A pioneer of Canada’s truth and reconciliation process was named an honorary doctor of laws at Vancouver Island University on Monday.
Robert Joseph, a hereditary chief for the Kwakwaka’wakw First Nation, called the degree, granted at the university’s convocation ceremony, a huge honour from an institution whose commitment to First Nations people and issues has been key during its development.
“I’ve been watching for the past few years what they are doing and I’m really excited,” he said. “It’s such an honour to be granted a degree from this university.”
The 74-year-old Joseph has been a fearless campaigner to bring reconciliation to modernize Canada’s relationship with First Nations people. His work has earned him the Order of Canada and the Order of B.C., the Jack P. Blaney Award for Dialogue from Simon Fraser University and the Wallenberg-Sugihara Civil Courage Award, and the Indspire Lifetime Achievement Award.
He was one of four survivors of residential schools to counsel Prime Minister Stephen Harper on what to include in his 2008 apology for abuses at those schools.
Joseph spent his early childhood in Gwayasdums Village before he was sent to a residential school in Alert Bay at six. For the next 11 years he endured an experience he has since called “grippingly destructive.”
His young adulthood was a ruinous combination of alcohol, lost jobs and family breakup. But after sobering up, he looked at his own personal history and began working with the Residential School Survivors Society, where he served as executive director for more than a decade.
Joseph said he believes the truth and reconciliation process will bring a new shared value to Canada, one of mutual respect and acknowledgment for all peoples.
“We need to address that and move forward in new ways that are inclusive,” he said. “We can share the prosperity of this land when everyone is mutually respecting each other.”
University of Victoria honours
The University of Victoria will be recognizing these citizens with honorary degrees:
• On June 11, B.C. lawyer Joseph Arvay, who has spent decades fighting cases on behalf of disadvantaged Canadians, will be made an honorary doctor of laws.
• On June 13, Holocaust survivor Robert Waisman, who went from a childhood in Buchenwald to a successful career in Canada, where he now dedicates himself to Holocaust education, will be made an honorary doctor of laws.
• On June 14, Sandra Richardson, CEO of the Victoria Foundation, which delivers approximately $1 million each month to support community development in Victoria and B.C., will be made an honorary doctor of laws.
• On June 15, Ambassador Nicholas Kuhanga will be granted an honorary doctor of education degree. Kuhanga is one of modern Africa’s leading educational pioneers, a political leader and diplomat in his country of Tanzania.
• On June 15, Peter Moss, emeritus professor at University College London, will receive an honorary doctor of education. Moss is renowned for his work in early childhood education and the relationship between employment, child care and parental leave.
Royal Roads University honours
Royal Roads University will honour three people during its convocation ceremony on June 12.
• CBC broadcast journalist Anna Maria Tremonti will receive an honorary doctor of laws.
• Neena Chappell, professor emeritus at the University of Victoria and a pioneer researcher in healthy aging, dementia care and social policy, will receive an honorary doctor of laws.
• Barj Dhahan, philanthropist and patron of numerous community development and social assistance projects in B.C. and around the world, will receive the Royal Roads Chancellor’s Community Recognition Award.
