The 2008-2009 John J. Wintermeyer Lecture
In democracies like Canada, citizens bear the burden of responsibility for their social and governing institutions. In this lecture, the Honourable Noël A. Kinsella, Speaker of the Senate, discusses the importance of public service and the need for an ethics-based civics education. The Speaker will review the reputation of public service in the postwar era, ranging from an "earned positive" to "historically negative" perceptions. Senator Kinsella argues that an ethics-based civics education is one way to ensure that those who serve in Canada's governing institutions have the necessary ethical foundation to restore and maintain the reputation of public service.
Noel Kinsella
Senator Noël A. Kinsella was appointed the Speaker of the Senate of Canada on February 8, 2006 by Prime Minister Stephen Harper. He was appointed to the Senate by Prime Minister Brian Mulroney in 1990 while serving as a senior public servant in the office of Associate Under-Secretary of State of Canada. He became the Senate Opposition Whip in 1994 and Deputy Leader of the Opposition in 1999. Senator Kinsella was elected the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate in 2004. A native of Saint John, New Brunswick, Senator Kinsella has earned degrees from University College, Dublin, Ireland (BA); St. Thomas Aquinas University, Rome, Italy (LPh., and PhD); and Pontifical Lateran University, Rome, Italy (STL, STD). Dr. Kinsella spent 41 years as a faculty member at St. Thomas University, Fredericton, NB. where he established a reputation as one of Canada's foremost experts on human rights.
This lecture was endowed by a special fund created by family and friends in memory of the late John J. Wintermeyer.