WINNIPEG (CP) - Governor General Michaelle Jean urged university students Tuesday to use their knowledge and skills to fight poverty and other social ills.

"Poverty is very much alive in communities across the country," Jean told hundreds of graduating students at the University of Manitoba.

"Discrimination still manages to rear its ugly head. Homelessness still confronts hundreds of women and …

… men across Canada.

"We must offer a helping hand to those in need. For our capacity to flourish as an open and democratic society is contingent on our willingness to work together to ensure that no one is left behind."

Jean was awarded an honorary doctorate of law by the university, largely in recognition of her work on behalf of women's shelters in Quebec before she became governor general.

She spoke of her childhood in Haiti, where her mother told her that education was the key to freedom and a better life.

"Institutions of higher learning have always played a fundamental role in this regard. They have provided societies with public spaces where knowledge, dialogue and collective action have been cultivated."

"Through these critical spaces for dialogue and learning ... we have been empowered to work together as agents of change in our communities and neighbourhoods."

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