Greta Thunberg (photo credit: Facebook)

By Kevin Rothwell

Six degree recipients at UBCO

Thunberg and Henry to receive honorary UBC degrees

Mar 31, 2021 | 10:42 AM

B.C. Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and internationally renowned climate activist Greta Thunberg will receive honorary degrees from UBC this spring.

Dr. Henry will receive her honorary degree from UBC Vancouver, while Thunberg will receive her honorary degree from UBC Okanagan. They are among 18 individuals receiving honorary degrees from UBC.

“Our honorary degree recipients are a remarkable group of people that are making a difference in their communities both globally and locally,” Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Principal of UBC Okanagan Lesley Cormack said. “It is an honour to have Dr. Henry and Ms. Thunberg, together with all 18 recipients this year, join the UBC community. As a university that is committed to bold thinking and social and technological innovation, their contributions to the most urgent issues of our day—including public health and climate change—are critical in our journey towards a better, safer and more sustainable future.”

UBC confers honorary degrees—the highest honours conferred by the university—to deserving individuals who have made substantial contributions to society. Honorary degrees are conferred honoris causa, meaning “for the sake of honour,” and are awarded as one of three types: Doctor of Laws, Doctor of Letters, and Doctor of Science. Dr. Henry is receiving a Doctor of Science, while Thunberg is receiving a Doctor of Laws.

Dr. Henry is B.C.’s Provincial Health Officer and a former physician epidemiologist for the B.C. Centre for Disease Control. The calm, assured face of the COVID-19 pandemic response in B.C., she has led the government initiative from a rational, scientific perspective, garnering accolades from across Canada and internationally. Her specialized work in public health and preventive medicine also includes critical international initiatives such as the WHO/UNICEF polio eradication program in Pakistan and the World Health Organization’s response to the Ebola outbreak in Uganda.

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Thunberg, 18, has gained international recognition for challenging world leaders to take immediate, science-based action against climate change, and for sparking climate-change activism in many parts of the world. A three-time Nobel Peace Prize nominee, she has given speeches at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland; at the European Parliament; in front of the legislatures of Italy, France, the United Kingdom and the United States; at the 2019 UN Youth Climate Summit in New York, to which she famously traveled on an emissions‐free yacht; and the 2019 UN Climate Change Conference in Madrid.

Together with Dr. Henry and Thunberg, 18 individuals in total will receive honorary degrees from UBC.

The UBCO degrees go to the following notable individuals:

• Theresa Arsenault, an Okanagan business lawyer who established the Aboriginal Access Award at UBCO to help Indigenous students who are encountering financial roadblocks to higher education.
• Peter Dhillon, a second-generation farmer, entrepreneur and UBC alumnus well-known for a wide range of community service and philanthropy in the areas of health care, child humanitarian support, education and sport.
• Al Hildebrandt, a Kelowna-based technology entrepreneur with an extraordinary record of community and humanitarian service.
• Chief Clarence Louie of the Osoyoos Indian Band of the Okanagan Nation, who has consistently emphasized economic development as a means to improve his people’s standard of living.
• Elder Jessie Nyberg, a member of the Canoe Creek Band of the Secwepmc (Shuswap) Nation, a traditional Indigenous and academic scholar, and visionary leader and community builder.

Those being honoured will deliver their addresses via video to the 2021 graduating class.