Axworthy quite a Companion

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This article was published 18/01/2016 (3792 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Lloyd Axworthy had a little help from his companions.

On Dec. 30, the former president of the University of Winnipeg was named a Companion of the Order of Canada, the highest level of the Order of Canada, for his contributions to human rights and his leadership in post-secondary education, particularly in support of Aboriginal students.

Axworthy, 76, was previously an Officer of the Order of Canada, a distinction which he received in 2003 for his leadership against anti-personnel landmines during his time as Canada’s foreign affairs minister.

To celebrate Axworthy’s Order of Canada elevation, Point Douglas MLA Kevin Chief and about 30 young people who have benefited from Axworthy’s educational initiatives held a thank-you ceremony at the Manitoba Indigenous Cultural Education Centre on Jan. 12.

“I was just a kid from the North End who was able to benefit from the incredible support and companionship of all kinds of people growing up, and in the work that I have been able to do,” said Axworthy during a speech at the ceremony.

“That’s what I like about the nature of the award. When you say companion, it’s a recognition that to achieve things, you have to work with others, you have to be a part of a team.”

Axworthy, a Sisler High School graduate who attended Florence Nightingale, Lord Nelson and King Edward schools as a youngster, made education for indigenous students a priority while president of the U of W, a position he held from 2004 to 2014.

Axworthy, along with Chief, the former co-ordinator of the Innovative Learning Centre at the U of W, worked together to create such inner-city and indigenous-focused programs as the Opportunity Fund, the Eco-U Summer Kids Camp, Eco-Kids on Campus and the Model School.

“When living in a working-class area, education was our way of moving forward. I won’t say I was the best student, but I learned that education itself, and the way you could apply it, would give you that lift,” Axworthy told The Times.

Axworthy’s efforts have lifted Jessica Lavallee. The 19-year-old is a graduate of Model School, a program which provides at-risk students with individual support to succeed at University Collegiate.

Lavallee is now in her third year of conflict resolution studies at the U of W and is working at the Manitoba Human Rights Commission.

Lavallee doesn’t believe she’d be where she is without the Model School program.

“I don’t think so, just because I was the first person in my family to actually graduate high school,” Lavallee said.

“As a young person, when I was in middle school, I was getting into a bit of trouble. I was heading toward a place where there would be no diploma.”

Axworthy is one of only 145 Canadians to be named a Companion of the Order of Canada and the second North Ender to receive the designation. The first was Sylvia Ostry, an economist and public servant who grew up on Polson Avenue.

Chief said Axworthy has always remembered where he comes from.

“Although he has a global reach, he’s never forgotten the neighbourhood that’s given him the most, which his Winnipeg’s North End,” Chief said.