Honourable senators, every year at this time thousands of students cross the convocation stages of our country’s universities and colleges.

The class of 2025 includes former Senate colleagues Dr. Sarah Marquis, Dada Muhobo and Jessica Knézy. It includes Senator Muggli’s son, Ayden Draude, and my daughter Lindelwa Coyle.

Nova Scotia is a renowned centre of higher education with Acadia, Cape Breton University, Dalhousie, Mount Saint Vincent, NSCADU, Saint Mary’s, St. Francis Xavier, Université Sainte-Anne, University of King’s College, the Atlantic School of Theology and the Nova Scotia Community College, all graduating thousands of people from across our region, Canada and the world.

I was honoured to attend St. Francis Xavier University’s convocation last month. Packed to the rafters with graduating students, professors, faculty, family and friends, the convocation hall was electric with excitement. We were elevated by the power of African-Nova Scotian drumming, the Mi’kmaq Honour Song, the orchestral music of the high-school band and the transcendence as Janet Becigneul sang the national anthem in French, English, Mi’kmaq and Gaelic.

Chancellor Mila Mulroney presided with grace. President Andrew Hakin told graduates that kindness is a superpower and urged them to live up to the university’s mission of building a better society.

StFX honorary degree recipients Olympian Clara Hughes and polymath Peter Nicholson inspired and challenged the graduates and all who were present.

Clara Hughes described the wisdom she gained on the eve of the Vancouver Olympics from participating in a Squamish First Nation ceremony led by Elder Dennis Joseph. She learned that nothing is done alone, including a race. You have a circle of strength to draw on.

Dr. Peter Nicholson issued a timely call to arms entitled “Mobilizing in Defense of Truth,” very apt given that the StFX motto is Quaecumque Sunt Vera: “Whatsoever things are true.” He said:

The scientific temperament is under attack. Not just in the halls of power, but in the cultural air we breathe. Truth is what enables us to foresee, as best we can, the consequences of our actions both as individuals and as society.

We deny or ignore truth at our peril. Remember that the defence of truth is not an abstract pursuit. It is a moral and civic responsibility.

In science, in business, in government, and in everyday life, your ability to understand cause and effect, and to act on wisdom, depends on embracing truth and rejecting falsehood.

Honourable colleagues, please join me in congratulating Sarah, Dada, Jessica, Ayden, Lindi and all among us who have graduates in our families. May they and all the graduates be fervent and effective defenders of the truth.