Senator and mrs davey, Deputy Prime Minister Gray, Madam Justice Arbour, Chief Justice McMurtry, distinguished guests, friends, and colleagues: on behalf of President Bob Birgeneau, myself, and the University of Toronto it gives me extraordinary pleasure to welcome you to the annual Keith Davey Lecture at Victoria University in the University of Toronto.

Today’s lecture represents one in a series of superb lectures given in honour of our great senator. I recall distinctly the first Davey lecture, when John Kenneth Galbraith stood before a packed room and delivered a brilliant address. The crowded auditorium contrasted with the blustering snowstorm outside,...

I am delighted to be once again a guest for the annual Senator Keith Davey Lecture and particularly to have been invited to introduce the distinguished guest lecturer. The lecture has become a very significant cultural occasion in our city, and Victoria University is to be congratulated for hosting this important event.

As one who was once a member of a political party different from that of Senator Davey, I am therefore confident that I cannot be accused of political partisanship when I express once again the appreciation of his fellow citizens for his most unique and valuable contribution to...

On 4 september 1998, Jean Kambanda, former prime minister of Rwanda, pleaded guilty before an international tribunal to genocide, conspiracy, public incitement, and complicity in genocide and in the crimes against humanity of murder and extermination, thereby admitting his role in the extermination of over half a million of his own people. After reviewing the terms of the plea agreement between Kambanda and the Office of the Prosecutor, which included detailed admissions of the particulars of his participation in the genocide, the Trial Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) accepted his guilty plea and sentenced him to...

It is a particular honour for me this afternoon to bring your thanks to our distinguished guest speaker. First, a word of explanation as to why I am here today. It is not so much the millennium mentioned by Dr Runte as the fact that I am the father of a fairly recent Victoria graduate. And of course we have to begin by thanking another (somewhat less recent) Victoria graduate. Senator Keith Davey, and his friends for making possible this wonderful annual event.

This lecture series shows that there must not be any barriers between the world of academe and...

First of all, I would like to thank Dr Runte for organizing this lecture and the Honourable Senator and Mrs Davey for making the lecture series possible so that we could all enjoy the presence of one of the real, live, modern-day heroes of Canada – our very special guest, Madam Justice Arbour.

Being an alumnus of Victoria University is quite daunting when I consider that the list of graduates reads like a Who’s Who? of Canada’s literary and financial elite. And it is very fitting that today’s lecture took place at the alma mater of Lester B. Pearson, who...