Convocation addresses
Under construction (May 2010)
Honorary degree
The honorary doctorate degree is designed to recognize extraordinary contribution to society or exceptional intellectual or artistic achievement.
The awarding of honorary doctorates, an important feature of Memorial’s convocation, serves to celebrate both the individual and the university as well as to inspire our graduates, their families and guests.
Recipients are chosen by the Senate, the university's academic governing body, after a very careful examination of the grounds for their nomination.
The selection process begins with the nomination - and anyone can nominate or be nominated for an honorary doctorate.
Traditionally, honorary graduates address convocation after receiving their degree. The following is a list of honorary degree addresses compiled by the Gazette.
Spring convocation 2010
Princess Royal
Christopher House
Rex Anthony
George Faulkner
Dawn Howse
Paul Pope
Fall convocation 2009
Dr. Elizabeth Blackburn, doctor of science
Michael Harris, doctor of laws
Spring convocation 2009
Lloyd Norman Axworthy, doctor of laws
Anita Best, doctor of letters
Richard Gwyn, doctor of letters
Linda Louella Inkpen, doctor of laws
Jillian Keiley, doctor of letters
Robert Paine, doctor of letters
David T. Suzuki, doctor of science
Sam Walters, doctor of laws
Ben Hansen, doctor of laws
Fall convocation 2008
John Ennis, doctor of laws
Robert Blakely, doctor of laws
Clyde Rose, doctor of laws
Spring convocation 2008
Gladys Osmond, doctor of laws
Lanier Phillips, doctor of laws
John Perlin, doctor of laws
Walter Kirwan, doctor of laws
John Ford, doctor of laws
Gus Etchegary, doctor of laws
David Lowenthal, doctor of letters
Mary May Simon, doctor of laws
David Quinton, doctor of laws
Fall convocation 2007
Pamela Morgan, doctor of letters
Linda Hutcheon, doctor of letters
Shirley Tilghman, doctor of science
Spring convocation 2007
Miller Ayre, doctor of laws
Moyra Buchan, doctor of laws
Jack Clark, doctor of laws
Bruce Cockburn, doctor of letters
Hon. Roméo Dallaire, doctor of letters
Barbara Hopkins, doctor of laws
Wayne Johnston, doctor of letters
Hayley Wickenheiser, doctor of laws
Chris Brookes, doctor of letters
Fall convocation 2006
Alison (O’Reilly) Feder, doctor of letters
Anne Hart, doctor of letters
Ingeborg Marshall, doctor of letters
Spring convocation 2006
Paul Muldoon, doctor of letters
Mike Adam, doctor of laws
Sister Kathrine Bellamy, doctor of laws
Gary Bruce, doctor of laws
Robert Gellately, doctor of letters
Brad Gushue, doctor of laws
Alex Himelfarb, doctor of laws
Russ Howard, doctor of laws
Jamie Korab, doctor of laws
Roland Jean Le Huenen, doctor of letters
Roland Martin, doctor of laws
Mary Kaye Matthews, doctor of laws
Tobias McDonald, doctor of laws
Mark Nichols, doctor of laws
Philip Riteman, doctor of laws
Fall convocation 2005
Scott Hand, doctor of laws
Elizabeth Penashue, doctor of laws
Spring convocation 2005
Rick Mercer, doctor of letters
Gudrun Doll-tepper, doctor of laws
Henry Giroux, doctor of letters
Bernard Jackson, doctor of laws
John Murphy, doctor of laws
Chesley Penney, doctor of laws
David Pitt, doctor of letters
Fall convocation 2004
Parzival Copes, doctor of letters
Davis Earle, doctor of science
Spring convocation 2004
Chief Misel Joe, doctor of laws
Bruce Aylward, doctor of laws
Aung San Suu Kyi, doctor of laws
Elmer Harp, doctor of letters
Donald Hillman, doctor of laws
Elizabeth Hillman, doctor of laws
Susan Knight, doctor of laws
John Lau, doctor of laws
Janet Story, doctor of laws
Fall convocation 2003
Natalie Zemon Davis, doctor of letters
John Bruton, doctor of laws
Spring convocation 2003
Donna Butt, doctor of laws
Arthur J. Carty, doctor of science
Ben Heppner, doctor of letters
Thomas Worrall Kent, doctor of laws
Flora Macdonald, doctor of laws
Hon. Edward Roberts, doctor of laws
Sir David Wilcocks, doctor of letters
Melvin Woodward, doctor of laws
Fall convocation 2002
Robert Cole, doctor of laws
Simon Michael Schama, doctor of letters
Spring convocation 2002
Brenda Milner, doctor of science
Elizabeth Mary Davis, doctor of laws
Sandra Djwa, doctor of letters
Ronald Hynes, doctor of letters
James Jonathan Iglioliorte, doctor of laws
Henry Mintzberg, doctor of letters
Marion Pardy, doctor of laws
Fall convocation 2001
Peter John Gardner, doctor of letters
Ian Edwin Rusted, doctor of laws
Spring convocation 2001
William Obadiah Pruitt, doctor of science
Hon. Madam Justice Louise Arbour, doctor of laws
Timothy James Borlase, doctor of laws
Gwynne Dyer, doctor of letters
Ray David George Guy, doctor of letters
Anton Kuerti, doctor of letters
Michel Serres, doctor of letters
Wesley Kingston Whitten, doctor of science
Fall convocation 2000
Antonine Maillet, doctor of letters
Spring convocation 2000
Peter Francis Neary, doctor of letters
Hon. Monique Bégin, doctor of laws
The Rt. Hon. Jean Chrétien, doctor of laws
Michel Chrétien, doctor of science
Craig Laurence Dobbin, doctor of laws
Andrew Jordan Jones, doctor of letters
Catherine Frederica Jones, doctor of letters
David Gregory Malone, doctor of letters
Hon. William Hubert Rompkey, doctor of laws
Cynthia Mary Walsh, doctor of letters
John David Allison Widdowson, doctor of letters
Fall convocation 1999
Donald Frederick Cook, doctor of laws
David Christian Ward, doctor of science
Special convocation for the installation of Axel Meisen 1999
Chawat Arthayukti, doctor of laws
John Kenneth Galbraith, doctor of letters
James Hubert Rogers, doctor of engineering
Spring convocation 1999
Hon. John Carnell Crosbie, doctor of laws
Leslie Harris, doctor of laws
Hon. Arthur Maxwell House, doctor of laws
William James Kirwin, doctor of letters
Timothy Thahane Thahane, doctor of laws
Jane Urquhart, doctor of letters
David William Robert Wright, doctor of laws
Percy Metsing Mangoaela, doctor of laws
Fall convocation 1998
Jean Lorraine Bruneau, doctor of laws
Edythe Elizabeth Goodridge, doctor of laws
Spring convocation 1998
Joan Clark, doctor of letters
Janet Christine Gardiner, doctor of laws
Dorothy Constance Inglis, doctor of laws
Bernice Morgan, doctor of letters
Raymond Murray Schafer, doctor of letters
Lynn Verge, doctor of laws
Philip John Warren, doctor of laws
Vincent George Withers, doctor of laws
Special convocation - Sept. 1, 1997
Vigdís Finbogadóttir, doctor of laws
Fall convocation 1997
Rex Robert Murphy, doctor of laws
Spring convocation - May 1997
Anne Meredith Barry, Doctor of Letters
Gertrude Crosbie, Doctor of Laws
Darryl Diamond Fry, Doctor of Laws
Wilbert Hill Hopper, Doctor of Laws
Romeo Adrien Leblanc, Doctor of Laws
Geoffrey Alan Perry, Doctor of Laws
Helen Fogwill Porter, Doctor of Letters
Otto George Tucker, Doctor of Laws
Roch Carrier, Doctor of Letters
Fall convocation - October 1996
Albert Edgar Chislett, Doctor of Laws
Rosemarie Yvonne Landry, Doctor of Letters
Christopher Lloyd Verbiski, Doctor of Laws
Spring convocation 1996
Maude Victoria Barlow, Doctor of Laws
Timothy Irving Findley, Doctor of Letters
Edward Dawson Ives, Doctor of Letters
William Andrew O’Neil, Doctor of Laws
Wallace Stanley Read, Doctor of Engineering
Clyde Kirby Wells, Doctor of Laws
Victor Leyland Young, Doctor of Laws
Joseph Kruger II, Doctor of Laws
Fall convocation 1995
Grunia Movschovitch Ferman, Doctor of Laws
Moishe Kantorowitz, Doctor of Laws
Charles Haywood Murphy, Doctor of Laws
Spring convocation 1995
Thomas Vincent Curran, Doctor of Laws
John Frederick Dewey, Doctor of Science
Victor Ling, Doctor of Science
Satya Nandan, Doctor of Laws
Gregory Joseph Power, Doctor of Laws
Nancy Riche, Doctor of Laws
Bertha Wilson, Doctor of Laws
Cyril Francis Poole, Doctor of Laws
Fall convocation 1994
Dr. Ramon Hnatyshyn, doctor of laws
