THE TITLE OF DEGREE AND DOCTOR OF LAWS (honoris causa) CONFERRED AT CONGREGATION, MAY 24, 2007
CASSIE CAMPBELL-PASCALL
MR. CHANCELLOR,
Since lacing up her first pair of skates at the age of five, Cassie Campbell has become a Canadian sports icon and an inspiration for the next generation of Olympians.
Ms. Campbell has played our national sport of hockey with both skill and heart. These qualities were perhaps best displayed at the Salt Lake City Winter Games, where she led Canada’s women’s hockey team to our country’s first Olympic gold medal in the sport in 50 years.
When the team won gold again four years later in Turin, Italy, she became the only Canadian hockey player – male or female – to captain a team to two Olympic gold medals.
Ms. Campbell’s Olympic successes are high points of a brilliant 12-year career with the national team. All in all, she won an astounding 17 gold medals and competed in three Winter Olympics, seven World Championships and many other international tournaments.
Since retiring from competitive hockey in 2006, the University of Guelph sociology graduate has worked for the CBC as a rink-side reporter, and she is the first woman to provide colour commentary on CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada.
Ms. Campbell continues to promote women’s hockey and physical activity among young people, and in 2004 launched the Cassie Campbell Street Hockey Festival to help raise money for the Ronald McDonald House.
Mr. Chancellor, to recognize her outstanding contributions to sport and community in Canada, I ask you to confer the degree of Doctor of Laws, honoris causa, upon Cassie Dawn Campbell-Pascall.