Patricia Bovey, a leading voice in Canadian arts and culture, received an honorary degree at a York University Fall Convocation ceremony on Oct. 16.
Brandon Vickerd, dean of the School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design (AMPD), introduced Bovey by highlighting her five decades of advancing the role of the arts in Canadian society through her work as an art historian, museum director, gallery curator and senator. Her career, he noted, “reflects her unwavering belief in the power of art to heal, unite and inspire.”
Bovey embodied that belief in her address to graduands. “Creative expression is everywhere and needs to be seen, heard and cherished,” she said, emphasizing how the arts have measurable – even life-saving – benefits. Research, she shared, shows that arts attendees live two years longer, use less health care, miss fewer days of work and recover faster after elective surgery.
She then expanded on these tangible effects to highlight the deeper role of the arts in shaping society. “The arts truly have a leading place in society’s future,” she said. “Art expresses the humanity within everyone in this room, within this University, our communities, our country and globally. Art portrays our place, our time and society – its beauty, crises and challenges.”
Bovey reflected on how, long before national inquiries or reconciliation initiatives, artists were using their work to reveal uncomfortable truths. She pointed to Rebecca Belmore, whose performance and installation works Vigil and The Named and the Unnamed drew attention to missing and murdered Indigenous women, and Joane Cardinal-Schubert, whose 1989 installation The Lesson critiqued the residential school system decades before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission brought the issue to national attention.
These examples, she said, show that the arts are not just a reflection of society but a force that shapes it – a force that graduands can now join. She emphasized that the arts are integral to every dimension of contemporary life and told graduands their own contributions would be, too. “Your new skills are fundamental to all of society,” she said. “We certainly need you.”
Bovey encouraged graduands to remain open to possibility. She recalled that when she graduated, she envisioned becoming a primary school music teacher, having paid for her education by teaching piano. But her path changed as unexpected opportunities arose – to become a gallery director, professor and eventually a senator. “When my senate door opened, did I think I could do it? No, no more than I thought I could teach when invited to do that 50 years ago,” she said. She credited her willingness to step through open doors as key to her growth and impact.
That openness led to her historic appointment as Canada’s first art historian and museologist in the senate, where she approached her work through the lens of arts and culture. Among her legislative achievements, she introduced a bill that established Canada’s first parliamentary visual artist laureate – an opportunity, she noted, that future York fine arts graduates could one day explore.
“Keep the doors and pathways open, whether anticipated or unexpected. Engage your skills creatively in the world around you. Participate as a creator, supporter, challenger or critic,” she said. “Remember, the arts are the real glue of society, not a frill. That reality has been proven in the past, is true in the present and is essential for the future.”
Drawing on her long-standing work bringing Indigenous perspectives to the forefront of cultural practice, Bovey shared teachings inspired by the symbolism of the eagle feather, as taught by Indigenous elders. She quoted artist elder Arthur Vickers, with whom she has closely collaborated: “The feather has two sides, a light side and a dark side, representing the past, good and bad, and the present, good and bad, as they will the future. The Creator gave us two eyes, one that sees bad things, the other only good… He gave us a mind that gives us a choice every moment of every day to make the wrong decision or the right decision.”
The teaching, Bovey reflected, serves as a reminder to be mindful of life’s dualities and to let awareness guide right choices.
She closed by urging graduands to lead with passion and purpose. “Use your talents, dedication, expertise and insight to make this a better place for all,” she said. Then, recalling a personal inspiration, she added: “My late husband’s mantra was, ‘We are all better off when we are all better off.’ So going forward, let’s all contribute together to making us all better off.”