Dear graduating class, it is my great honour to deliver this Convocation address.
I want to congratulate you on your incredible accomplishment.
Your families and your teachers are very proud of you. I know it is customary for a convocation
address to inspire the graduating class or to give them some career advice, I might end
up disappointing you on both counts. Honestly, i'm looking for inspiration myself these days.
I'm delivering this address during one of the most distressing times in the modern era.
The COVID-19 pandemic is continuing to wreak havoc around the world. Things are completely
spiraling out of control. India, my other country, is in dire straits and my own family and friends
have battled COVID-19 in the past few days. And it is not just India, all of South Asia
and South America are now in crisis even as young people are getting vaccinated. Here
in Canada, healthcare workers in many parts of the world are yet to receive their first vaccine shot.
The world is slowly transforming into the vaccine haves and the vaccine have-nots. Wealthy nations,
including Canada, have cleared out the shelves and have procured a giant share of COVID-19 vaccines.
In fact, less than one percent of the vaccine so far have gone to low-income countries. This
inequity is staggering and the inequity is not just a moral failure, it is a scientific failure.
Why is that uncontrolled outbreaks anywhere in the world will generate new variants which will come
back and haunt us in the future. We must end this pandemic everywhere not just within our cities
or our countries. The pandemic is worsening many other types of inequities as well. It has ravaged
the poor and the disadvantaged and the racialized communities in our country and in all parts of
the world. Even as the pandemic has pushed more than 100 million people into extreme poverty,
the richest people on planet have become richer. Leaders everywhere are failing to tackle such
inequities. Many, many lives could have been saved if our leaders had stepped up to lead us.
So much more could have been done if global leaders had collaborated.
Instead, what we are seeing today all around us is nationalism populism and isolationism.
We see a similar lack of leadership in averting the climate crisis.
Politicians and leaders are failing to protect our planet. Yes, I know this is gloomy and not
what you wanted to hear on your convocation but this is the reality and that is why
i am looking for inspiration myself. Honestly, the only inspiration I can find is young people such
as you. Young people today are able to see more clearly and further than many leaders are able to
or willing to. My 13 year old daughter marched on the streets of montreal with Greta Thunberg.
She told me "dad, your generation screwed up the planet for my generation." I had to agree with
her. She is right. Your generation cares more about social justice and equity than the older
generations. I see this every single time I teach my Global Health 101 course at McGill University.
Everywhere, youth are stepping up to lead because existing political structures are failing them.
Young people like you, like Greta, like Malala, like Amanda Gorman, the school students were
struggling to end gun violence in America or the youth who took to the streets during
the Black Lives Matter protest last year, they are all lighting the path to a more just world.
Young people instinctively understand while they may be citizens of some country
they are also global citizens. They see the need for global solidarity with people everywhere.
Sadly our leaders are not able to see this. We will survive this pandemic but other crises will
emerge in the future. That much is guaranteed: the world needs people like you to chart a new way a
new path that is built on global citizenship, global solidarity and compassion for all people
in all countries regardless of race religion or colour. If you have been waiting for great leaders
please don't. You are the leaders you have been waiting for. If you see injustice or inequity
anywhere, please be unafraid to call it out. Be ready to get into good trouble,
as the civil rights activist John Lewis called it. Never forget that you are global citizens.
You have a voice and when you combine your voices you are a very powerful force as Greta put it:
get angry and then transform that anger into action. Stand united and never ever give up.
I hope her words inspire you thank you, and I wish you the very best in your lives.