, un peu moins de la moitié parle français, et trop peu, hélas, parlent, jusqu' à présent, les deux -- voilà pourquoi nous désirons exprimer à vous, Monsieur, et à vous, Madame, combien nous admirons l'exemple éclatant que vous donnez partout et toujours: unité de coeur et harmonie des langues et des cultures.

Soyez assurés que nous poursuivrons ce noble idéal avec d'autant plus de zéle et d'enthousiasme que, dans vos deux personnes, nous en voyons ce jour l'incarnation vivante.

From:
Cattley, Robert E.D. Honoris causa: the effervescences of a university orator. Fredericton: UNB Associated Alumnae, 1968.