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MOUNT ALLISON UNIVERSITY STUDENT CENTRE LAUNCH
September 27, 2008

Remarks of the Hon. Margaret Norrie McCain

Mr. Chancellor, Mr. President, Chancellor Emeritus Purdy Crawford, Senators, donors, distinguished guests, friends, and fellow Allisonians — good afternoon. It’s great to look out into a sea of familiar faces.

This is a very special and exciting day for me and for our family - our connection to this wonderful institution means a lot to all of us and goes back a long way.

Both my parents and all my siblings (seven of them) attended Mt. A as did Wallace and me and all our children. Both of us sat on the Board of Regents and I was Chancellor from 1986 to 1995. 

This is also an important day for Mt. Allison and the citizens of Sackville whose lives have been inextricably entwined with this University for almost 170 years —back to 1839 when Charles Frederick Allison, a local businessman, fulfilled his vision for an educational institution to serve the young people of this region and this province. 

It is our hope that this complex will cement that connection between the two worlds of “town and gown”.

Behind me, in the central part of the new Student Centre, is the Trueman Atrium. I was here, as a young child, on May 22, 1945 when the cornerstone of Trueman House was laid and I remember the pride I felt that day. Trueman House was built to replace the Men’s Residence that burned in 1941. I remember that day. It makes this ceremony all the more meaningful.

The house was named after Dr. George Trueman, my great-uncle and the family patriarch who was the President of Mount Allison from 1923 to 1945.

I was very close to this wonderful man — in fact, I did my undergraduate history thesis on the period of Mt. A history when he was president.

There are not many people alive today who remember him but I can tell you — he was a good President who was held in very high regard and affection. It means a lot to me that his name is being preserved on this campus at the heart of a complex that will truly be central to the lives of Mount Allison students. This would please him enormously.

He would also recognize that times change.

Trueman House throughout its life as a student residence, from 1945 to 2005, housed thousands of men (and in later years, women). If those walls could have talked what stories could have gone into the annals of this University’s history and into the time capsules.

Through the eyes and lives of multiple friends as well as my son, Scott, my brothers George and Roderick and my nephew, Jeff, I know what Trueman House meant to those students. From the Theology students in West Section to the Engineers in the East Section — people who had vastly different goals and life styles — Trueman House left a foot print on their hearts and, yes, even their minds. They learned more about life from each other within those walls than they ever learned in the classrooms. Women were barred from Trueman House in my day and we really would liked to have had a peek into the inner sanctum; this bastion of testosterone!!. We only got as far as Tweedie Hall but, believe me, we heard the stories.

Now, what was Trueman House is the entry point into a multi-faceted student complex which will address all aspects of their development.

The culture at Mt. Allison has always been warm, welcoming and inclusive. Small classes and a committed faculty have nurtured a supportive environment rooted in excellence, that has always taught, and continues to teach, students to believe in themselves.

My professors dared me to dream big and gave me the tools to achieve my goals. They gave me self confidence and helped me find my voice.  I think of Dr. Donald Kerr, my first year History professor, who liked my first year paper and talked me into doing an Honours Programme. I can still remember that day — I left his office floating 10 feet off the ground. He made me feel I could climb any mountain.

Once, we thought it was enough in University to impart and seek knowledge. Today, we know that to reach their full potential, students need to be mentally and physically fit as well. This Centre will address all the holistic needs of students to be sound in Mind, Body and Spirit and it will give them the preparation they need to be the best they can be in the classroom.

This Centre will be even more — it will be the gathering place for students, faculty, administrators and citizens of Sackville. Here, they will come together for fun, fitness, intellectual sharing and vigourous discussion and debate.

 I wish this had been part of my student experience. All we had was Mel’s Restaurant and I do remember it with nostalgia and affection — eight to a booth!!

We loved it!!

But it wasn’t enough.

Wallace and I have been very blessed. We have worked hard and we have challenged ourselves and each other. We have traveled the world and done our best to make it a little better. Now, we are thrilled to share our blessings with Mt. Allison and the people of Sackville.  (My mother’s family came from Upper Sackville).

It’s an interesting story, how we came to make this gift. We wanted to celebrate Wallace’s 75th birthday and give him something special. So when our family gathered for dinner that night, we told him we had good news and we had bad news. The good news, we said, was that we were going to make a gift to help build a new Student Centre at Mount Allison. The bad news was that he was going to have to pay for it!

Much will happen within the walls of the Centre. I urge the students of today and tomorrow to take advantage of all the opportunities available here — they may help to shape your lives. Who Knows? Discussion within these walls may ignite the ambitions of a future prime minister. Your faculty will provide you with knowledge but the debates and discussions that will go on here, some in the “wee hours,” will light fires for the future.

Mount Allison is one of Canada’s most distinguished universities. I am proud to be a part of this landmark event or of the role this Centre will play in the lives of the students, the faculty and the citizens of Sackville. It will be the centre of your lives here and well into the future. Congratulations to all who made it possible.

May God bless all who pass through these doors.

I’ll leave you with an excerpt from a poem written by Stefan Rose, a Fine Arts student who graduated from Mount Allison in 1999. He’s had it published recently by Anchorage Press. The book is entitled, The House that Stands. It’s about the former Trueman House.

the house that stands
remains
the same

change of minor
importance continues
as will be done
for more generations
that pass the stone
faces and walls
coloured red with light
rising above the earth
the residence
memorial to

Trueman

(Stefan A. Rose, The House That Stands)

See photos of the Wallace McCain Student Centre opening