Good morning.
We stand before you today as a very grateful and diverse group of current and past recipients and friends of the Terry Fox Humanitarian Award program. My name is Paulina Louis, and I was a Vietnamese boat person who arrived in Canada as a refugee with nothing but a sense of hope. This extraordinary award program altered my life.
While I've also served on the provincial interview committee for the past 10 years, I have had the privilege of meeting these compassionate and altruistic Terry Fox scholars, whose lives were changed by the award program. They have graduated and have since continued to inspire and effect positive change in Canada and beyond.
I urge you to consider the profound impact of this award program and the ripple effects it carries for generations of Canadians. This program allowed us to pursue our passions for volunteering, humanitarian efforts, athleticism and higher education despite facing tremendous obstacles. In a world where compassion and unity are needed more than ever, you have the power to ensure that programs like this continue in Canada.
Please, let us honour the legacy of Terry Fox, a true Canadian hero. Please support the Terry Fox Humanitarian Award program so that it can continue to empower the leaders and the humanitarians of tomorrow.
Thank you so much.