March 2, 1998

AMBASSADOR VANDEN HEUVEL: As the Prime Minister indicated, NEADS has been designated to receive the $50,000 Franklin Delano Roosevelt International Disability Award, and speaking for the National Education Association is Kent Hehr.

MR. KENT HEHR: Mr. Prime Minister, distinguished guests:

On behalf of the National Educational Association of Disabled Students, I want to thank you very much for selecting NEADS as a recipient of these funds. I also wanted to thank the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute for initiating this award. I want you all to know we will put this money to effective use.

In today's knowledge-based economy, all of us need the education to make the most of its opportunities. That is equally true for young people with disabilities. Since 1986, NEADS has been active in working to make campuses more accessible and accommodating.

But that is only the start. No one stays on campus forever. People with disabilities look forward to careers like all other students, and like our classmates we often need the work experience that opens doors to those careers. By funding our mentorship program this award will help us build bridges to work for more students with disabilities. It will ensure that more of these students can get the exposure to the workplace that will help them build networks and careers.

This award shows a good beginning for Canada. We need to continue our work to ensure full citizenship and full participation of disabled people in all aspects of Canadian life.

We will need your help, Mr. Prime Minister, and everyone's help in this room to take this further.

Thank you very much for this honour and for all of your continued support. Thank you.

AMBASSADOR VANDEN HEUVEL: Thank you, Kent it is totally by chance that this is her first day on the job and it is totally by chance that she is Canadian, but it is the world's great Good fortune that she has accepted the position and this responsibility, and it is my single honour to introduce the Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations.