Remember that time Stephen Harper was given an honorary degree by a Canadian university? Of course you do not. Because it never happened. Despite leaving office more than a decade ago, no Canadian university has offered this long-serving prime minister an honorary degree. Compare this to Jean Chrétien, who received honorary degrees from six Canadian universities before he became prime minister, three more while in office, and at least three more since. Paul Martin, who served only three years as prime minister, received two while still a cabinet minister and at least 19 more after he retired.
Who We Honour Reflects Our Values
Who we honour tells us a lot about what we value. Before they get the chance to watch their child walk across the stage, relatives at convocation ceremonies must sit through speeches from the honorary recipients. You expect platitudes, maybe some inspiration. The main goal is to not put grandma to sleep. Sometimes these speeches are incredible — go online and watch Will Ferrell’s commencement address at the University of Southern California for the best-case scenario. More likely, the audience at a Canadian graduation will be forced to listen to someone talk about social justice.
Looking through the list of honorary degree recipients at Canadian universities is a reminder of how ideologically homogeneous these institutions are. There are, to be sure, many outstanding in their field. This year we have Sir David MacMillan at UBC, a Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry, and the remarkable novelist Guy Gavriel Kay at the University of Manitoba. But you do not have to go far before politics starts to seep in.
Political Activists Dominate Honours
Desmond Cole, the activist-journalist who left the Toronto Star in 2017 after choosing activism over journalism, is receiving two honorary degrees this year — one from Ontario Tech and another from Trent University. Judy Rebick, the outspoken feminist activist, is also receiving a degree from Trent. Marion Buller, who led the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls inquiry and was responsible for its outrageous claim that the phenomenon constituted “genocide,” is being honoured by the University of Toronto. Concordia is giving a degree to Gina McCarthy, former National Climate Advisor in the Biden White House.
Many other recipients who have accomplishments in other areas of their lives are specifically recognized for their commitments to reconciliation and DEI. At most universities, a Senate committee receives nominations from across the institution and selects the candidates. Over the last decade, these committees have been explicitly instructed to embed DEI principles into their criteria — not merely seeking diverse candidates, which might be reasonable, but singling out support for progressive conceptions of DEI as a reason to choose a recipient. This is because the committees must align their choices with university values and with strategic plans, all of which center DEI as a governing philosophy.
One-Sided Diversity
There is nothing wrong, in principle, with honouring activists. You can contribute to Canadian public life by pursuing political goals. The problem is that it only goes one way. Looking across all honorary degree recipients this year, the only recognizably right-of-centre figure is former Finnish president Sauli Niinistö, a centre-right politician being honoured at the University of Calgary. No Canadian conservative appears anywhere on the list. Not one university, conferring dozens of degrees between them, thought to honour a single obviously conservative Canadian. That is their idea of diversity.
