A ceremony where it’s OK to have your smartphone on held at Trent

BCE Inc. president and CEO George Cope received an honorary degree at Trent University’s convocation ceremony Tuesday afternoon.

“You’re typically told to turn off your smartphone, but if it’s a Bell phone you can keep it on,” Cope joked with the students, faculty and guests gathered for the ceremony.

The honorary award is presented to individuals who have made an extraordinary contribution to Canadian society.

After his commitment to raising awareness and funds in support of mental health in Canada, Cope was given the award for his leadership in the #BellLetsTalk initiative.

“It’s a true honour to be alongside all of you today and to share today,” Cope said.

“You’ve benefited from an incredible education and such a beautiful campus.”

Cope graduated from the University of Western Ontario in 1984.

“It’s been a few years since I’ve graduated like all of you,” he said.

“Lebron James was born that year, Prince Harry, Katy Perry, but maybe most important to this audience is the Apple Macintosh computer.”

After working at a bank for about 10 years following his graduation, Cope became the president of a wireless startup company.

He and eight others established the company in a construction trailer located in Pickering.

“We dreamed really big. We believed in the potential of wireless,” he said.

Cope told the graduates that people didn’t believe in the potential of wireless technology.

“If someone puts in front of you an opportunity for something new, take the risk, because I’ve never had to look back because of it,” he said.

Cope and his team named the company Clearnet and sold it to Telus for $6.7 billion in 2000 — the largest acquisition ever in Canadian telecom.

“That company now is Telus Mobility, which is still using that animal future friendly branding that we designed 25 years ago,” he said.

When Cope was younger, he said he dreamed of becoming Dr. J — Julius Erving from the Philadelphia 76ers.

“When I played basketball — and I did here in Peterborough, I did in high school and I played later in university — I dreamed of becoming Dr. J,” he said.

“Well I didn’t get Dr. J, but I’m happy to take on Dr. G. And to all of you, get out in the world and transform it. Doctor’s orders,” Cope told the graduates.

This year, across campuses in Peterborough and Oshawa, Trent University will honour 1,827 members of the 2018 graduating class.

There are 89 graduate students.

Of this year’s graduate students, 32 are completing degrees in the arts, 39 in the sciences and, for the first time this year, 18 in education.

Trent’s convocation ceremonies will continue until Friday.

NOTE: For anyone unable to attend the ceremonies in person, Trent will have a live stream of the ceremonies available at trent.ca/stream/.