Scholars, scientists, explorers of new worlds: welcome to Government House for this celebration of the human desire to push back the frontiers of knowledge. As some of you may know, long before this phase of my life, I had a career in the news business. It’s often said that journalism is about presenting to readers or listeners the five Ws: who, what, when, where and why. But in reality all Ws are not created equal. The first four Ws are usually pretty straight forward. The key question, the focus of most of a journalist’s time and effort is: “Why?” But that doesn’t just go for journalism, does it?
Since the dawn of time, human beings have looked at the world around them and asked “why?” Why does the sun appear to move across the sky? Why does a tumour grow? Why do some people lose their mental functions? Why are there so many different kinds of animals, each with their own shape and colour and behaviour? Why did artists paint animals on the walls of the Lascaux cave in France or on an outcropping in the Canadian Shield? Why do the works of Shakespeare still move us? Why have so many wars been fought in the name peace?
Asking “why” questions has taught us so much, and has given us so much more to investigate. Think of the great questions that have been asked, answered and asked again since this building was built. Winnipeg was a tiny, but rapidly growing, city when three colleges came together in 1879 to form the University of Manitoba. It wasn’t much bigger a few years later when Government House was built.
Think about how much the world has been changed in the intervening years by people asking why. World-changing innovations like antibiotics, air travel, computers, synthetic fabrics. New scientific disciplines like genetics. Explanatory theories like plate tectonics. An understanding of the complex interrelationships and feedback loops between the natural environment and human activities.
Research has changed our lives profoundly in the years since the bricks were laid for this building. And the University of Manitoba has had its part in that. How many children born to rh-negative women have had their lives saved by the development of the win-rho vaccine? How many Canadians owe their livelihood to the development of canola as a high-quality and healthy cooking oil? How much does the world stand to gain by the greater understanding of climate change or HIV and AIDS or family violence emerging through research at the U of M?
In our efforts to transform our economy to one based on knowledge, University of Manitoba researchers are leading the way. Your work attracts investment and jobs – whether on campus, at the Smart Park, or at the research facilities at the St. Boniface Hospital or the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences Centre complex. Your discoveries can make our society innovative and economically competitive in a world that is rapidly becoming more closely connected. Your work addresses the causes of illness and suffering here and around the world.
By asking “why” you foster justice and compassion and peace. In your research you address profound questions about the sustainability of our society. And you inspire us by your curiosity. Thank you, congratulations on the great success than you have had through research and may you always continue asking why.
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