Largest donation in Canadian history gifted to McGill University

CTV Montreal: $200M McGill donation The McCall MacBain family is donating $200 million to McGill University to attract exceptional graduate students worldwide.

An unprecedented donation to McGill University announced Wednesday will go toward creating a first-of-its-kind post-secondary program.

“Not only is this gift extraordinary for our university, it is also the single largest donation in Canadian history,” McGill principal Suzanne Fortier said Wednesday in announcing the new McCall MacBain scholarships.

The scholarships are being funded by a $200-million gift from the McCall McBain Foundation on behalf of John and Marcy McCall MacBain. John McCall MacBain is the founder of classified advertising giant Trader Classified Media.

“We’ve both benefited immensely from universities and investments that generous people who came before us decided to make,” Marcy McCall MacBain said in making the announcement at the Montreal university.

The scholarships will support up to 75 graduate and professional students at a time. They will cover all tuition and student fee expenses for those students, while also providing mentorship, internship and leadership development opportunities. No similar scholarship is believed to exist anywhere in Canada.

“We want to support the ever-curious, the open-minded individuals – those who have the knowledge and proven skill to turn vision into action,” Marcy McCall MacBain said.

Applications for the scholarships will open in 2020, with students accepted into the program expected to start their studies the following year.

McGill says students will be selected for the program based on “a combination of civic engagement, intellectual curiosity, entrepreneurial spirit, academic excellence, and exceptional character.”