Humanitarian (Son Soubert) speaks at Senator Riley

On Tuesday, Senator Riley School held an assembly in honour of Humanitarian Dr. Son Soubert. Teacher Mary Daunt invited Soubert to speak to students and teachers after being a part of the University of Lethbridge committee that selected Soubert to receive the Doctor of Laws degree.Photo by Angela Hill

Posted By Angela Hill

High River Times Editor

On Tuesday afternoon, Senator Riley School students and staff had the rare opportunity of meeting one of the greatest humanitarians to walk the Earth, Cambodia’s Dr. Son Soubert.

Soubert was invited to speak at Senator Riley by Mary Daunt, a senator at the University of Lethbridge and Senator Riley teacher. Daunt was on the committee that chose to honour Soubert with a Doctor of Laws degree on Saturday in Lethbridge.

Accompanying Soubert was Calvin Stewart, a Lethbridge doctor who was responsible for nominating Soubert for the degree. Stewart utilized a slide show to teach the crowd shocking Cambodian facts and figures.

Understanding the lack of medical care available in places like Cambodia, Stewart began volunteering with the Canadian agency Kindness in Action, which provides dental services to developing countries.

“I had been to Cambodia a number of times with Kindness in Action,” he said. “He (Soubert) mentored me, but I didn’t realize at the time exactly who he was.”

Soubert was born in Phnom-Penh, Cambodia and has a long and important history of involvement in the political life of his country. During the reign of the Khmer Rouge, he left for France to help his father establish the Cambodian General Association of Overseas Khmers to preserve Khmer cultural heritage and fight the genocide regime of the Khmer Rouge.

Since that time, Soubert’s passion to improve the lives of Cambodians has involved managing refugee camps, becoming the assistant to the prime minister of the Coalition Government of Cambodia, participating in the UN Human Rights Commission for seven consecutive years and being elected president of the Son Sann Party, a faction of the Khmer Buddhist Liberal Democratic Party that was named after his father.

While his life achievements are never-ending, Soubert chose to focus his time at Senator Riley on teaching the students the difference between life in Cambodia and life in Canada.

He began the discussion by asking the children how Cambodians catch fish in their country and most students chose to answer with “using nets” or “baskets.” They were surprised to find out that during rainy season, the fish actually lay their eggs inside of trees and when they hatch, Cambodians climb up the trees and simply catch them.

He said food is plenty in his country, but the government chooses to import most of its produce, including rice, which has resulted in destroying Cambodia’s economy.

“The government chooses not to intervene when farmers suffer,” said Soubert. “Farmers in your country can be rich, but in our country they are very poor.”