On June 3, Bishop's University Chancellor Daniel Fournier will preside over the 195th Convocation ceremony, in which degrees will be conferred on over 750 graduates in attendance for the Class of 2023.
Convocation is also an occasion to recognize the outstanding achievements of deserving individuals, by conferring Doctorates in Civil Law (D.C.L.) upon Honorands - who this year include Supreme Court of Canada Justice Michelle O'Bonsawin, artist and environmentalist Margot Heyerhoff, former Commissioner of Official Languages Graham Fraser, O.C., and environmentalist and former CFO of Google Patrick Pichette. The ceremony will also highlight the contribution of recipients of academic excellence and community engagement awards.
Two Convocation ceremonies will take place on June 3rd at 10 a.m. for graduates earning degrees from the Schools of Business and Education (Ms. Heyerhoff and Mr. Fraser will receive their honorary degrees at this ceremony) and at 2:30 p.m. for graduates earning degrees in the Humanities, Social Sciences, and Natural Sciences & Mathematics Divisions of the Faculty of Arts & Science (The Hon. Judge O'Bonsawin and Mr. Pichette will receive their honorary degrees at this ceremony).
Graduating students Geneviève LeClair (Business & Education Schools) and Natalia Nuñez Gómez (Humanities, Social Sciences, Natural Sciences & Mathematics Divisions) have been selected as Valedictorians for Convocation 2023 and will deliver their address.
"Convocation marks an important milestone for all Bishop's University graduates, a memorable life event for students who have been the heart of our community in recent years," remarks Bishop's University Chancellor Daniel Fournier "They are now ready to face the new challenges that await them, and we are confident that they are well prepared to do so."
"While all Bishop's graduates deserve our esteem and congratulations for successfully completing their respective programs, Convocation is also the occasion to celebrate those who have gone above and beyond, and gave our community the best of themselves, such as Honorands, and recipients of prizes," indicates Bishop's University Principal and Vice-Chancellor Michael Goldbloom, C.M.
The 2023 Honourands are:
MARGOT HEYERHOFF
Born in Montreal in 1952, Margot discovered and fell in love with the Eastern Townships when she attended high school at King's Hall, Compton, matriculating in 1969. A year later, she returned to attend Bishop's University for two years, receiving her CEGEP diploma in 1972. Margot returned to the Townships a third time to become the first Development Director at Bishop's College School from 1976 to 1981. Twenty years later, under unexpected and serendipitous circumstances, she, her late husband, Peter and their two sons, moved from Oakville, Ontario and settled permanently in the Townships in 2002 when they bought a farm in the Canton de Hatley and turned it organic. Since then, Margot has fully committed herself to serving her local community.
She served on the BCS Association Board of Directors 2003-2009. In 2004, she became President of the North Hatley Library Association, a position she still holds today. A painter herself and an avid collector of contemporary Canadian art, Margot converted a dilapidated barn on her farm into a non-profit art gallery and cultural space, the Gillygooly Gallery. She has over the years invited contemporary professional artists from across Canada to exhibit and sell their work. The gallery has also been the venue for numerous cultural activities, including fundraising concerts and art auctions for local charitable entities, historical and architectural exhibitions, and book launches for local authors.
In 2011, Margot became one of the Founding Trustees and the first Chair of the Fondation Massawippi Foundation (FMF) and is currently its President as well as a Trustee of its sister organization, the Massawippi Conservation Trust (MCT). The accomplishments of the Foundation and the Trust have gained Margot a unique reputation. She has mentored individuals in various regions of Quebec who have approached her to learn how they too can establish a conservation trust where they live. Her contribution to the success of FMF and MCT, over the past 12 years led to an invitation for her to speak at the UN Biodiversity Conference: COP15 in Montreal in December 2022 to share the FMF/MCT story and to inspire others, by showing how much can be accomplished at the local level to help Quebec and all of Canada reach 30% protected land by 2030.
In 2017, Margot was inducted into the Heneker-Williams Society, created to "honour individuals who, by leadership and example, have set the standard for volunteer support of Bishop's College School and King's Hall, Compton".
She was an early and enthusiastic supporter of Bishop's University's new program in Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems and the creation of our Educational Farm.
GRAHAM FRASER, O.C.
Graham Fraser is a contributing editor to the Literary Review of Canada, a member of the board of the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada and a Senior Fellow Emeritus at the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa. His latest book is The Fate of Canada: F. R. Scott's Journal of the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism (2021).
From 2006-2016, he was Canada's Commissioner of Official Languages, and the first chair of the International Association of Language Commissioners. A journalist and author between 1968 and 2006, he worked in Toronto, Montreal, Quebec City, Washington and Ottawa for The Globe and Mail, Maclean's, The Montreal Gazette and the Toronto Star.
He is the author of five books, including Sorry, I Don't Speak French; Playing for Keeps, The Making of the Prime Minister, 1988; and René Lévesque and the Parti Québécois in Power. He has an Honours B.A. and an M.A. in History from the University of Toronto, and five honorary degrees. He has taught at McGill University, and given guest lectures at Harvard University, Northwestern University, Simon Fraser University, Calgary University, Wilfrid Laurier University, York University, Carleton University, l'Université d'Ottawa, l'Université de Montréal, and Mount Allison University. He is an Officer of the Order of Canada, an Officier de l'Ordre de la Pléiade, a recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Medal, and the first recipient of the Hyman Solomon Award for Public Policy Journalism. His book on the Parti Québécois was nominated for a Governor-General's Literary Award for Non-Fiction in 1984.
THE HONOURABLE MICHELLE O'BONSAWIN
The Honourable Michelle O'Bonsawin is a widely respected member of Canada's legal community with a distinguished career spanning over 20 years.
Justice O'Bonsawin was appointed to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Ottawa in 2017. Prior to her appointment, she was General Counsel for the Royal Ottawa Health Care Group for eight years. In this role, she developed a thorough understanding of legal issues related to mental health and performed significant research regarding the use of Gladue principles in the forensic mental health system, appearing before various administrative tribunals and levels of courts, including the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario, the Consent and Capacity Board, the Ontario Review Board, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, the Ontario Court of Justice, and the Ontario Court of Appeal. She began her legal career with the legal services at the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and was then Counsel with Canada Post, specializing in labour and employment law, human rights, and privacy law.
Justice O'Bonsawin has taught Indigenous law at the University of Ottawa's Common Law Program and was previously responsible for the Indigenous Relations Program at the Royal Ottawa Health Care Group. She is a frequent guest speaker on Gladue principles, Indigenous issues, as well as mental health, labour, and privacy law. Justice O'Bonsawin is also the author of various publications such as: Access to Justice and Gladue Reports: We All Have a Role to Play in Lawyer's Daily (2020); A Principled Approach: Applying Gladue Principles at the Ontario Review Board in the National Judicial Institute Indigenous Law Subject Collection (2018); Canada's Bill C-14 [NCR] A Knee Jerk Reaction to Sensationalized Not Criminally Responsible Cases in the Canadian Criminal Law Review (2016); Mental Health Checklist: A Guide for Members of the Judiciary (2016).
Justice O'Bonsawin previously served on the Board of Governors of the University of Ottawa, as well as its Executive Committee, and as a Board member for the Aboriginal Legal Services of the University of Ottawa Legal Aid Clinic. She was an observer member of the Membership Committee of Odanak First Nation and a Board member of the Canadian Institute for the Administration of Justice. She is currently a Partner Judge for Afghanistan Women Judges with the International Association of Women Judges.
Justice O'Bonsawin holds a Bachelor of Arts from Laurentian University, a Bachelor of Law from the University of Ottawa, a Master of Law from Osgoode Hall Law School, and a Doctorate in Law from the University of Ottawa.
Born in Hanmer, Ontario, a small Francophone town near Sudbury, she now resides in Ottawa with her family. A fluently bilingual Franco-Ontarian, Justice O'Bonsawin is an Abenaki member of the Odanak First Nation.
She was appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada on September 1, 2022.
PATRICK PICHETTE, C.Q.
Patrick Pichette is a seasoned financial and operational expert with over 30 years of experience. He has led world-class companies such as Google, Twitter, McKinsey, Sprint Canada and Bell Canada to break through the complexities of hyper-growth and digital transformations
As CFO of Google from 2008 to 2015, Patrick played a key role in driving the company's growth strategy and supported the creation of the Alphabet structure. He was part of Google's executive committee, overseeing the company's extensive corporate mergers and acquisitions agenda, which included nearly 150 acquisitions, such as Nest and Motorola. Patrick sat on the board of Twitter between 2017 and 2022, served as Chair of the Board in 2020-2021 and co-led the company's sale to Elon Musk for $44B in October 2022.
Currently, Patrick sits on the board of Lightspeed POS Inc as Lead Independent Director and serves as an independent investor, advisor, and board member to many startups and innovation networks around the world, including Neo4j (Sweden), Zwift (US/UK), Hopper and Wealthsimple (Canada), and Creative Destruction Labs.
A dedicated environmentalist, Patrick actively supports the Kenauk Project (Kenauk.com and institutkenauk.org). The Nature Conservancy and the Kenauk Institute have partnered to protect the world's largest temperate forest located between Gatineau and Montreal. He holds an MA in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics from Oxford, where he attended as a Rhodes Scholar, and a BBA from UQAM.
