Hon. Sabi Marwah: Honourable senators, I rise today to speak about Julia Levy, who was just announced as the newest Rhodes Scholar from British Columbia.

The Rhodes Scholarship is one of the most prestigious postgraduate awards for study at the University of Oxford. Established in 1902, it is the oldest graduate scholarship in the world. Key criteria for the Rhodes Scholarship includes academic excellence, leadership ability and commitment to service with a focus on contributing to positive change in the world.

Julia meets all these requirements and then some. She is a scientist, artist and activist, and she is also the first trans woman to be awarded the Rhodes Scholarship in Canada.

Julia graduated with a major in chemistry and a minor in visual arts from the University of Victoria. During her second year, she combined the two fields of study and invented a virtual reality program to help chemistry students visualize molecules in a better way. She went on to develop an augmented reality format for visualizing complex molecules. Professor Jeremy Wulff said in a statement on Julia that she is “destined for greatness.”

Julia also worked with the university’s Vancouver Island Drug Checking Project and the Gender Generation Project for trans youth and their families.

I spoke with Julia yesterday and asked her if there was a message she wished to share with Canadians. She said:

I want to celebrate how far we have come. Being a transgender woman is the most beautiful and joyous experience of my life.

Transgender people have something vital to contribute to our national community, and I hope that in receiving this award I will have a positive impact on the lives of others.

I am incredibly grateful to share these words with you; as a transwoman, a British Columbian, and as a Canadian. I hope and intend to impact the world in a way that will make Canada proud.

Colleagues, as many of you know, the Rhodes Scholarship comes with a dated set of rules and a history of racial inequality, gender and class discrimination.

Elizabeth Kiss, warden of Rhodes House in Oxford, acknowledged that the Rhodes Trust is grappling with its history. But the negative aspects of the founder’s vision for the scholarship have been rejected, except for the core values that still make sense. For example, Kiss says that Rhodes wanted to develop people with “an energy to lead and a kindness for others.” Levy has that in spades, Kiss said.

As Canada’s first trans woman to be awarded this scholarship, Julia is proving that excellence and success are accessible to everyone regardless of their gender expression or sexual orientation. Thank you.