No valedictory speech at U of M medical school convocation after 2024 controversy By: Malak Abas Posted: 6:48 PM CDT Thursday, May. 15, 2025

The 101 students who officially became doctors Thursday morning at the University of Manitoba’s medical school convocation celebrated their accomplishment by tossing their graduation caps in the air and posed for photos with friends and family in much the same way as classes have done forever.

But the Class of 2025 left the Bannatyne campus ceremony without having heard from their elected valedictorian. The long-held tradition for that new physician to address the gathering was eliminated from this year’s program in a measure the university said has been in the works for years.

But it came as a surprise to some members of the graduating class who believe the decision was made in response to last year’s convocation, in which Dr. Gem Newman delivered a speech that included a call for a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas militants who govern the Gaza Strip.

In his speech, Newman alleged Israel’s military was deliberately targeting Palestinan hospitals. And he condemned medical associations for their silence on the conflict.

 

The address, shared on social media, created waves well beyond the ceremony itself, including professional complaints and a statement from the Max Rady College of Medicine dean calling it “disrespectful.”

The philanthropist behind the largest-ever personal donation to the university described Newman’s remarks as “hateful lies” in a letter to the U of M.

The university later took down a video of the convocation from its YouTube page.

The decision to scale back medical school graduation ceremonies was years in the making, in an effort to get it more in line with convocations that take place at the Fort Garry campus, which don’t feature valedictorian speeches, said Rady Faculty of Health communications and marketing director Ilana Simon.

The medical school ceremony will be moved to the main U of M campus next year.

“The announcement wasn’t made to any of us. It seems like all this had to be hush-hush.”

Last year’s controversy did not factor into the university’s decision, she said, noting that the valedictorian will be able to deliver a speech at a dinner Friday organized by the graduates.

One graduating doctor told the Free Press she believed last year’s speech was a factor in the university’s decision.

“As a graduate of the class, we voted, we nominated valedictorian, we voted for them. Everyone was extremely excited for our valedictorian to give the speech. I actually found out this morning… this was a big shock to everyone in our class,” said the doctor, who did not want to be identified, citing concerns about future employment prospects.

“The announcement wasn’t made to any of us. It seems like all this had to be hush-hush.”

She said Friday’s dinner is a paid event that not every grad attends.

“The fact that someone had the honour of being elected valedictorian… chosen by their class, I think it’s super disrespectful to the person that was supposed to give the speech, and super disrespectful to the class of 2025 for not letting their voices be heard,” she said.

A medical resident who graduated with Newman in 2024 and was in the audience Thursday decried the change as censorship.

“I think it’s academically censoring student voices, and I don’t agree with it… I think that it is direct consequences of what happened last year, and they’re not letting graduates speak,” she said.

Newman did not attend Thursday’s convocation — he is currently on rotation in southern Manitoba and Roseau River Anishinabe First Nation — but told the Free Press he had heard there would not be a valedictory address.

“It seems more likely to me that this is a calculated move to prevent any student expression that might not align with the university’s goals, whether those are educational, political, fundraising, etc.,” he said.

He described the fallout last year as emotionally and financially taxing. About two dozen complaints about the speech were lodged with the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba, he said, and all have been resolved “without any finding of wrongdoing on (his) part.”

Consulting lawyers was costly, and he had to respond to the complaints on top of his workload as a medical resident. He said he and his family experienced intense harassment, including from a fellow doctor through Manitoba’s internal medical messaging system.

“In some senses, I regret that it fell to me to say what I did, but I don’t regret what I said, because it was the right thing to do.”–Dr. Gem Newman

He does not regret giving the speech the way he did, but said the result was “extremely hard.”

“In some senses, I regret that it fell to me to say what I did, but I don’t regret what I said, because it was the right thing to do,” he said.

Regardless of whether the change was planned in advance, making it for the class that followed Newman’s was not appropriate, said Erik Thomson, president of the University of Manitoba Faculty Association, which represents approximately 1,200 employees, including professors and librarians.

“It wasn’t a courageous decision to cancel the valedictorian’s speech the year after there was a controversy,” Thomson said. “The University of Manitoba is not demonstrating courage in promoting freedom of expression or trusting that its students have discretion and judgment, which is disconcerting in a faculty of medicine.”

A report published in March from the Canadian Association of University Teachers (of which UMFA is a member) on academic freedom in Canada after the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel — which triggered the ongoing conflict — included Newman’s speech in its findings and described allegations of censorship from universities and colleges as “disturbing.”

“Institutions have a positive obligation to resist external pressures, whether from governments, donors, or interest groups,” the report reads.

“If institutions accede to external pressures and demands for political censorship instead of encouraging the utmost freedom of discussion, they abdicate their responsibility for protecting their central mission of education, research, and service to the broader society and to the public good.”

— With files from Maggie Macintosh

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca

 

Determined despite long odds

Manitoba’s newest doctors come from all walks of life.

No one knows this better than 42-year-old Dr. Angela Zwaagstra, who graduated Thursday morning at the University of Manitoba Rady Faculty of Health Sciences.

“I come out of foster care… and the advice that I was given was, ‘Don’t get pregnant,’” she told the Free Press after the ceremony. “No one thought that I would be able to go on to university, or certainly not become a doctor.”

A foster parent and stay-at-home mom, she decided to go back to school, driving herself to campus from her home in Steinbach every day. She earned a degree in psychology, and began studying for the Medical College Admission Test. Eight years of hard work later, she has her degree in medicine.

About 10 per cent of her graduating class came from, as she describes it, a “non-traditional” route — or students who didn’t directly pursue medicine after their bachelor’s degrees.

“I think that because we have experience outside of just being university students, we bring a lot of maturity and wisdom that some of the other students are going to have to learn over time,” she said.

She was joined Thursday by her family. She plans to work as a family physician in Steinbach and hopes to focus on women’s care; she is considering additional study to specialize in gynecology.

“It was a very long journey, and I’m so proud that I was able to be here, that my family was able to be here, and that all the people behind me are going to be able to follow me, as well,” she said.

Medical degrees were conferred on 101 graduates on Thursday morning. An additional 87 graduates in dentistry, dental hygiene and pharmacy recived their degrees in an afternoon convocation.

“You are all about to be incredibly busy, not that you haven’t been for the last four years, and you may struggle to find time to reflect on your place in the world and how you can affect change in our medical system,” U of M president Michael Bennaroch told the doctors.

“But try to find time to see the big picture and reflect on how you can make us better. You’re about to be at the centre of so much. Be proud to take your place there.”

Honorary degree bestowed

This year’s honorary degree was given to Sister Lesley Sacouman, a retired nun who devoted her life to supporting youth and newcomers in need.

Sacouman founded the House of Peace, a non-profit that provides safe housing for newcomer women, and co-founded long-standing neighbourhood drop-in centre Rossbrook House.

“Graduates, in medicine — your chosen vocation — life and death are your inseparable, identical, twin companions,” she told the graduates.

“Each day, greet them, befriend them with all your mind and all your heart. I promise you, they will ground you and empower you to live and die satiated with life.”

She described herself as a “person with limited academic status,” and encouraged graduates to use their new positions to uplift their communities.

“Do no harm,” she said. “Take off your shoes, for you are standing on holy ground.”

— Malak Abas