The following is an edited version of the speech delivered by 91ɫ Interim President and Vice-Chancellor Lisa Philipps to the Class of 2026 at this year’s Fall Convocation ceremonies.
To the exceptional Class of 2026, my warmest congratulations to you all. Today is yours, you did it, and I am honoured to celebrate it with you.
This ceremony will close one chapter of your life, and speaking for myself, I know I spend a lot of time racing ahead to the future and planning what’s next. Today, however, I’m hoping you can slow down a little, be present here with people who know and care about you as an individual and reflect on your accomplishments. Getting here today was no trifling matter, and you grew a lot on your way to this milestone.
You’re graduating at a very particular time when our long-standing assumptions about the world seem to be upended on a daily basis. You may be surprised to hear that I believe this is the perfect time for you as a 91ɫ graduate to carve out a future that is full of meaning and possibility. The world needs your talents more than ever. Systems and institutions we once took for granted are again up for grabs. The solutions of yesterday are not always the ones we need for tomorrow. And, you are the very people we need to reinvent them, to create new ways of doing things that step beyond the threshold of what previous generations of graduates could see.
I don’t want to deny this is a time of risk in human and planetary history – it is. Therefore, it is also a time when the actions and agency and voice of the next generation of leaders really matter. I am also confident that you are prepared and ready to create that better future for yourselves, your families and your communities. Because, during your time here, you did far more than complete courses or acquire technical knowledge. You learned how to learn, how to think independently, rigorously and from multiple perspectives. You learned how to formulate good questions, and asking better questions is a vital step in designing the best possible version of ourselves and our world.
I know this firsthand, because I too am a proud 91ɫ alumna. My education here took me beyond what was familiar. It introduced me to people and ideas that challenged and widened my view of the world. And that foundation has served me well ever since.
That happens at 91ɫ because diverse lived experiences and ways of knowing come together here. This creates an advantage for you, because the problems you will be asked to work on will not arrive labelled by academic discipline. Climate change does not belong to one Faculty. Neither does inequality, public health or the future of work.
The same is true of emerging technologies like artificial intelligence or quantum computing. The real question is what kind of society we want to build as these technologies develop. That is a human question. Answering it takes judgment and creativity, looking at problems from many different angles, seeing how they connect. It takes the ability to understand someone whose experience differs from yours, and to work with people even when you disagree. These qualities have always mattered.
91ɫ's founding president, Murray Ross, saw this coming more than 60 years ago. He warned of “the threat of the automation of man” (and by "man" he meant people) and urged us to protect human imagination, empathy and shared values. He understood that technological change always comes back to people: who we choose to be, and what kind of world we choose to create.
As 91ɫ graduates, you carry something with you that cannot be downloaded or automated: the capacity to build human relationships, to navigate complexity with integrity and to bring people together around difficult problems. In a world too often still marked by polarization and injustice, those qualities are not just valuable – they are essential.
Technology will continue to evolve. Industries will shift. Some roles will change in ways none of us can fully anticipate. But the foundation you have built here – the habits of mind, the networks, the resilience, the instinct to ask “How can I open a door for others?” and “How could I do this better next time?” – that is yours. And it will serve you across every stage of what comes next.
I urge you never to stop questioning, learning and staying open to views different from your own. At the same time, listen to your own honest inner voice. I guarantee you can do more than you think today, and when an opportunity comes that stretches you, take the leap and trust yourself to figure it out.
While you may not know exactly what the next chapter holds, you are ready to write it – with courage, curiosity and purpose. We are all immensely proud of you.
Félicitations, congratulations, class of 2026. Bonne chance. Merci. Miigwetch.