Statement made on 10 March 2010 by Senator Marie-P. Poulin (Charette)
Hon. Marie-P. Poulin:
Honourable senators, I rise today to pay tribute to an exceptional Canadian educator, Dominic Giroux, the rector of my alma mater, Laurentian University in Sudbury. Last month, I had the pleasure of attending an awards ceremony in Gatineau, where Mr. Giroux was named Personality of the Year in education by the newspaper Le Droit and Radio-Canada.
This distinction is the latest in a series of honours bestowed on this former assistant deputy minister with the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities of Ontario. He has had a remarkable career in education, having been elected as a school board member at 19 and as chair of the school board two years later.
Mr. Giroux arrived at Laurentian University last year as the student body was expanding and the university was growing rapidly. Laurentian was recently recognized for its achievements in engineering, business, medicine, forensic science, management and research.
This year, the university marks its 50th anniversary, with 40,000 graduates to its credit. Enrolment has risen from 6,000 to 9,000 in 10 years, and more than $60 million has been invested in the Sudbury campus in the past five years.
Next year will likely see the opening of a $44 million school of architecture, the first new school of its kind in Canada in four decades and the first to offer programs in French outside Quebec.
Honourable senators, with its new school of medicine, its school of education, its new residence and the expansion of its recreation centre, Laurentian University "has the wind in its sails,'' to quote Mr. Giroux.
It is people like him, people with admirable dedication to their community, who make the difference between mediocrity and excellence. Join me in congratulating this outstanding individual, who has been chosen as Personality of the Year in Education.