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The Current Transcript for June 18, 2020

Host: Matt Galloway

STORIES FROM THIS EPISODE

Prologue

[Music: theme]

SOUNDCLIP

[Portuguese speech]

VOICE: The question that will be asked is why? Why so many people die.

MATT GALLOWAY: As parts of the world begin to open up after months of locked down, the coronavirus pandemic hasn't even peaked in Brazil. In 30 minutes, why health experts say these are the most crucial of days in that country and elsewhere in Latin America. Flatten the curve now or expect bad to get worse. Also this morning, the Canadian trumpeter William Leathers has had a remarkable start to his young career. Spotted as a teen, he was given a spot at the Juilliard School of Music, but couldn't afford the tuition. And then people around the world crowd funded and sent him on his way. Now, in the midst of this pandemic, William Leathers has got some even better news. His story coming up. And later.

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VOICE: We want them to be aware of and asking questions about the situation in Gaza, but we also want people to think about the dil and the green chilli and the garlic. Kind of hold these two things in their mind at the same time.

MG: No politics, just food. Falestin is a cookbook exploring the tastes of Palestinian culture. The recipes are delicious. Trust me. The authors Tara Wigley and Sami Tamimi of the Ottolenghi Food Empire are here in an hour. We begin with the question of who's best to police First Nations, Indigenous police forces or the RCMP? Good morning. I'm Matt Galloway and this is The Current.

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Facing possible jail time totalling 100 years, journalist Maria Ressa says she won't stop fighting for justice

Guests: Maria Ressa

SOUNDCLIP

VOICE: Embrace your fear. Imagine what you're most afraid of, touch it and hold it, so that you rob it of its power.

MG: At the end of May. Maria Ressa gave that advice via video link to graduates at Princeton University, where she was invited to be their commencement speaker. Maria Ressa is a celebrated investigative journalist and the executive editor and CEO of the Filipino news website, Rappler. In that speech, she admitted that the fear she was trying to embrace was fear of going to jail. And now it appears that may well happen. Earlier this week, a court in Manilla convicted her and a former colleague from Rappler of an offence called Cyber Libel for a story that was published in 2012. They could face up to six years in prison, but right now, they're both out on bail pending an appeal. This decision has been called a sham by Amnesty International and widely condemned by organizations that defend freedom of the press. Maria Ressa joins me now from Manilla. Maria, good morning.

MARIA RESSA: Good evening in Manilla. Hello, Matt.

MG: How surprised were you with this guilty verdict came down this week?

MARIA RESSA: I think horrified to hear it, but it was expected because it is the natural it seems to be where everything had been headed. Right? This is only one of eight criminal charges that I was given arrest warrants for that I had to post bail against in order to be free. So the attacks against Rappler by the government began four years ago in 2016 started with the weaponization of the media. This this idea of a journalist as a criminal is a in my case, in other words, tax evasion. Some of those are some of the charges that have been filed against us that was seated in social media in 2016. In 2017, the same attacks came out of the government's mouth. President Putin himself, 2018, 11 cases and investigations filed against us and then whittled down in twenty nineteen to the formal charges, the criminal charges, eight of them cumulatively. If you put all of the maximum prison terms, it would be almost 100 years. So long winded answer to say not surprised, but still, you know, we cross another line. And I think this is how a press freedom dies and this is how our democracy dies.

MG: What does cyber libel mean? What was the basis of these charges in the first place?

MARIA RESSA: Well, let me tell you what the charge was and then how the verdict didn't even seem to deal with the charge. I mean, essentially, I could go to jail for up to six years because someone in Rappler changed a typographical error, fixed one letter in one word in 2014. That's actually the charge. The charge is republishing. This is a novel new concept that was introduced to this case. Cyber libel. The law we allegedly violated wasn't a law when this piece was published in 2012. So it is being retro actively applied through this concept of republishing. And then in order to be able to actually file this case and convict me, the judge agreed to move the statute of limitations on libel. Cyber libel is essentially what they what they would call online libel. They moved the statute of limitations, the period of prescription of libel from one year to 12 years. So when I read the decision, I was shocked because it looked like a whole completely different case. A very easy narrative to seed again on social media. The problem is not that there's injustice or press freedom is under attack. The problem is that Rapplers are bad journalists and they have bad lawyers. It's laughable.

MG: What is it about what you're doing that the government finds so problematic?

MARIA RESSA: Well, I think first, we're not the only news group under attack, although because I speak up, you prude about me more. But just a month ago, the largest broadcaster, largest news group in the Philippines, ABC, CBS, was shut down by the government. What was it? What was his justification in doing that? Again, a veneer of of law. The franchise wasn't renewed in 2016 when President Duterte took office. He threatened not to renew the franchise of ABS CBN, congress sat on it and when the franchise ended on May 4th, a day later, a small regulatory agency handed a cease and desist order. And within hours, ABS CBN shut down. It's the same tactic that was used against Rappler. In January 2013, a small government regulatory agency that, in our case, the Securities and Exchange Commission tried to revoke our licence to operate. We kept fighting. First, we came under attack because we kept challenging the impunity of the government in the drug war. We exposed the propaganda war, the information operations that the Philippine government is is doing against its own citizens. So we challenged these impunity. That was actually when the exponential attacks against me and Rappler began on social media. But again, as I told you, we were the first news group to come under attack by this administration.

MG: You've said this is a quotation, "In many ways I have to thank the Duterte administration for unshackling me." What do you mean by that?

MARIA RESSA: I I grew up a traditional journalist. I spent almost two decades with CNN as a television journalist. And the standards and ethics that I grew up under would call the way I speak to you. Now, activism. Right. And even when I was with CNN, press freedom is a position. We would be advocates for press freedom anyway. But what happened to me and I guess this is where I do think the government, when we do a story and somebody says, you know, my rights are violated. You have to go and talk to the person, interview the person, interview the government. Look at all the documents in this case. I was that person. The government arrested me, charged me with a crime, retroactively applying a law that didn't exist when we published the story first story. I neither wrote nor edited. I had nothing to do with this story. It was clearly targeting me. And I think, you know, they forced me to spend the night in detention. They came to arrest me at 5:00 near 5:00 p.m., which is when the courts closed. I knew there was a court that could grant me bail, but they again dribbled it. They delayed to the point where the courts closed. They refused to grant me bail. It was clear the government wanted me to feel their power, but after they I finally posted bail the next day, I just realized that this is weaponization of the law. This is clear abuse of power. And then in my head, I had to figure out, am I a journalist or am I a Filipino? And I'm realise I'm both right. This is a problem Western journalists are going to have to confront. What happens, Canada, you're a little bit better than other countries now, right? But I think this is the world we live in today in what I would say is journalism is activism when you're in a battle for truth.

MG: So in that battle, how do you hold the line given what you're facing? I mean, how do you ensure that the truth is uncovered and presented to your audience, given that you know the tactics that the government is taking against you?

MARIA RESSA: It's really difficult, given the role technology and social media is played in determining what our information ecosystem looks like. We, news organizations are no longer the gatekeepers of the public sphere. Right? In that, during the time when we were, we would be liable if we allowed lies to spread. We could be sued. The new gatekeepers, our technology platforms, and they've largely abdicated their responsibility. Social media platforms are essentially behaviour modification systems that allow lies laced with anger and hate to spread faster than tracks. If you say a lie a million times, it becomes a fact. And I've seen this here in the Philippines. And when that happens, it does two things. You know, the exponential attacks we went through in 2016 definitely had an impact on on the way. Filipinos, for example, would see me, because when they see me pounded with criminal, criminal, criminal, criminal. It's like fertilizer, it lays the groundwork and then four years later, a Philippine court calls me a criminal. It's easier.

MG: And that's what you mean by the weaponization of technology?

MARIA RESSA: Yes, there are two things that it does when when the government's disinformation networks attack their target. The first is they pound them to silence. They take that are they out of the information ecosystem and then the second one is they create a false bandwagon effect. It's astroturfing. People hear it so frequently, they they begin to believe it's true and they jump on the bandwagon. One of the narratives that that bandwagon has created is, for example, is that present deterrent is the best president our nation has ever had. I think this is partly supportive of its highs. High popularity ratings. We're particularly vulnerable to Facebook because 100 percent of Filipinos on the Internet are on Facebook. Facebook is our Internet. So you're talking about 71 million people.

MG: You've met with Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook, right?

MARIA RESSA: I did in April of 2017.

MG: Does he understand what you're talking about? Does he understand the damage that his company and his platform can have when it comes to freedom of the press? But also, you talked about the beating heart of democracy. Does he get that, do you think?

He's not a stupid man. I believe he does, but he has refused to take action in this. And I think, you know, let's look at the United States and let's look at the Mueller report, which actually said that Russian disinformation networks influence operations targeted Americans in 2016. And one of those fracture lines of society that they target, it is as racial identity. So they targeted both sides of Black Lives Matter. That's 2016. Fast forward to 2020 and you see what it does. Right? This has direct impact on society. It's like that movie Inception with Leonardo DiCaprio, right where they go into the dream world to change the real world. Well, in social media, online violence, online hate seems into the real world and pops out. We've seen this in terrorist attacks, terrorists who were pushed by the kinds of violence and content that they see on social media. So this is a problem. And what we've seen, the studies have showed as early as 2017 that cheap armies on social media are rolling back democracy, not just in the Philippines, not just in the United States. It's rolling it back in twenty seventeen. It was in twenty eight countries around the world. This is a freedom house, that or a research study. And that Oxford University's computational propaganda project came out the next year with nearly double that. And then the year after that, it was 79 or 78 countries. There is evidence. So I can't see that Mark Zuckerberg couldn't know this, but I think he's refusing to do anything about it because he sees it as a free speech issue, which is wrong. You know, he's always said, well, you don't want Facebook to be the arbiter of truth and except the reality is the algorithms of Facebook programmed, coded with the bias of its programmers, are actually determining truth for everyone else who are getting their news from Facebook. So that's kind of it's not an argument. This is Sacha Baron Cohen said it best, he said freedom of speech is not freedom of reach.

MG: If he's not a, Mark Zuckerberg is not, as you say, a stupid man, he's a smart guy. He's created this enormous company, but he's not going to act in the way that you and many others want him to act to protect freedom of the press and democracy. What needs to happen then?

MARIA RESSA: I always thought before COVID-19 that 2020 was going to be the year that the regulations would happen, that the tech platforms, that the world would come together to try to fix the information ecosystem because the world's largest distributor of news is social media. Today, Facebook is the largest. And now, ironically, of course, the silver lining is that when Coolpad 19 happened and put us all in lockdown all around the world. Disinformation and misinformation began and the social media platforms did things that they never did against political disinformation. They began taking content down. So they began exercising editorial content or editorial. They had an editorial goal. And they took down tweets and post of world leaders of gyroball. So from Brazil, Rudy Giuliani, they began Twitter, took a very forward leading position and started labelling President Trump's tweets. Facebook has refused to do that. And that is again in the Philipppines, you know what happened, what has happened. I know it firsthand. So there has to be some accountability. The irony for me is that in 2016, we began to fight impunity of the Philippine government in the drug war, but simultaneously, we also highlighted the impunity of Facebook in enabling these kinds of attacks that strip journalists like me of the protection of our constitution.

MG: We heard earlier in that address that you gave to the grads at Princeton, you talked about a number of points of advice and one was build a community, but avoid the mob. And you asked the graduates to slow down and think how difficult is that in the era that we live in now where things move so quickly and it's easy to be first, not be right?

MARIA RESSA: Again, I think this is enabled by technology, right? Social media platforms are thinking fast platforms. They're emotional and we've always known studies have always shown that people make decisions not based on what they think, but on how they feel with this kind of behavioural modification system that social media has become. Where our thinking slow parts has truly atrophied and journalists, news organizations are thinking slow. So this is part of the reason that facts are now debateable because a lie told a million times, right? So in my case, President Duterte and the Philippine government would like you to think I'm a criminal. It was seeded on social media. It was repeated insidiously by government officials, pro-government accounts, and then four years later, given a guilty verdict as a criminal by a court. So what we had here, and I think this is similar in many countries now, you have the weaponization of social media, followed by the weaponization of the law and the target there are people like us.

MG: You started out by saying in that speech, embrace your fears. How concerned are you about going to prison?

MARIA RESSA: I think in April last year at the launch of Trial Watch in New York City, the Clooneys had asked me to help launch that. I was really forced to confront this because on my right was Mohamed Fahmy from Egypt. He had been jailed there. On my left was Jason Rezaian. He had just he had gotten out and he had just written a book called Prisoner. He had been in jail for 544 days. And as we were discussing this, I realized that I have to wrap my head around this because the path that I'm on will logically take me there. Right? That's why the conviction Monday wasn't that wasn't as much of a surprise. And it took me a while, but until you conquer your fear, it has a hold of you. Right? So it was about a month of real intense, like I want needed to imagine what it was like and then a little bit it becomes gallows humour for a little while. And now I won't say I'm resigned because I still have hope that there are men and women in the judiciary who will uphold the rule of law. Certainly not this verdict that I've seen, but I will look for justice. I won't stop.

MG: Maria Ressa, it's great to speak with you. Good luck. And thank you for being here.

MARIA RESSA: Thanks for having me.

MG: Take care of yourself. Bye bye.

MARIA RESSA: Bye bye.

MG: Maria Ressa is the executive editor and CEO of the Filipino news website Rappler. She was in Manilla. Coming up next on The Current, we pay tribute to the class of 2020, graduating from colleges and university. They are achieving this milestone, but missing out on the celebrations with friends in the formal ceremony as well. We're not gonna let that happen. We have the procession. We have the valedictorian. We have the commencement speeches all in the wings. But before the CBC News, we have one special message to grads from someone who can relate to missing graduation. He is a Second World War veteran in Toronto.

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Oh, this is Robert Graham. And I'm actually 101. Yeah, I had to I had to quit the university because I joined the Forces. I was going to the Detroit Institute and I was actually learning German, but I was happy to go in the Air Force. I missed my graduation because I joined the Froces. But then I graduated in the Air Force and that was okay. Well I just love graduating school. And I think if you do the best you can, practice that you should make and I wish you very much luck and hope that you get your gain.

MG: His laugh has excellence and contagious. That is Robert Graham, age 101, who went on to complete his university degree and was a science teacher for about 30 years. I'm Matt Galloway. You're listening to The Current on CBC Radio One. We are back in six minutes with our convocation for the class of 2020. Don't go anywhere.

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CBC celebrates Canada’s Class of 2020

Guests: Suzanne Fortier, Saif Ahmed, Mary Fay, Georgia East, Jasmine Morrison, Chika Oriuwa, Donna Strickland

MG: Hello. I'm Matt Galloway. This is a special edition of The Current. A celebration for post-secondary graduates in the class by 2020. Give them a round of applause.

[Graduation music]

MG: At this time of the year, we normally see college and university graduates gathered by the hundreds of campuses across this country. After years of hard work and sacrifice, they wear their caps and gowns, take photos with friends and family, and celebrate an important milestone altogether with a pandemic turning every aspect of life upside down. Those convocation ceremonies have been called off. We don't want to let the class of 2020 go uncelebrated though. Yesterday, we honoured the high school grads. Today we're taking you to the colleges and universities. So once again, take your seats. Lend us your ears and we'll begin with a salute to this year's graduates. I invite Suzanne Fortier to the stage. She is principal and the vice chancellor of McGill University.

SUZANNE FORTIER: Good morning.

MG: How would you characterise Canada's class of 2020? We all, I mean, everybody on this journey has their own moments and has their own achievements, but how would you characterise the class of 2020?

SUZANNE FORTIER: Well, I think the class of 2020 is probably the most connected graduates we've ever seen. And you know what people think of connexion. They might think instantly of digital connexion. But what I mean is connected to where they live, connected to the Earth. They're connected to all young people around the world. And we see that through their engagement. For example, in the environment, they are really thinking of them self at people who live on this planet. And of course, they're connected to their local community. But that connexion at a global level, I think, is unique almost to this class.

MG: What do you find exciting about that connexion that you're seeing in those students?

SUZANNE FORTIER: What I find exciting comes from a word that I hear so often from them, and that word is purpose. These students already know that they want more out of life than a good job and suddenly more out of their university education than a good job. They want their life to have purpose and that is something that I find extraordinarily exciting, but also exactly what we need, because I think we all know that our world needs some reshaping. It needs people to really think about shaping the future in a better way than what we are living through now. And I think they can do it because they already have that great sense of wanting purpose in their life.

MG: You're seeing that on the streets of Montreal. You're seeing on the streets of Toronto, where people are coming out in enormous numbers, young people driving this, calling for change against systemic racism, calling for change when it comes to the fight against climate change. In this moment, what is the potential of that? Because it feels as though there is and you've hinted that this that sense of purpose, it feels as though there's a drive in the streets led by young people that that feels something special. So what do you see as as the opportunity there?

SUZANNE FORTIER: To me, the opportunity is that having gained a sense of purpose and of course, having achieved an important milestone, which is graduation, I think they will emerge out of that with two very important qualities. One is a sense of connectedness. As I mentioned, but with a certain degree of humility because they see the conditions of people all over the world. But the other one, which I love also is confidence, because they know. They know they can learn. They know they'll have to continue to learn. And they know also that they can face a pretty big challenge and rise to the occasion. So that makes for me of confidence. And humility is what I think will be the best qualities that they will bring in all of their path through life.

MG: The end of this year has not been the end that I think many of the students would have predicted or certainly hoped for with a pandemic, meaning that they can't be on campus, they can't be with their friends, they can't be in the classroom. They have to finish up their studies online, but also many of the jobs that perhaps they were headed towards have evaporated as the economy has been turned inside out and upside down. How would you say students have handled that test that they've faced in this pandemic?

SUZANNE FORTIER: They have really shown great resilience and adaptability. Of course, now, postgraduation, they're entering a world that has never been as uncertain as it is now. They're entering a future that is very, very foggy right now. And that is the challenge that they're facing right now. It is how can they set their own next steps, their goals, that direction, and they will need to have pretty strong headlights. And I think they can find these headlights in the kind of values that this generation has, but they will face a big, big challenge.

MG: You wrote a letter to students and you ended it by saying, stay optimistic. Where does the optimism for you come from when you look at this class of 2020?

SUZANNE FORTIER: I see what they're up to, all of the things they do. And what is important is that what they do for others, they do both big and small things. And that is what impressed me as much as I'm impressed by the big things they do. All of the small things where they'll never make the newspaper deal, never draw big attention, don't want drugs in the limelight. But they're. Helping people in small ways and in ways are very, very important. And having I think that drive and that sense of wanting to be there for others is what I find very, very hopeful for the future and that's why I'm a very optimistic person.

MG: All right. You have the opportunity now to speak directly to Canada's class of 2020. What do you want to say to them?

SUZANNE FORTIER: Well, I want to see that you're graduating with a lot more than a university degree. You're graduating with a confidence that you can learn. You've done it. And this is something that you will do for the rest of your life. And, of course, you are a very special class because you face one of the biggest challenges that certainly health challenge that we've ever faced. You have shown that you can rise to the occasion. And I know that you're capable to rise to the occasion, not only for yourself, but for your community and for all the people in the world who still today suffer some terrible inequities.

MG: Suzanne Fortier, what a pleasure to talk to you. Thank you very much.

SUZANNE FORTIER: Merci.

MG: Take care. Bye bye.

SUZANNE FORTIER: Bye bye.

MG: Suzanne Fortier is the principal and vice chancellor of McGill University. Thank you for those words of encouragement. It's time to meet some of those super connected graduates that Suzanne was talking about. Several of them are lined up, ready to walk across the stage to receive their diploma. Saif Ahmed graduated this year with a bachelor of engineering from Memorial University Newfoundland.

[Applause]

MG: Saif, congratulations.

SAIF AHMED: Thank you so much.

MG: How are you feeling? You finished your degree. A lot of hard work. How does it feel?

SAIF AHMED: It feels great. It's been five and a half years for me and there has been, like, ups and downs over the years, but like, finally I'm done. It feels so good. But like, I was waiting for my iron ring ceremony, but unfortunately, it got cancelled.

MG: The iron ring ceremony?

SAIF AHMED: Yeah. They give like an iron ring. Like a ritual for the engineers. Anyone who sees it, they know that you are an engineer.

MG: Will you be able to get your iron ring in future or something?

SAIF AHMED: Yep. Yep. After everything opens up.

MG: But no ceremony?

SAIF AHMED: Yeah.

MG: You talked about the ups and downs. The fact that we're in the midst of a pandemic is a real down for so many people. Before that pandemic hit, what were your plans for life after university?

SAIF AHMED: I was planning to take a vacation to Europe with my fiancee, but then the pandemic hit and we cancelled our plan.

MG: Instead, you're doing something different with your fiancee. Tell us about this project that you've started, NL Eats Project for Food for Thought. So like after the pandemic hit, my fiancee and other people who live in the house, they were working from home or they were laid off. So we are like entrepreneurial minded people. So we always discuss amongst ourselves that what can we do? What can we do with? This and that. So last year we opened up a group called NL Eats. That was like a food review group for people to highlight local restaurants in Newfoundland, so the tourists can visit them. But then during the pandemic, we realized that everything will be closed this year and no one will be visiting Newfoundland. So what we did, we used our platform, which had almost like 700,000 people and we used that platform to start our project to help the students because the students had to leave their residences due to this pandemic. So this was really hard for them. So we wanted to start this project to help out the students and help them with food hampers and even with grocery help. And to our surprise, it was not only the students registered, it was people from different demographics, which was seniors, single mothers, people who are immunocompromised. And that struck us. And that is something that actually helped us to move this project farther. And we were able to serve almost 700 people till date.

MG: That's amazing. And it's like a mobile food bank in some ways.

SAIF AHMED: Yes we realized that a lot of the food banks were closed down and a lot of the people were not able to go to the food banks that were open because the buses can only take nine people at one time. So we realized that people who had cars, so we were doing like deliveries to the people who couldn't go to the grocery stores.

MG: Just before I let you go, what's the most rewarding thing about this work that you've been doing?

SAIF AHMED: To be honest, the most rewarding thing is the community coming together. When we started it, it was just four of us. But now, after one and a half months, we have almost 60 volunteers. Not only 60 volunteers, but eight co-op students. And we never expected to hire, like I never expected to hire unsupervised students myself. And when we started, it was only in St. John's, but now we have expanded to other cities as well. So that is something amazing and that is rewarding. And I never thought of it before that I will be working for a food bank operation after I graduate.

MG: Well done for doing this and congratulations again.

SAIF AHMED: Thank you so much.

MG: Saif Ahmed. He now holds a bachelor of engineering from Memorial University Newfoundland.

[Graduation music]

MG: Our next graduates to take the stage is Mary Fay. Mary was named Queen's University's top student athlete of her graduating class of 2020. She's been curling since she was a little girl growing up in Nova Scotia. In 2016, her team won gold at the World Junior Championships and Youth Olympics, representing Canada. Mary Fay is receiving her bachelor's degree in life sciences. Mary, congratulations to you.

MARY FAY: Thank you so much and thank you for having me today.

MG: Tell me about curling. When did you fall in love with curling?

MARY FAY: Oh, my goodness. That would have been that would have been a long time ago. My older brother used to compete and I used to go watch him. And most kids my age would have kind of gotten bored, but I loved sitting with all the spectators and just trying to figure out what they should be doing. And then I couldn't wait for my chance to try it out.

MG: What does it mean to be named the top student athlete of your graduating class?

MARY FAY: It was just such an honour and a surprise. And I know also that it's a reflection of the entire team. I wouldn't have been able to receive that award if it wasn't for my teammates making me look at. I mean curling is such a team sport and and you don't have success if you don't have good teamwork and ethic from all four players. So thanks to my teammates if they're listening.

MG: But you need somebody who's going to help rally people around that team. You're the skip, right?

MARY FAY: I am, yes.

MG: And so, I mean, you have a huge role to play in this. If you think of of life lessons that curling has taught you, what would those lessons be?

MARY FAY: I think some of the most important ones are the ability to to work well with others. And like you said, I was the skip of the team and for me, that that role as as a leader on the team kind of involves trying to get the best out of your team-mates because, you know, we all have aspects of the sport that, you know, our strengths for us/ and for me as the skip, you know, I'm in the house, I'm kind of strategizing best. I'm not the best sweeper in the world. You know, I can't do a 100 push-ups, but some of the girls on the team are so strong and they're excellent sleepers. They're excellent at judging the weight. So learning to really capitalize on everybody's strengths really helps the whole team as a unit.

MG: It's not just that you were running things on the ice. You also finished in the classroom with just about a perfect grade point average. You had a 4.26 out of a 4.3. How did you pull that off? How do you manage to balance all of this?

MARY FAY: It's tough. And, you know, sometimes I wonder how I managed to finish everything. If, you know, don't waste time on things like social media or schedule your time, you can get things done. And you really have to stay focused for sure and you do have to sacrifice.

MG: What's next for you?

MARY FAY: I'm currently starting my Masters in pathology and molecular medicine and my project is on breast cancer research. So I'm really excited to have the chance to kind of apply what I've been learning in my past four years and to hopefully make a difference in the clinical setting. This is kind of my first time not being in res because I was a residence don, so I'm learning the ropes of cooking for yourself. I've kind of nailed down the oatmeal, but if you have any good recipes, for sure send them my way because I'm definitely, that's a bit of a steep learning curve for me. I'm used to studying, but trying to come up with meals is a bit of a challenge.

MG: I think given what you've accomplished, you've got it. Not to worry. It's a real pleasure to talk to you. Congratulations and good luck in future.

MARY FAY: Thank you so much.

MG: Mary Fay is graduating from Queens University as the top student athlete of the year with a bachelor in life sciences.

[Graduation music]

MG: Our next graduate to take the stage is 24-year-old Georgia East.

[Applause]

MG: Georgia is receiving a bachelor of education specializing in elementary inclusive education from the University of Calgary. Georgia, congratulations to you.

GEORGIA EAST: Thank you so much.

MG: This is not, I'm sure, the spring that you imagined. How did you learn that university life as you knew it was over?

GEORGIA EAST: Well, at the time when the pandemic was getting a lot more serious, I was in a full-time teaching practicum and then on a Sunday night, we received an e-mail from our professors telling us not to go back to school and that our practicum had been cancelled for the remaining year.

MG: How has your life changed? What has been different since you got that email?

GEORGIA EAST: Well, I was living in Calgary by myself, and now I've had to move back home to be with my family in Ontario. So I'm living at home again for the first time in six years.

MG: How's that going?

GEORGIA EAST: It's going OK. I get on really well with my family and I'm just trying to make the most of it and see it as a positive. This is a nice chance for us to all be together and after the pandemic ends, I was looking primarily at positions in teaching in the U.K. So hopefully I'll be heading out there for a job when things calm down a bit. And I don't know when I'll get to see them after that.

MG: One of the things that you accomplished at U of C was helping to raise money for a multi-sensory room. Tell us what that is.

GEORGIA EAST: A multi-sensory room is a space where an individual can be in full control of their sensory input. So that's everything they see touch mouth here. And they're really common in supporting individuals with disabilities or with mental health concerns. But they can be really beneficial for anyone who just may be feeling a bit overwhelmed and needs a chance to calm down or somewhere safe where they can do that.

MG: Why was it an initiative that you wanted to be part of?

GEORGIA EAST: I've always been really passionate about working with people with disabilities, so many individuals who are so smart and creative and innovative, but just don't have access to post-secondary education because there's not sensory and social supports put in place at universities. So I work primarily with elementary aged kids and I just want to help them to have a brighter future so that the world they grow up in is more inclusive and they're able to achieve anything that anybody else would, regardless of a diagnosis.

MG: It's important work, but one of the things that happens when you leave university is often you leave with a big bag of debt as well. Are you in that situation?

GEORGIA EAST: Yeah, I've done six years of university, so I have almost 60 grand in debt now with about 10,000 each year. So it's definitely overwhelming to think about. But I do really believe that my degrees have been in things that are incredibly important and hopefully when the pandemic calms down, I'll be able to get a good position. My parents always told me that any money spent on education is worth it. So hopefully I'll be able to pay it off. Well, not quickly, but reasonably.

MG: You really find the glass half full. I mean, in talking to you, you're finding the positives and what is kind of a lousy situation in a difficult situation. Where does that come from?

GEORGIA EAST: Every day I'm inspired by the kids I've worked with and I just I feel like in a time like this, we're really in uncharted waters. Nobody knows what's happening. So really, all you can do is be positive.

MG: Well said. Good luck and congratulations again.

GEORGIA EAST: Thank you so much for having me.

MG: Georgia East is graduating from the University of Calgary with a Bachelor of Education.

[Graduation music]

MG: Our next graduate is Jasmine Morrison. She is in the class of 2020 at the British Columbia Institute of Technology in Vancouver. And Jasmine is now officially a machinist. Jasmine, congratulations.

JASMINE MORRISON: Thank you.

MG: How does it feel to reach this milestone?

JASMINE MORRISON: Awesome.

MG: Awesome?

JASMINE MORRISON: A lot of hard work went into that, yes.

MG: Tell me, I mean officially a machinist, you can do all sorts of things with with sheet metal now.

JASMINE MORRISON: Yes, I can do precision grinding everything I work. I can make tools and all.

MG: Tell me a little bit about enrolling in college. Why did you want to do that? And what was going on in your life when you were getting into that part of education?

JASMINE MORRISON: I was a single mom at the time and I just wanted to be able to provide for my child at the time.

MG: What were you up against in juggling all of those different things?

JASMINE MORRISON: I had to figure out what I was going to do for my child. I had to be able to find him child care. I had to be able to make it to school and pick him up. There was a lot of challenges during that.

MG: How did you make all of that work? That's a lot to try to focus on all at the same time.

JASMINE MORRISON: I'm lucky I had lots of support with my family. My mom and the company that sponsored me called Access. They paid for all of my tuition. They help out with everything just to make sure that you succeed access that it works with a lot of Indigenous people in the Lower Mainland, helping them get into trades and helping them make sure that they succeed in finding them good placements, where they'll soar.

MG: You use the word soar. Is that what you felt like you've been able to do?

JASMINE MORRISON: Yes, they have your back no matter what you want to do.

MG: It's always hard to predict where you'll go in future, but when you were a young single mom, would you have ever imagined that you'd get to this point now where you would be graduating, you're officially a machinist and into the trades you go?

JASMINE MORRISON: No, I didn't know what I was going to do. I was 19 with having a young one. I was young myself and I just kind of rolled with it and ended up working out in the end.

MG: It's amazing. All of this is happening in terms of your graduation in the midst of a pandemic as well. How has COVID-19 affected your family?

JASMINE MORRISON: It's been pretty hard. I had just finished my last year of schooling with my 10-year-old and two-year-old at home. So it was a juggle trying to finish my studies and get them studied and working on theirs as well.

MG: And your grandpa was diagnosed with COVID-19 as well?

JASMINE MORRISON: Yes, he was.

MG: How's he doing?

JASMINE MORRISON: He's actually, he's doing really good now. It made his Alzheimers worse up and his dementia, but that's life, I guess. But he's eating. He's gained a bit more weight. He's actually doing really good.

MG: Fantastic.

JASMINE MORRISON: I'mrReally happy.

MG: You talked, just before I let you go, you talked at the beginning about how you you went into school in part to make a better life for your kids. What difference is it going to make for your future now that you've graduated?

JASMINE MORRISON: I'm going to get a good pay raise and I just need to challenge my Red SEAL exam and I'll be a ticketed machinist. I'm contemplating taking on something else, I'm not sure yet though.

MG: You're used to juggling a lot of different things. I think you're probably up to it.

JASMINE MORRISON: Yes.

MG: Jasmine, congratulations. Well done.

JASMINE MORRISON: Thank you.

MG: Jasmine Morrison, graduating as a level four machinist from the British Columbia Institute of Technology in Vancouver. Thanks for joining us for this Class of 2020 convocation celebrating Canadians graduating from post-secondary courses. Coming up after the break, our valedictorian, University of Toronto medical school graduate Dr. Chika Oriuwa and Nobel laureate and physicist Donna Strickland will make the commencement address. This is a bit of the performance at the virtual graduation ceremony at UBC Okanagan this week. This is Amber Cardenas, a member of the Okanagan Nation, singing the Okanogan song.

[Performance by Amber Cardenas singing the Okanagan song]

MG: Hi, I'm Matt Galloway. You're listening to a special edition of The Current. A celebration for post-secondary graduates. It's the Class of 2020.

[Music]

MG: How very nice that the University of Toronto Symphony Orchestra could join us for the final part of our ceremony today. That was recorded, physically distanced, of course, to commemorate the class of 2020, which is precisely what we are doing as well. No, we are not going to let a pandemic overshadow the accomplishments of college and university students who've had their celebrations cancelled. Nobel Prize winning physicist Donna Strickland is here with a commencement speech. But first, I want to invite a remarkable young woman to our virtual stage. Dr. Chika Oriuwa is our class of 2020 valedictorian. Dr. Oriuwa graduated from the University of Toronto's medical school just a few weeks ago. She was the only black person in her class. She graduated as valedictorian, the first black woman to be chosen as sole valedictorian at the U of T. And the first woman in 14 years to receive that honour. Her advocacy work over the past four years has made a huge impact. 24 black medical students have been admitted to the U of T's Faculty of Medicine for the Class of 2024, the largest group in Canadian history. Please, if you would, help me welcome to our virtual stage, Dr. Chika Oriuwa.

[Applause]

MG: Doctor, congratulations.

CHIKA ORIUWA: Thank you.

MG: How does it feel to have someone call your doctor?

CHIKA ORIUWA: It is a completely surreal feeling. I mean, I've wanted to be a doctor for as long as I can remember. I think my mom said I was about three or four years old when I first said that I wanted to be a physician. And I mean, at that age, I didn't quite have an understanding of just exactly what it entailed or how difficult the road would be. But I knew from a young age that I had this wanting to protect the vulnerable and to to really just take care of people.

MG: The last four years in some ways would feel like a blur. And I can imagine you can also remember sort of every moment that stands out along that path. How would you characterize the last four years of your life?

CHIKA ORIUWA: I'd say it has been an absolute journey. It has been a process of having to continuously define and redefine myself and to encounter adversity and to take risks that are important in the name of advocacy. And so the last four years have just been a process of growing and learning and unlearning and really trying to make myself into the best physician that I can be, but also the best advocates and member of the community.

MG: What do you mean that you had to define and redefine yourself over time?

CHIKA ORIUWA: I've been told through my life, and especially when my path to medicine was drawing closer. I've had individuals tell me, you know, that I don't look like someone who's going into medicine. And when I was in medical school, kind of having my position as a medical student challenged and and having to reassert that, that, yes, I am in fact, in medical school. I am a physician in training. And then even most recently the morning of my convocation where I was graduating as a physician and also graduating from my master's degree and having individuals tell me that they would never let me treat them as a doctor or that they would never let me near their children because all they knew that I was a black woman in medicine and they just reflexively stated that I did not deserve that title.

MG: Why would somebody say to you, as you're graduating from medical school with your master's degree, the valedictorian, that they wouldn't believe that you were deserving of that?

CHIKA ORIUWA: That is really just the power of racism, unfortunately and sexism is this idea that you can see someone in these positions of accomplishment and if it doesn't align with your inherent understanding of what a black person can be and what a black woman can do, then there's this reflexive nature to try and devalue that accomplishment, to try and make it make sense to resolve that cognitive dissonance that that person might feel. And so in order for someone to resolve that, they just instinctively feel that, OK, well, if you are a medical doctor, they must have altered the criteria. They must have made it easier. They only gave you the valedictory role because this is a political statement. So trying to resolve that and make it make sense for them because they cannot move past their prejudice, belief that a black woman can be in this position and deservedly so.

MG: How do you deal with abuse like that? There's that phrase, don't read the comments, but this is was endemic. It was widespread after you were announced, as you mentioned, as the valedictorian, but also over the course of your time in school. How would you deal with that?

CHIKA ORIUWA: You know, it's been an incredibly painful thing to encounter, as you can imagine. It's hard and yes, I have been told by many people, you know, just stay off social media, don't read the comments, but that's a hard thing to do, because even if I didn't read the comments, I still know that people are saying these things. And, you know, a part of it is trying to build that intrinsic armour against these kind of things. But the way that I honestly deal with it is by taking that anger, that frustration, that shame and converting it to active work back into my advocacy that fuels my fire. But I also think there's a certain realisation that I had, especially the morning of my convocation, when, you know, there's this idea or this misconception that once you have achieved a certain level of education, accolade and success as a black person, that you might be somehow immune to that racism when in reality there is no escaping the vice like grip of anti blackness. And coming to that realisation for me has actually been incredibly liberating because it's reaffirmed my position as an advocate. And it also strengthens me in the face of discrimination when I hear these comments, because I know that I stand as a living testament to the tenacity, the intelligence, the strength of the black person.

MG: There's that phrase, the only one in the room, and that would be you in those classes. That can be a burden, but it can also be an opportunity for someone seising the responsibility. What do you see as the responsibility when you're the only one in the room?

CHIKA ORIUWA: You know, when you're the only black person in a space, especially kind of in the ivory towers of medicine, there is this acute awareness of your race at all times that kind of instils this idea that, OK, I now have to prove that I deserve to be here. And you're also forced to be this, you know, representative of the black race. And so, you know, there's this added layer of pressure of having to perform at the highest or even above the highest level.

MG: We're also having this conversation in this moment where people around the world are talking in ways that perhaps they haven't ever before about anti-black racism, about systemic racism. What do you see as your part in that conversation, your space, in that conversation?

CHIKA ORIUWA: I am reminded more so than ever the importance of the advocacy work that I do, both within the medical education space, because I do believe that when we have a more rich diversity within the medical classrooms, it helps everyone else training to become a doctor. But then it also helps in turn the community as well. But then also in my own personal and clinical practise within psychiatry in the future, I certainly would love to be able to address kind of the more nuanced and complex healing that needs to go on within the black community, both as victims of anti blackness, systemic discrimination and police brutality, but also witnesses of it and kind of the trauma that ensues from that and then also wanting to help individuals who are complicit in that, realizing that this is a healing that is multifactorial.

MG: You have just completed this extraordinary part of your life and now the rest of the world is out there waiting for you. Are you excited for what's next?

CHIKA ORIUWA: I'm so excited. I am excited for U of T. I am excited to start residency. I'm excited to continue that this journey as an advocate and to build up the community. I'm so excited.

MG: Doctor, congratulations.

CHIKA ORIUWA: Thank you so much and thank you for having me.

MG: Dr. Chika Oriuwa is a graduate of the medical school at the University of Toronto. She is also our Class of 2020 valedictorian. And you have some prepared remarks for this year's graduates?

CHIKA ORIUWA: Yes. Yes, I do.

MG: And so, Doctor, take it away.

CHIKA ORIUWA: Good morning, deans, esteemed professors and faculty, mentors, family, friends, and especially my fellow graduating class of 2020. I am Dr. Chika Stacey Oriuwa and I have the absolute honour of being your valedictorian. I'd like to start by addressing the elephant in the room, whether you're listening to this speech from the comfort of your bed or around the dining room table with your family. I'm sure that we all envision the day we finally graduated to look and feel a little differently than it does right now. When we envisioned our graduation day, we expect it to dawn. Our caps and gowns walk confidently across the stage to get our degrees while our friends and families cheer through our names being called after being reminded by the faculty to hold their applause until the end. We live for these moments of unbridled joy and to bask in the pride of completion and accomplishment. But things didn't go as planned. And while I know it feels a little different, a little incomplete, I say that today is still our day. This achievement is a monumental one. One of my personal heroes is a former first lady of the United States, Michelle Obama. In her memoir, she wrote, If you don't get out there and define yourself, you'll be quickly and inaccurately defined by others. And so today, perhaps we should ask ourselves how we have defined ourselves and how we will continue to do so in this world through our studies. We confronted our mistakes, failures and setbacks. We leaned into what sparked our interest and what coax the flames of our passions. We displayed an insatiable curiosity for knowledge and a commitment to learning. I can confidently say that we laughed as much as we learnt and we cared for each other. And that is how we got through the last four years. My journey through medical school has been unconventional. When I started medical school four years ago, I was surprised to find that it had cost of 259, I stood as a sole black student and despite taking immense pride in being a woman of colour in a space where we are often unseen, I could not have imagined the extent to which my identity and story would be the driving force of my advocacy and the platform upon which I strove for change. One of my earliest defining moments was a few years before I started medical school. When a border officer accused me of lying about having aspirations of becoming a physician, his words stayed with me for years as I faced invalidation about my experience as a woman of colour in medicine. I remembered his words when a patient asked me to leave because they could not believe that the only black person in the room was also training to become a doctor. I did not want my story to be written by others. I did not want to be inaccurately defined on my own journey and knew that I had to reclaim my narrative in my first year of medicine. I was presented with the opportunity to be the ambassador of the Black Student Application Programme at U of T, an initiative developed by the faculty in partnership with the black community in response to the chronically low number of black students admitted to the programme. However, this also meant going public with my experiences of isolation and encountering discrimination. I knew that I was uniquely positioned to speak truthfully to this issue, but I was worried. Actually, I was terrified. I was cautioned that institutions do not like people who challenged the status quo, that I could be jeopardising a spot in residency or future career opportunities. For me, there was an ever present tension between my advocacy and my wanting to be accepted. I mentioned this because I want to challenge the notion that being an advocate and living in your authentic truth is mutually exclusive, from belonging to seeking counsel with mentors, family and friends. I was empowered to move forward and stand by my conviction to enhance diversity and inclusive practises within medicine and beyond these decisions, which may seem trivial in hindsight but were terrifying at the time. Are the moments by which I now to find myself. So to answer my own question, I defined myself in the last four years through understanding and hopefully demonstrating that there is a power and narrative and invulnerability with a community to stand behind you and a mentor to guide you. You can take the risks that might move mountains. So for this, I think those without whom we would not be here today. So to my fellow graduates, to this cohort of brilliant Canadians with boundless potential, we had a vision of 2020. But the picture didn't quite come out as clear as we thought it would be. We remained a class of visionaries. Those with the foresight to define themselves in the world, who raised their arms with fists curled in the face of injustice. That time has finally arrived for us to rise to the occasion. We waded into uncertain waters. The sons and daughters of hope equipped with knowledge and compassion. We now find ourselves facing uncertainty. Wading into unchartered territory. Maybe it's a defining part of our story to be the class who is familiar with moving forward despite the unknown. So here is to the innovators way makers and healers. We are ready to take the leap and on the other side awaits personal and professional celebration. And though we will encounter a difficult road ahead, we are united by the threads of endurance and tenacity. Within us lies the capacity to change the world. To my fellow graduates in the class of 2020m congratulations. We did it. Thank you for this incredible honour and I look forward to seeing how our journeys unfold.

[Applause]

MG: Dr. Chika Oriuwa is a graduate of the medical school at the University of Toronto and our Class of 2020 valediction.

[Applause]

MG: Before we go today, there is one more person here to say a few words. University of Waterloo Professor Donna Strickland was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics in 2018 for her revolutionary work on lasers. She is only the third woman to win the physics prize and the first Canadian female scientist to do so. Donna Strickland, welcome to the convocation for the class of 2020.

DONNA STRICKLAND: Thank you. I'm happy to be here.

MG: What do you remember about your own graduation? This is a huge moment in people's lives where there's a part of their life that that comes to a conclusion and then, you know, this vast universe is out there waiting for them. What do you remembe about that sense of accomplishment that you had?

DONNA STRICKLAND: I do think I felt that, but I also felt that there was bigger things to come. I think more it was melancholy leaving undergrad because there's something about going to an undergraduate school and getting to you know live with, not only, you know, work with, but you're sort of living with and working with this group of people. And so it was sort of sad also to be leaving that chapter of my life.

MG: You had a sense that there were bigger things to come though?

DONNA STRICKLAND: Oh I think so. I think from a very young age, I knew I wanted to get a PhD. And so when I was nearing the end of my PhD, I didn't have any plans after that. It would have been my life's goals, so that was a different feeling too.

MG: Things changed and there were bigger things to come, including a Nobel Prize. In the acceptance speech that you gave a couple of years ago, people have talked about this, but you quoted Cindy Lauper's "girls just want to have fun." Are you still having fun with physics?

DONNA STRICKLAND: Oh, absolutely. I mean, you know, right now I don't get to go in my lab, but the most fun part of my job is still when I get to go in and play with the lasers.

MG: What do you love about that? I mean, as somebody who's not played with a lot of lasers, tell me about that.

DONNA STRICKLAND: It's just trying to see something for the first timem, but also my type of research is is visual. One of the projects going on in my lab whenever we get back in there is we take two colours and then we have this whole picket fence of colours that go from the ultraviolet to the Infra-Red right to the visible spectrum. I mean, it's really quite beautiful to see. And, you know, we are always just trying to make it better and, you know, get the jump up and down this very few times when it actually works and it gets better.

MG: Is that what happens when it works? I mean, is that the reaction that you jump up and down?

DONNA STRICKLAND: I do. I also almost kicked the laser many times when it's not, but I never do. But you know, there are times.

MG: You've talked about the magic of lasers before. What is magic to you about them?

DONNA STRICKLAND: Well, a lot of it, for more than a decade, the short pulse laser people knew that if we put our lasers into clear liquid or clear solids, it would come all these colours and we didn't even know why. And so then for that, you have to call it magic for a while until you figure it out. And that's mostly what scientists are trying to do, is sort of explain nature's magic.

MG: What do you miss about not being in the lab right now, not being in the same space as your students?

DONNA STRICKLAND: Yeah, so now we don't get to have just the conversations that we should be having to say, why isn't this working? That's the fun part. I mean, although it's frustrating when things don't work. This is, of course, what scientists are after, you know, all the way through school, you're supposed to always think, you know something and sciene is it's all about what we don't know.

MG: We're in this time where people are waiting for answers and they're waiting for an answer, particularly for a vaccine, for the pandemic that we're in. What has science taught you about our ability to problem solve?

DONNA STRICKLAND: Oh, you know, we have to never forget that the world keeps evolving and keeps changing. And so there are always people coming up with new ideas. We also have to always understand that the science process has to be slow. You have to know that what you're saying is right.

MG: How do you process that element of things with the frustration that people feel? The impatience that people feel because they want, they want a faster timeline. They don't want to be left in that position where they don't know.

DONNA STRICKLAND: No, none of us do, but I think we all have to accept that we also would rather want it done correctly. There is no point in all of us trying vaccines that could actually harm us more than COVID.

MG: I want to ask you about a couple of words. One is and you've kind of hinted at this, but wonder is such a powerful word. What does that word say to you, wonder?

DONNA STRICKLAND: Well, to me, yes, that the whole universe is this is this incredible place and it is an incredible playground to start to ponder and wonder and think why is it this way? Why does it work this way, you know? Could there have been a different way?

MG: The other word is around potential. We live in extraordinary times where things move incredibly quickly and change is happening to us at a speed that is unprecedented, I think, for a lot of people. What do you see as the potential of these times and of the students who are graduating in those times?

DONNA STRICKLAND: Well, that's right. I mean, this is certainly not a time for complacency. And so I think the students now must feel the urgency that their generation is needed and that they do have to come together and take on these huge challenges right now. And so it can be a time of frustration. But I think it can also be a real time of excitement to know that what what you're going to do is really going to matter. And it's funny that you say things change so fast, but I think your last question was about how things don't move fast enough and everything is perspective.

MG: That's a really important point to make. You have an extraordinary career and it feels, I mean that sense of potential that that you see in the students is also still, it sounds like, echoed in the work that you're doing. It's a pleasure to talk to you. You have some prepared remarks for the Class of 2020?

DONNA STRICKLAND: I do. I have my convocation address for this whole class, yes.

MG: Here they are. Donna Strickland, Canada's Class of 2020. Take it away.

DONNA STRICKLAND: It is certainly not the most fun time to be graduating. You don't get to come together to party with your classmates and share the pride you are feeling with your friends and family. It is a scary time wondering what comes next for you when the world economies have been turned upside down like never before. But you are the generation that the world needs more than ever. To help solve the incredible challenges we are now facing. Just imagine if this pandemic had happened when I graduated with my Bachelor of Engineering. It would have been so much worse. Can you believe that? We didn't even have the Internet then? No email, no texting, no chance of video conferencing. Could so many of us have worked from home? I don't think so. The choice would have been to have many more of us exposed or let even more of the economy collapse. But in the intervening 40 years, the world has changed so much. And that is because young, well-educated minds work together to figure out things like the Internet. The Kofod pandemic has now shown us in glaring detail how much more needs to be done to keep us safe from so many dangers. We will look to your generation to come up with better medicine, better communications, a far more equitable and just society. Since winning the Nobel PRISE, people have asked me if my goal had been to help the world. But my answer to that question is no. I do think that if we all do what we are good at and enjoy doing, then we do our very best. And that in its way helps the world. I wanted to play with lasers. I wanted to investigate the physics behind the way light and matter interact when the intensity gets very high. I didn't want to come up with a new medical technique or a new manufacturing process. In the end, though, I built a high intensity laser so I could do a fundamental physics study. And then other people used this research to come up with a way to cut flaps in the corneas of eyes, and other people came up with ways to cut glass used in things like cell phones and in between the time Zarar Mabu and I did our research and the time that the others developed these new applications. It took many scientists and engineers working on their parts of the puzzle for all of it to come together. So in my way, I helped the world, but it wasn't my intention and I certainly didn't do it alone. I took just one step in a long road of technical progress. We all have our role to play to make this world a little better. Don't let others tell you what you need to do. You know yourself better than anyone. Take your skills and your joys and make the most of them. You will find the world becomes a little better. Enjoy this moment. Take pride in what you have already accomplished. Congratulations.

[Applause]

MG: That's Nobel Prize winning physicist Donna Strickland.

[Applause]

MG: Now before we go, one final message to the graduates of 2020. So many universities are putting their convocations online this year. You can count on the faculty at a school of music to create something memorable.

SOUNDCLIP

[Performance by the faculty of music at Acadia University]

MG: That's the faculty from the School of Music at Acadia University in Wolfville, Nova Scotia singing Acadia's song "Alma Mater for" the class of 2020. And the message there, we can't celebrate together in person, but we're still united in spirit.

[Music]

VOICE: Congratulations to the class of 2020. Usually on convocation weekend, we will be able to be together. We would give each other huge hugs. You would see me in this very funny hat and we would be able to be in person to celebrate your wonderful achievements. Unfortunately, this year we can't be together, but please know that your professors are thinking of you. And that we wish you the best on your continued journey. Stay in touch. You are awesome.

SOUNDCLIP

[Performance by the faculty of music at Acadia University]

VOICE 1: We love you graduates of 2020. From your awesome faculty.

VOICE 2: Keep music in your lives forever.

VOICE 3: Congratulations, graduates.

VOICE 4: Rock on, class of 2020.

VOICE 5: Congratulations, graduates. Go out and do good stuff.

VOICE 6: Congratulations, graduates. We are so proud of you.

VOICE 7: Congratulations, graduates of 2020.

MG: That concludes our special class of 2020 ceremony. Feels like the future is in really good hands. Before we go, let's be honest, graduation ceremonies are nice and all, but the best part of the day is finally losing those heavy robes and going to celebrate. And so for the Class of 2020.

SOUNDCLIP

[Sound of popping champagne bottle]

[Applause]

MG: A little bubbly to toast you all. Congratulations to all the college and university grads across this country. Cheers to your hard work and achievement. These are strange and difficult times that we are in, but savour this moment. It's yours. Well done. If you missed our high school graduation ceremony, you can find it on our website. In the meantime, Q is next, right after the CBC News. I'm Matt Galloway. Thanks for listening to The Current. Take care and we'll talk to you tomorrow.

[Music: theme]

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June 18, 2020 episode transcript

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