The memory of Pierre Elliott Trudeau was honoured on Parliament Hill yesterday as the federal government announced a $125-million endowment that will eventually support more than 100 scholars each year.
The endowment will provide scholarships that are intended, eventually, to rival the distinguished Rhodes Scholarships in prestige.
MPs from all parties applauded enthusiastically when the announcement was made in the House and turned to the public gallery where Mr. Trudeau's youngest surviving son, Sacha, stood and acknowledged the tribute with a broad smile and a bow.
The announcement of the endowment -- which will support up to 100 doctoral fellows and 20 mid-career scholars annually -- was made by Industry Minister Allan Rock. In his address, the minister quoted the late prime minister's Just Society speech, which became the blueprint for an array of Liberal government social programs throughout the 1970s.
"On the never-ending road to perfect justice, we will succeed in creating the most humane and compassionate society possible," Mr. Rock quoted, noting that the speech had been delivered 30 years ago this month. The endowment will come from the Industry Minister's innovation strategies program even though the fellowships are earmarked for doctoral studies in human rights, social justice, the environment and other fields in the humanities that Mr. Trudeau championed. Technology, engineering and other applied sciences are the usual areas for Industry Canada funding.
Prime Minister Jean Chrétien's first impulse after Mr. Trudeau's death on Sept. 28, 2000, was to announce that Mount Logan, Canada's highest peak, would be renamed Mount Trudeau.
But that idea was met by widespread opposition from people who said renaming Mount Logan was tampering with Canada's history. The government backed off and said it would study the question of an appropriate tribute with the Trudeau family. Yesterday's announcement was the result.
Sacha Trudeau came up with the idea for the Trudeau Fellowships, Mr. Rock said.
"The best memorial is a living memorial," the young man told reporters, noting that the endowment fund will allow fellowships to be awarded each year in perpetuity.
He predicted that the fellowships "will change the country" and will produce a new generation of top-calibre Canadian scholars "whose voices will be heard here and abroad."
Mr. Rock said that the fellowships will be similar in value and prestige to the Rhodes Scholarships, a program at Oxford University that was endowed by Cecil Rhodes, who amassed a diamond fortune in southern Africa.
The $125-million endowment, administered by the newly created Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation, will be invested and should produce enough annual revenue for up to 25 new fellowships a year, each valued at $50,000. A Trudeau Fellowship will be good for up to four years of doctoral and postdoctoral study.
Grants will also be available for five mid-career scholars each year. They are valued at up to $75,000 a year for up to four years.
In addition, the foundation will finance a mentoring program for 15 senior academics to bring along promising protégés. Mentors will receive retainers of up to $20,000 a year plus up to $15,000 for travel.
The fellowships will be awarded on a competitive basis. About 75 per cent will be reserved for Canadian scholars to make sure the country's best minds are able to conduct their research at home.
The scholars, including foreign students, can study at any university in the country.
The fellows will work in fields such as Canadian studies, history, international relations, journalism, law, peace and conflict studies, philosophy, political economy, political science, sociology and urban studies, the government said.
The list of board members sounds like who's who, including former provincial premiers Bill Davis and Bob Rae of Ontario, Peter Lougheed of Alberta, former Trudeau cabinet minister Marc Lalonde and United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fréchette. It also includes Roy Heenan, Mr. Trudeau's law partner at the time of his death, and Sacha Trudeau.