I want to congratulate you all, every single one of you, students and friends, spouses, alumni, teachers, administrators, children, parents, all of you. Everyone. Congratulations to all of you who are graduating on the hard work and the met deadlines and the missed deadlines, and the anguish and the joy and the, “What am I doing this for?” And the, “I’m not good enough,” and, “What do I do with it now?” And, “What comes next?”

On October 1, St. Stephen’s University hosted an event to honour and celebrate Chief Hugh Akagi of the Peskotomuhkati Nation at Skutik and his community, in which the Chief received an honorary Doctorate of Humanities. In the words of SSU’s principal, Dr. Bradley Jersak, “‘Doctorate of Humanities’ is a technical term. In my heart, you’re a Doctor of Humanity.”