Kim Campbell (PC, CC, OBC, KC, BA’69, LLB’83, LLD’00). Photo by Marco Badiani/The Florentine.
Who was your childhood hero?
Winston Churchill and Elizabeth I.
Describe the place you most like to spend time.
Home.
What was the last thing you read?
The Viceroy’s Daughters by Anne de Courcy.
What or who makes you laugh out loud?
Dave Barry or any really good humour.
What is the most important lesson you ever learned?
The most valuable currency you will ever spend is Respect.
What was your nickname at school?
Didn't have one.
What is your idea of the perfect day?
Being somewhere beautiful with someone I love.
What is your most prized possession?
My dog and needleworks by my mother.
If you ruled the world, what’s the first thing you’d change?
Education.
Apart from the essentials for life, what can’t you do without?
Art.
What item have you owned for the longest?
My mother’s navy portrait.
Who do you most admire (living or dead) and why?
The women and people of colour who achieved in the face of great prejudice.
What would you like your epitaph to say?
A tile in the mosaic of progress.
If you could invent something, what would it be?
A way to take CO2 from the atmosphere at scale.
In which era would you most like to have lived, and why?
The one I am in.
What are you afraid of?
Ignorance and bigotry.
What is your latest purchase?
A new laptop.
Name the skill or talent you would most like to have.
Any musical skill.
If a genie granted you one wish, what would it be?
More wishes.
If you could only ever listen to three pieces of music, what would they be?
Brahms’s Alto Rhapsody sung by Marian Anderson; Bruch’s Kol Nidrei by any great cellist; the duet from Bizet’s The Pearl Fishers sung by Björling and Merrill.
What is your pet peeve?
Lying.
What is the secret to a good life?
A sense of purpose and the ability to give and receive love.
Do you have a personal motto?
“Seek Wisdom, Conquer Fear, Do Justice.” It is on my coat of arms.
Which famous person (living or dead) do you think (or have you been told) you most resemble?
None yet.
What is the most important thing left on your bucket list?
To continue to do things that make me marvel.
What are your UBC highlights?
Too many to name. Mostly meeting wonderful people. Receiving the Great Trekker Award a few years ago was a highlight because I met some earlier Great Trekkers when I was an undergrad.
