REMARKS BY PRESIDENT MARY MC ALEESE, AT CAPE BRETON UNIVERSITY NOVA SCOTIA, THURSDAY 8 OCTOBER 1998
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT MARY MC ALEESE, AT CAPE BRETON UNIVERSITY NOVA SCOTIA, THURSDAY 8 OCTOBER 1998.
I am absolutely delighted to have had this opportunity to visit Cape Breton University as President of Ireland on the very first full State Visit to Canada by an Irish President. I have been overwhelmed by the welcome I have been given in every place I have been – and by every community that we have met - since we arrived on Prince Edward island last Friday – and your welcome to myself, my husband and our party has been another warm and memorable event in our visit. During our stay in Canada we have been particularly keen to make contact with the many people who profess to be Irish – and who have not only come to Canada to set up home – but have been willing and eager to play their part in the success story that this country is today – a country that has been at various times in its history a place of refuge and hope to so many people who for one reason or another found that the country of their birth was unable to sustain them or their families.
In the stories of the “New Countries” – of Australia, New Zealand and here in North America – the Scottish, the Irish, the French and the English have made a significant and positive impact wherever they landed. Here in Canada, as elsewhere, they came to find new lives and livelihoods – new opportunities – and new outlets for their talents. The success of those who settled in Canada, and of the succeeding generations, has vindicated them in their decision to leave Ireland. But rather than become part of a homogenised and dull society, they have quite rightly kept their connections with their homeland alive – and, importantly, have been prepared to contribute their culture and heritage to the making of the new communities in which they found themselves.
Since arriving at Prince Edward Island on Friday last, we have visited Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal before coming on to Nova Scotia today. It stuck me as we moved about this vast and exciting country - whether driving along the Rideau Canal in Ottawa, along the Don Valley in Toronto or flying into Sydney earlier today – that with the trees turning to their colourful yellows, reds and oranges – and making the rich ‘spectacle of the Fall’ for which Canada has become renowned – that they mirror in a way the culture of Canada – where not only the Scottish and the Irish – but many nationalities - have come to contribute their particular hue and character to the rich landscape of Canadian life – and where each preserves its own beauty yet lives happily in harmony with its neighbour, making a society in Canada that not only embraces all its constituent cultures and traditions – but celebrates its diverse elements.
Nova Scotia, and Cape Breton in particular, brings together the people and history of a small part of Europe - the Irish and Scottish, Celtic cousins with ties of language, kinship and sometimes faith - the French who had ties with Scotland and Ireland - and the English. But the arrival of those seeking a new life must have had a profound impact on the original ‘settlers’ – the Mi’kmaq people who came here thousands of years before any European settlers were even heard of in this part of the world. As in the places I have already visited, Cape Breton University is quite rightly encouraging the preservation of the distinct cultures – protecting them from obliteration and encouraging their development.
In the Mi’kmaq Centre, the Art Gallery and the display of dancing and poetry that we have seen today – you are providing shelter to precious customs and traditions so that they may thrive and prosper – and play their part in the colourful mosaic of Canada’a rich and diverse culture.
While universities are in the business of equipping people to play their part in society – to take up employment in today’s high-tech and fast moving role - an essential part of the educational process is the promotion of tolerance and understanding of other peoples’ views and traditions – to ensure that those who pass through college are aware of the importance of ethnic differences and of the significant contribution that they play in a healthy society which rejoices in the celebration of diversity – and even draws on that diversity for its cultural substance.
I want to commend what you are doing at Cape Breton University – not only in the field of work-related education, research initiatives or technical assistance programmes for local industries – but in the tremendous work that you are doing for the community as a whole in providing art galleries – and gymnasium, conference and library facilities – all of which are giving the community a substantial extra dimension to their lives – and are creating a holistic view of the educational process as one which promotes greater participation at all levels – and greater understanding and acceptance of the value of diversity.
ENDS