Her Excellency the Right Honourable Adrienne Clarkson
Speech on the Occasion of the Presentation of Meritorious Service Decorations
Rideau Hall, Monday, May 30, 2005
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Welcome, everyone, to Rideau Hall. As Governor General, one of my most important duties is to honour Canadians. It is a duty I perform with great pleasure because it allows me to meet people, like you, who have done extraordinary things.
The Meritorious Service Decorations have a special place in Canada's system of honours, as they are given to both military personnel and civilians who have made a meaningful difference. Recipients, your various accomplishments have benefited individuals, families, and whole communities. You have made life better, even made it possible, for people right where you live and, in several cases, across your country and around the globe.
You epitomise responsibility. Now, that can seem like a dry and unappetizing word for something we might feel forced, grudgingly, to do. But what is it, really, but the ability to respond? The essence of human potential, of human life – and we see it so clearly among the women and men we honour today – is to be able to respond usefully and creatively to what our world presents to us. Responsibility is life, if you think of it this way, and there's nothing dull about it. It is an unquenchable desire to make things better.
Ceremonies like this invite us to wonder about how we respond to the needs that we see. We wonder how we would have acted, for example, in the circumstances faced by today's three recipients of the Meritorious Service Cross. You will hear about RCMP constable Tony Vienneau's reaction to seeing a young man standing on the railing of a bridge. You will hear about Chief Petty Officer Smith's response to a fire at sea. And you will hear the story of Vatché Arslanian's humanitarian answer in the face of war in Iraq, and his tragic loss.
And consider the remarkable range of services given by those who receive the Meritorious Service Medal. There has been a daring rescue in stormy waters, and the slower drama of bringing affordable light to poor villagers. Some of you have brought beauty and substance to your communities via the arts, whether by professional theatre or youth orchestras, in the form of care for aging performers or a traditional Japanese garden in the heart of Canada. Others have helped children and youth by serving them breakfast, providing shelter and schooling, protecting them from harmful images, or inspiring them through sport.
Recipients have strengthened our justice system with new investigative techniques and in restorative ways to deal with offenders and their victims. Members of our Canadian Forces, through their bravery and preparation, have brought credit to Canada and desperately needed aid to the most brutalized war zones in the world. Committed citizens have built avenues of support for the disadvantaged: the deaf, the mentally or physically disabled, the poor, the helplessly addicted. Medical professionals and lay people alike have developed the methods and the means to combat disease, from lactic acidosis in children to retinal degeneration in the elderly, from "Lou Gehrig's disease" to diabetes, from chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia to acute neurological trauma.
Common to the work of all our laureates is its compassion. Simply put, you cared enough for the people of your community, in the many ways that idea can be defined, to take action. You took up the cause of others, often including people that you do not even know.
Earlier in May, I was able to spend a week in the Netherlands with our Canadian veterans of World War II. We joined with our Dutch brothers and sisters in grieving the terrible sacrifices of our soldiers and their citizens, and in rejoicing at their liberation 60 years ago. All of us, Dutch and Canadian, were moved in recalling that these very young men – thousands of whom were reverently buried on their soil, thousands of whom returned to it as very old men to honour fallen comrades – all were volunteers from a land far away. They rose up to free the people of countries they may have known little about.
This is allegiance to a cause so much greater than personal comfort or self-interest. This is the meaning of community. And this same sense of humanity fuels the accomplishments of today's recipients. You weren't seeking this or any sort of reward, I know, but I hope that you will feel confirmed that your work has been wonderful, and that your nation knows it. It is also a way of reinforcing, for all of us, that we are a responsible people, a compassionate people that can do wonders.
Jean Vanier, son of our second Canadian Governor General, certainly did. He described his motivation this way: "When we begin to believe that there is greater joy in working with and for others rather than just for ourselves, then our society will truly become a place of celebration." On behalf of all Canadians, I am pleased to thank you and to join in celebrating what you have done.
