McGill’s convocation ceremony has a history rich with both tradition and change. It has been held at many sites, such as the Lower Field, Strathcona Hall, many downtown Montreal theatres, and the Arthur Currie Memorial Fieldhouse. Convocation speakers have given speeches in French (Wilfrid Laurier’s valedictory speech to his graduating class in Law, in 1864) and English (Mordecai Richler’s address in 2000). Many honorary degrees have been awarded at Convocations, to such luminaries as Rudyard Kipling, Prince Edward, Lester Pearson, and in a special, eleventh-hour ceremony in Québec City in 1944, Winston Churchill and Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

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