2018 Honorary Degree Recipients
UVic honours community leaders
UVic awards honorary degrees that recognize notable achievements in scholarship, research, teaching, the creative arts and public service. The recipients included:
Cindy Blackstock, Honorary Doctor of Laws (LLD)
Tuesday, November 13 | 10 a.m.
Dr. Cindy Blackstock, a member of the Gitxsan First Nation, is a social activist, social justice pioneer and dedicated advocate for Indigenous children. Blackstock (PhD) has 30 years of social work experience in child protection and Indigenous children's rights. Blackstock is a professor in McGill’s School of Social Work and an Adjunct Professor and Director of the First Nations Children's Action Research and Education Centre at the University of Alberta. Blackstock also serves as Executive Director of the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada.
Blackstock’s work included proving that First Nations children on reserves receive far less funding for services compared to other children in Canada. Blackstock and her advocacy group battled for years to win a ruling from the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal ordering the federal government to equitably fund First Nations child welfare and implement Jordan's Principle, a child-first policy to ensure First Nations children can receive the public services they need when they need them. Over 111,000 services have been provided to children in need under Jordan's Principle since the ruling in 2016.
Her promotion of culturally based equity for First Nations children and families and engaging children in reconciliation has been recognized by the Nobel Women's Initiative, the Aboriginal Achievement Foundation, Frontline Defenders and many others. Blackstock is in demand as a public speaker and has written more than 60 publications. She serves as a Commissioner for the Pan American Health Organization Commission on Health Equity and Inequity.
Judith Guichon, Honorary Doctor of Laws (LLD)
Tuesday, November 13 | 2:30 p.m.
Judith Guichon is a strong voice for sustainable farming and ranching in British Columbia. Before being appointed BC’s 29th Lieutenant Governor in 2012, she owned and operated Gerard Guichon Ranch Ltd. in the province’s Interior. Guichon's family had owned land in the Nicola Valley since 1878 and maintained a tradition of farming, ranching and related community service.
Guichon’s contributions include serving as president of the British Columbia Cattlemen's Association; as a member of the Provincial Force on Species at Risk; as a part of the Ranching Task Force of BC and the British Columbia Agri-Food Trade Advisory Council; as a member of the Fraser Basin Council of British Columbia; and as the director of the Grasslands Conservation Council of BC. She and her family have long promoted holistic management, an approach to farming that seeks to preserve ecosystems, maintain plant species, protect water quality and reduce use of fossil fuels.
Guichon received the Order of BC in 2012. In her role as Lieutenant Governor, Guichon developed priority programs reflecting her background of stewardship, including creating Stewards of the Future, which aims to reconnect high school students with the natural world.
Peter Moss, Honorary Doctor of Education (DEd)
Wednesday, November 14 | 10:00 a.m.
Peter Moss, Emeritus Professor at University College London, is renowned for his international work in early childhood education and the relationship between employment, care and gender, especially parental leave policies.
Moss coordinated the European Commission’s expert group on childcare and other measures to reconcile employment and family responsibilities. The group’s work resulted in more than 30 published reports and gained an international reputation for its breadth and quality.
In 2004, Moss co-founded the International Network on Leave Policies and Research, which today brings together experts from 40 countries with a shared interest in a policy area that has become a central issue in today’s welfare state.
Moss co-edited for a decade the book series Contesting Early Childhood, which provides an important platform for alternative voices and new ideas in the field of early childhood education. The series builds on previous work Moss had undertaken with UVic Prof. Alan Pence, including the seminal book: Beyond Quality in Early Childhood Education and Care.
Moss has had a direct influence, through personal presentations and publications, on the curricula of the UVic School of Child and Youth Care, particularly its early years stream. His ideas also influenced the British Columbia Early Learning Framework, which guides the provision of early childhood services in the province and is recognized internationally for its emphasis on diversity.
Mitsuko Shirai, Honorary Doctor of Music (DMus)
Wednesday, November 14 | 2:30 p.m.
Mitsuko Shirai is regarded as one of the world's great interpreters of the German lied, a form of poetic art song that is set to classical music. She was born and raised in Japan and began her vocal studies there at the Musashino Music Academy in Tokyo. She received a grant to continue her training at the Hochschule der Künste in Stuttgart, Germany.
Shirai is one of the most frequently recorded lieder singers of modern times. She is distinguished not only by her many stellar concert performances and recordings, but also by her illustrious teaching career. For over 27 years she has been teaching at the Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe, one of the top professional music institutions in Germany, where she has attracted major talent from around the globe. She has conducted numerous workshops in Germany, Austria, Finland, the United States and in Japan. Many of her students have become the bright lights of today's concert stages.
The mezzo-soprano has received many awards, medals and orders of merit for her extraordinary achievements. For example, her native Japan awarded her the “Shiju Hosho" (the Medal of Honour with Purple Ribbon), a distinction given to only five musicians over the past 50 years. In addition, she was awarded the Bundesverdienstkreuz (Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany) in 2010.
Joseph Arvay, QC, Honorary Doctor of Laws (LLD)
June 11 | 2:30 p.m.
One of the country’s most influential lawyers, Joseph Arvay’s advocacy – often on behalf of deeply disadvantaged members of society – has shaped the meaning and impact of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Arvay was lead counsel representing, pro bono, Gloria Taylor in the case of Carter v. Canada, which led to the landmark 2015 Supreme Court ruling that allows physician-assisted suicide in Canada.
He led the legal team that represented Insite, the medically supervised injecting facility in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, when it won a unanimous Supreme Court of Canada decision allowing it to remain open after years of federal government opposition.
Arvay’s other notable cases include his work as counsel in the case that struck down laws preventing same-sex marriage, and he represented an organization of sex trade workers in their successful attempt to overturn some of the criminal laws relating to prostitution.
His most recent accomplishment was in having the BC Supreme Court strike down Canada’s laws allowing solitary confinement in federal prisons where he again acted pro bono.
In a career that has been defined by his personal integrity, skill and humanity, Arvay has been consistently cited by Canadian Lawyer Magazine as one of the most influential members of the profession for his commitment to civil rights and social justice. He has been an architect of change in Canadian society.
Amb. Nicholas Kuhanga, Honorary Doctor of Education (DEd)
June 15 | 10:00 a.m.
Ambassador Nicholas Kuhanga is one of modern Africa’s leading educational pioneers, a political leader and diplomat.
As a young man Kuhanga was inspired by Julius Nyerere who, as the United Republic of Tanzania’s first president (from 1964-85) and a fellow teacher, identified the need for adult education in a country in which many had grown up during the colonial period without formal schooling.
Kuhanga joined the University of Dar es Salaam and was a leader in the implementation of a network of regional learning centres across the country that could be accessed by anyone without previous schooling. He was also elected to Nyerere’s government, serving as a member of parliament from 1965-80. He held the posts of minister of manpower development and minister of education, during which time a campaign was launched to provide schools for all Tanzanian youth.
In 1980, Kuhanga was named vice-chancellor of the University of Dar es Salaam and oversaw a decade of program expansion. Kuhanga then became the founding vice-chancellor of the Open University of Tanzania and he was an advisor to more than a dozen universities in Tanzania and Africa.
He was named Tanzania’s ambassador to what is now known as the Democratic Republic of Congo from 1991-95. He is the father of eight children, one of whom resides in Victoria.
Sandra Richardson, Honorary Doctor of Laws (LLD)
June 14 | 2:30 p.m.
As CEO of the Victoria Foundation, Sandra Richardson exemplifies the meaning of leadership in community and social development.
Since taking charge of the Victoria Foundation in 2001, Richardson has been instrumental in growing the foundation’s assets under administration from $20 million to $357 million. As a result, the foundation delivers approximately $1 million each month in grants to organizations that support community development in Victoria and B.C.
Since 2005, the Victoria Foundation has issued its annual Vital Signs report on the quality of life in Victoria. The report is now relied upon by local governments, community groups, and charitable funders when they determine priorities and make funding allocations. More than 50 other community groups in Canada and internationally have developed similar publications based on Vital Signs and Richardson’s initiative.
Other community programs developed under Richardson’s guidance include the Every Step Counts walking and running program for people who experience barriers related to housing or mental health, and the Smart and Caring physical literacy program for children.
The programs have led to quality of life improvements for more than 5,000 participants and the initiatives have been adopted in communities across Canada.
Richardson has been a key advisor and committee member for university-community engagement efforts at UVic.
Robert Waisman, Honorary Doctor of Laws (LLD)
June 13 | 2:30 p.m.
Robert Waisman was one of the “Boys of Buchenwald” before he was freed from the World War II concentration camp, eventually emigrating to a new life in Canada where he built a successful career and dedicates himself to Holocaust education.
The youngest of six children, Waisman was born in 1931 in Skarszysko, Poland. At the age of 10, he was a slave labourer in a German munitions factory where a child’s hands were deemed useful in fixing jammed machinery.
Waisman was sent to Buchenwald where he remained until April 11, 1945, when it was liberated by U.S. soldiers. Of his family, only he and his sister Leah survived. After moving to a group home in France, Waisman came to Canada in 1949.
He continued his education, worked in accounting and later found success in business, first in Saskatoon and then Vancouver. He married, became the father of two, and is now a grandfather.
He also became a community leader, philanthropist, a president of the Vancouver Holocaust Centre for Remembrance and Education, and an educator who shares his experiences of hate, racism and indifference with thousands of students each year.
In recent years, he was inducted as an Honorary Witness to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, where he met survivors of the residential schools and joined others in calling for the incorporation of the schools' history into the curriculum of BC schools.