Convocation ceremonies at Dalhousie provide students with a chance to celebrate their years of hard work and achievements with friends, family and fellow students on campus. They also mark their transition from students to alumni, plus, they offer an opportunity to celebrate the accomplishments of others through the bestowing of honorary degrees.

The tradition of awarding honorary degrees stretches back 131 years at Dalhousie. Honorary degrees are awarded to individuals across a wide range of disciplines and achievements. They recognize people who have shown inspirational leadership, have made outstanding contributions to a field or discipline of study or a non‐academic area of achievement, and/or who have made outstanding achievements at or contributions to Dalhousie. Candidates are reviewed and recommended by the Senate Honorary Degrees Committee and approved by the university Senate.

The 2022 spring honorary degree cohort consists of two people: Dr. Edward Cain (MD’78) who is already an alum, and Brad Barton who is soon to become an alum (as all honorary degree recipients officially join our alumni community if they’re not a member already). The Dal alumni community is grateful for the many ways they enrich our community.

Barton the educator and activist

Barton knew he wanted to teach from the time he was a teenager. Over the past 60 years, few individuals can claim to have had a more positive impact on Nova Scotia’s school systems. From his own experience attending a segregated school to his work in classrooms and the provincial Department of Education, Barton has transformed the way our schools welcome and support African Nova Scotian learners and, indeed, students from all corners of this province.

Born and raised in Jordantown, Digby County, N.S., Barton began teaching at Allan W Evans/Nelson Whynder Elementary School in North Preston, N.S. fresh out of high school before even completing his teaching certification. In the years since, he has been a principal at the elementary, junior high and high school levels, and has held several senior administrative positions including Supervisor of Schools and Supervisor & Coordinator of Race Relations, Cross-cultural Education and Human Rights. In these roles and others, he has been instrumental in creating and leading initiatives to increase accessibility and improve outcomes for African Nova Scotian learners. He is a lifetime member of the Canadian Education Association and a past president of the National Council of Black Educators in Canada.

When Barton was named to the Order of Nova Scotia in 2017, he reflected on how far African-Nova Scotian rights have come since he began school as a student in a small segregated school in rural Nova Scotia.

“We have individuals who are now involved at the board level with race relations, student support workers, African Nova Scotian school board members, African Nova Scotian Affairs; we have all those things,” said Barton.

However, he acknowledged that there is still much to be done: “Even though we may think we’re there, always something comes up that generates a negative reaction to us and to people who are not part of the mainstream.”

Barton the coach

Barton has left a legacy in the sporting world as well, serving as a volleyball coach, official and administrator. He officiated at two Olympic Games, one PanAm Games, three World Student Games and a World Championships. He is the first Black Canadian to become an internationally rated volleyball referee.

Other awards he has received include the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, the Order of Nova Scotia and induction into the Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame.

Spring 2023 Convocation ceremonies will be celebrated from May 29 to June 7 at the Alumni Theatre, Cumming Hall for the Faculty of Agriculture and at the Dalhousie Arts Centre for all other Faculties. Barton’s degree will be presented at the Tuesday, June 6 ceremony, which begins at 9 a.m. (Livestream the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences ceremony that day).