UM’s highest honour given to four extraordinary Canadians
As graduands cross the stage during Spring Convocation, they will be joined by four honorary degree recipients whose inspiring careers and personal journeys are being recognized by the University.
An honorary degree is the highest honour UM can bestow upon an individual for achieving pre-eminence in science, culture, scholarship, or public service. This year’s recipients have dedicated their lives to building community, revitalized the French language, amplified Indigenous voices and spoken authentically about what it means to be human.
They are: Sister Lesley Sacouman, Rosanna Deerchild, Dr. Catherine (Kate) Bowler and Dr. Greg Selinger.
Thursday, May 15 at 10 a.m.
Sister Lesley Sacouman stands at the centre of hope and belonging. A compassionate educator, community builder and faith leader, she has dedicated her life to creating sanctuaries for Winnipeg’s marginalized communities—transforming countless lives through her unwavering commitment to the service of others.
In 1963, at age 17, she joined the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary, immersing herself in the heart of Winnipeg’s inner city. In 1976, she co-founded Rossbrook House, a safe haven that continues to offer alternative education, nutrition, music, leadership and Indigenous cultural programming to more than 80 children and young mothers each day.
Her advocacy and impact deepened in the decades that followed.
She helped create Anishinaabe Oway-Ishi, an educational and employment training program for Indigenous youth. She co-founded Esther House, a home for women recovering from addiction. She founded the Holy Names House of Peace—a life-affirming refuge for newcomer women and helped establish Marie Rose Place in 2013, a furnished apartment complex for newcomer women and children. At present, she is living at The Salvation Army in a transitional program for vulnerable women.
Her leadership has extended across the community and beyond, including service on the boards of The Winnipeg Foundation, the Law Society’s Access to Justice Steering Committee and UNANIMA International, a United Nations NGO dedicated to advancing human rights.
Wednesday, June 4 at 3:30 p.m.
Ms. Rosanna Deerchild is a Cree storyteller, journalist, poet, playwright and radio host whose voice has transformed the Canadian media and literary landscape. She is a band member of Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation with deep family roots in O-Pipon-Na-Piwin Cree Nation, and has used her platforms to amplify Indigenous voices, challenge racism and spark national conversations about truth, justice and healing.
For ten years, Deerchild has hosted Unreserved on CBC Radio One, a show dedicated to Indigenous culture, music and stories from across Turtle Island. Her interviews are marked by emotional honesty, humour and a deep respect for lived experience. She also launched a CBC podcast on Indigenous history and is now a recurring actor on the television sitcom Acting Good.
A celebrated poet, Deerchild’s work has been published widely and anthologized in collections such as Post-prairie and #NotYourPrincess. Her first poetry collection, this is a small northern town, won the Aqua Books Lansdowne Prize for Poetry in 2009. Her second, Calling Down the Sky, written alongside her mother Edna Ferguson, explores the intergenerational trauma of residential schools and earned the Lowther Memorial Award in 2016. This deeply personal work inspired her debut play, The Secret to Good Tea, which premiered at the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre in 2023 to critical and community acclaim. Deerchild also co-founded the Aboriginal Writers Collective which has nurtured Indigenous literary talent for over two decades.
Friday, June 6 at 9:30 a.m.
Dr. Catherine (Kate) Bowler tells the truth about life’s hardest moments. She is an antidote to a culture of algorithms that nudge us away from what is real. A raised-in-Winnipeg historian and New York Times bestselling author, she is internationally recognized for her profound contributions to public understanding of faith, resilience and imperfection.
After being diagnosed with stage IV cancer at the age of 35, she began writing and speaking about what it means to live when the future is uncertain. Her bestselling memoirs—Everything Happens for a Reason (and Other Lies I’ve Loved) and No Cure for Being Human (and Other Truths I Need to Hear)—have touched millions, helping readers navigate their own suffering and loss without resorting to easy answers.
She confronts these difficult topics on her award-winning podcast, Everything Happens, where she has deeply human conversations with guests like author Malcolm Gladwell, comedian Tig Notaro and political satirist Rick Mercer. Bowler’s voice stands out in a society preoccupied with curating faux-perfection and totting toxic positivity; she offers compassion, honesty and a vision of grace that meets people where they are.
As a professor at Duke Divinity School, Bowler has brought insight and clarity to a cultural theology that equates success with moral worth. Her book Blessed: A History of the American Prosperity Gospel was the first and remains the most authoritative study of this uniquely American religious movement.
Bowler’s work reminds us that embracing life’s limitations can reveal its deepest beauty.
Monday, June 16 at 3 p.m.
From his early work in Winnipeg’s Inner City and North End to his leadership as Premier, Dr. Greg Selinger’s decades-long commitment to social justice and linguistic equality has had a lasting impact on Manitoba.
Before entering politics, he worked as a social worker doing community development in partnership with underserved populations and later taught in the Faculty of Social Work at the University of Manitoba.
Selinger was first elected as a city councillor for St. Boniface. He was then elected as a Member of the Legislative Assembly, ultimately serving as Manitoba’s Minister of Finance, Minister responsible for Francophone Affairs and, from 2009 to 2016, Premier of Manitoba.
Throughout his political career, Selinger consistently advocated for the vitality of Manitoba’s Francophone communities. As Minister responsible for Francophone Affairs, he ensured the implementation of all recommendations from the 1998 Chartier Report on French-language services. He supported the creation of six bilingual service centres and laid the foundation for a whole-of-government approach to supporting the development of the Francophonie—efforts that moved beyond service delivery to cultural and linguistic revitalization.
Selinger also championed access to French-language education, supporting the expansion of both French-first language and immersion school networks, and played a leading role in securing full university status for the Université de Saint-Boniface.