Elsbeth Heaman Transcript

Thank you very much. I'm hugely grateful to be here today, grateful to the Canadian Historical Association. Grateful to the Canada's History, grateful to your Excellency and to my fellow colleagues, fellow laureates, fellow guests.

It's wonderful to see the Canadian government taking an interest in history because you know we take an interest in the Canadian government and it's nice to see it reciprocated.

We have occasionally been a little critical of the Canadian government, but I think it's also enormously important to note when the government welcomes, celebrates, and honours knowledge and understands the importance of putting that right at the center of our public life.

It's an enormous privilege for me. I grew up a history-mad kid in British Columbia adoring history to receive a prize from someone, I know because I've heard her speak, she's a wonderful speaker, a science-mad kid in Quebec.

Both of us I think, you know, really doing what we can I think at all levels to put knowledge at the center of public life, private life, civil society, and I think that's true of everybody here.

But it's such a wonderful gift to us all that you come here and give such encouragement to the students, the kids, the professors, the historians, the curators, the teachers above all and to teach everybody about the importance of knowledge and that we continue to negotiate, you know, we move forward towards justice and better knowledge, better truth, so thank you very much.