Honourable senators, last Saturday, March 7, our colleague Senator Kim Pate received an honorary doctorate from Nipissing University. This university’s highest distinction was awarded during a convocation ceremony for graduates of Nipissing’s College Partnership Program.

Senator Pate is a nationally renowned advocate who has spent the last 35 years working in and around the legal and penal system of Canada, with and on behalf of some of the most marginalized, criminalized and institutionalized, particularly, imprisoned youth, men and women. Senator Pate graduated from Dalhousie law school in 1984 with honours in the clinical law program and was executive director of the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies for over 28 years. She has been involved with numerous universities across Canada as a professor, lecturer or speaker. Her fields of expertise and interest, as we all know, are human rights, social justice and marginalized women, especially Indigenous women.

Senator Pate is a member of the Order of Canada, a recipient of the Governor General Awards in Commemoration of the Persons Case, the Canadian Bar Association’s Bertha Wilson Touchstone Award and five honorary doctorates from the Law Society of Upper Canada, University of Ottawa, Carleton University, St. Thomas University and Wilfrid Laurier University. As former vice-chair of the board of governors of Nipissing University, I’m honoured you were chosen as the recipient of this prestigious award. Congratulations my friend, and keep up the good work.