Elizabeth Dowdeswell: ‘I remain a stubborn, incurable optimist’

Elizabeth Dowdeswell was an honouree at the Annual Testimonial Dinner Honour Roll 2025.  Dowdeswell has had a storied career that spanned all levels of government and culminated as the longest-serving lieutenant-governor of Ontario.

Here is her acceptance speech on the ‘remarkable opportunity’ getting to know Canada, and how to respond to today’s unprecedented challenges:

My Canada is a land of opportunity. It has allowed this immigrant to explore so many paths of possibility, to step into the larger world with confidence and to look to the future with hope. Small town Saskatchewan taught me about resilience, solidarity and how to build community. While large and vibrant Toronto teaches me the beauty of diversity and encourages me to be innovative and creative. Here, nothing seems impossible. And as we engage in this world of uncertainty and indifference, my Canada exhibits generosity and spirit, cherishes human dignity, commits to justice and human rights and nurtures peace. There is no place I would rather be. This is where I belong. This is home. 

For the past decade, I’ve had the remarkable opportunity to get to know my home more deeply. The people who shape it, sustain it and give it heart. And I’ve tried to use that privilege with care. To amplify the voices of the citizens of Ontario. Voices of heartbreak, of deep pain and profound perseverance. But voices too of dignity and determination. It’s been a most humbling experience. You trusted me with your stories. You gave me permission to speak them out loud. And for that, I will always be grateful. 

So for me, tonight is deeply personal. I’m filled with gratitude and hope. Hope that every person I’ve met, whether in celebration or in sorrow, can one day say with confidence, I belong. If not today, tomorrow. The role of a vice regal is on the surface formal and ceremonial. It’s wrapped in tradition, rooted in continuity and publicly understood in symbolic terms. 

But I want to spend my few moments this evening sharing with you the human dimension, the 80 percent of the role that’s often unseen. At its heart, the amazing platform of a lieutenant governor is not about power, it’s about people. Its true power is the power to convene and, above all, to do so with intention, to provide a safe space for conversation, a place of genuine and respectful dialogue without judgment. 

The journey of trying to understand the very identity of Ontarians took me through thousands of events and interactions with generous people in every corner of this huge province. And everywhere I asked, who are you? Why are you living here? What matters to you? What are you proud of? What are your aspirations and what has prevented you from achieving your dreams? 

Through storytelling, we held a mirror to ourselves, publishing unheard voices and actually sharing our perspectives internationally. And we created memories, memories that actually made history. For example, when we brought together from the first meeting of the Crown in contemporary history, all 14 members of Canada’s viceregal family around a sacred fire in convocation at the Chapel Royal at Massey College. The first such meeting in contemporary history between the Crown and Indigenous people. That’s one of my memories. 

And in quieter moments, in hospital rooms, at memorials, or on long phone calls during the loneliest days of the pandemic, I bore witness to grief, to grace and to the resilience of community. Every day in that period, I learned something about the people I served. Government does really matter in times of crisis, particularly local government. Confidence in experts and scientists can, indeed, be earned. And yes, policy can be built on the firm foundation of evidence. 

I observe the vulnerability of our fragile democracy, the cracks in the underlying institutions. And the realization of our profound interdependencies, not only across geographic borders, but also between economic and social sectors. 

But I also saw what too often goes unspoken. The inequities that persist. The widening gap between carefully crafted policies and the lived reality and passions of those that those policies aimed to serve. A sense of disconnection from a fast-paced world of technological and geopolitical change. These weren’t abstract problems. They were personal for people, they were present, they were real. And the thread through all of it, the one constant, was the simple human desire to be heard. And all I had to do was listen. 

It is indeed an understatement to say that we’re now living in a strange time, a moment of chaos and challenge. And the evidence surrounds us. We see it in persistent sectors of terrorism, ethnic violence, epidemics, environmental destruction and sudden economic shocks. We see it in parts of the world where the violence of the gun and the violence the tongue seem to prevent people from escaping the record of ideology and history. We see it in attacks on the judiciary, the media and the educational institutions. And all of it makes our fears larger, our apprehensions magnified. 

But as challenging and unprecedented as it might seem, our country’s sovereignty has been tested before. Our way of life has been threatened before. Our unity has been shaken before. Perhaps the real danger in this moment may be the illusion that these problems can be solved only from the top down, only from distance. If I’ve learned anything from my journey in the last decade particularly, it’s that real solutions always depend on proximity. On being close enough to listen with your own ears, to see with your eyes, not just the scale of the problem, but the shared values and the shape of the solution. 

And so I remain a stubborn, incurable optimist. Handwringing and turning inward is not the answer. …  I persist in believing that humans can, indeed, influence the course of events and make this world a better place. And I certainly know, deep in my being, that in this world of difference and indifference, Canadians have a special role to play. You have a special role to play. 

So thank you to the Public Policy Forum. Thank you to those of you, my wonderful colleagues who are being honoured this evening for your tireless and unfailing service to our country. There truly is nothing more meaningful than being recognized by one’s peers. And to all of you in this room. I am grateful that you actually live public service, for it’s a calling, not a job. And so it is that I invite, dare to challenge you, to ask more of you because you are needed now as never before. 

How I wish I could find the words to synthesize the literally thousands of stories and experiences that had inspired me. But I will leave you with just one. It was the day when I was asked to present an Order of Canada to an amazing scientist who was credited with denying the release of thalidomide to the U.S. market, ultimately preventing untold birth defects and deaths. She was a Canadian hero. Her name was Frances Bolton Kelsey. 

The request was urgent, and indeed when I arrived at the home of her daughter, Dr. Kelsey was indeed comatose. I gently pressed the medal into her hand, thanking her on behalf of the grateful nation for her service. In the living room, someone softly began playing on piano Oh Canada. And to everyone’s surprise, Dr. Kelsey came too. Actually trying to conduct the music. But within moments she was again unconscious and by the time I returned to Toronto, she had left us. 

The last thing that she heard was gratitude. The last thing she responded to was something so quintessentially Canadian, our anthem. So it’s in her honour that I ask each of you to exercise your leadership, leadership in the service of humanity, to act with bold ambition to realize the Canadian promise of belonging and opportunity. And to do so with empathy by bringing people along with you by listening to them with intention. It’s been the joy of my career to witness the promise of Canada, not as an abstraction at all, but as a living, breathing force. To see it flourish in the smallest of acts, a hand extended, a voice lifted, a moment of selfless service. To know it, to trust it, to believe in it, to love it, and all it stands for with a full heart and unyielding conviction. 

The promise of Canada is ours to keep, but only if we hold it together with those who we serve. Thank you so very much. 

Hear from more 2025 honourees:

• Steve Paikin, renowned journalist and longtime host of The Agenda on TVO, winner of the 2025 Hyman Solomon Award for public interest journalism 
• Alfred Burgesson, founder and CEO of Tribe Network, winner of the 2025 Emerging Leader Award
• Marc-André Blanchard, Executive Vice-President of CDPQ Global and former diplomat
• Anil Arora, former chief statistician at Statistics Canada
• Chief Crystal Smith, leader of the Haisla Nation