Glendon Campaign Co-Chairs

On June 6, 2012, renowned journalist and Glendon graduate, Chantal Hébert, received an honorary doctor of laws degree from York University. Her attendance at the Glendon graduation ceremony represented for Hébert a return to her roots, as she emphasized in her acceptance speech.

She passionately delivered two important messages to the new graduates of her alma mater. She first reminded them that life is a long journey but that the short cuts are often more interesting than the route we have mapped out for ourselves. She added: “I’m going to give you only a small dose of advice: do what you love but love what you do. And here’s why: maybe you don’t have a life plan and, if you don’t, it’s not too serious because then you won’t have to dump it in the trash can.” Work, by all means, but have faith in life and in your lucky star.

Her second message focused on Canada’s linguistic duality. Humorously referring to the incident of a “francophone” hippopotamus transferred to the Toronto Zoo, she stated that, in her opinion, Glendon would be a place in Toronto where this hippopotamus from St. Félicien, Québec, would have had no problem feeling right at home from the moment it arrived. Hébert then added that Glendon College graduates were fortunate to have spent their university years in this linguistic duality. “A part of your mission will be to speak up and make sure you bear witness to your experience. If that’s the only thing you do in this world – a world which we can all change together – you will have done a lot,” she concluded.


Other articles have been published on the honorary doctorate awarded to Chantal Hébert:

In French:
L’Express de Toronto: http://www.lexpress.to/archives/8738/
Le Métropolitain: http://www.lemetropolitain.com/nouvelles.asp?jID=1&nID=16634

In English:
York YFile: http://yfile.news.yorku.ca/2012/06/21/ontario-not-bilingual-enough-to-train-zoo-animals/
Alumni News: http://alumni.news.yorku.ca/2012/06/21/chantal-hebert/