Louis-Joseph Saucier

Receiving Canada's most prestigious and generous doctoral scholarship in the humanities and social sciences was my first major reward for my academic efforts, and I took this recognition as a strong encouragement to pursue my research in an area likely to reverberate in the non-university world. Thanks to the resources the scholarship offered, I was able to undertake a jointly supervised thesis at the Université du Québec à Montréal and the Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, an experience that was enriching both academically and culturally, in the broadest sense of the term.

Through the events organized by the Trudeau Foundation, I also had the opportunity to meet many fascinating people from various professional and academic backgrounds who each in their own way reflect on the issues related to the Foundation's four major themes and take a stance. In particular, I developed a special bond with my co-scholars, joining a vibrant community of young intellectuals who care deeply about the future of the world. And my own research was naturally enriched by this contact. But beyond this - and more importantly - I found new sources of hope, in the sense that I met people who are ready to invest their hearts and determination to face the vital challenges that the coming decades appear to hold in store for us.