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The Scarlet Key Society of McGill University is a student honor and service society that recognizes and celebrates the extra-curricular accomplishments of students at McGill University in Montreal, Canada.

The purpose of the Society is to recognize students who have demonstrated indubitable qualities of leadership, unselfishness, creativity, and perseverance by their outstanding contributions to the McGill community, bring them closer together, and provide them with means to continue their service to the University and the community.

Winners include a wide range of student leaders who are athletes, student-politicians, social activists, and much more. All recipients, or “Keys”, automatically become life-long members of the Society and are invited to events throughout the year to meet other Keys.

Early Beginnings
In 1925, the General Manager of Athletics at McGill, Major D. Stuart Forbes established a system whereby each faculty and school at McGill asked its students to vote two or more representatives to the Scarlet Key Society. The role of the Scarlet Key Society was to serve as the official hosts and tour guides for dignitaries and special guests visiting the University.

Eventually, this increased to be a commitment that the Scarlet Key Society members (men only) serve at all University functions. The original constitution defines their objective as "welcoming all visitors to the University, seeing to their needs and comfort during their stay and supplying them with the means of entertainment when necessary". In the 1938-39 year, a parallel organization called the "Red Wing Society" was established for female students.

Each organization played an important role in student leadership and promotion of goodwill among the students and the University staff.

1970-1989
In 1969-1970, the University Officials met with the leaders of both the Scarlet Key Society and the Red Wing Society and discussed a problem of increased costs for uniforms and the amazing set of demands upon these honor societies which had grown out of proportion given the large number of events these busy students were expected to cover. Restructuring was essential.

The Graduates' Society of McGill University offered assistance and agreed to help maintain the honor society objectives, but introduced a change to their program, obligations, means of selection, and the numbers honored each year. The result was the introduction of the Scarlet Key Award in 1971 with students being nominated, interviewed, selected by their peers and honored for their campus leadership while maintaining satisfactory standing.

The obligations for the Scarlet Key Award recipients were to assist the Principal of the University as required and to serve as special marshals at the annual University Convocations

1990 - Present
In the late 1980s, certain Keys who recognized the enormous potential lying within the membership of the Society began to discuss ways in which the Society could act beyond the scope of simply granting the Scarlet Key Award. In 1989, a committee was formed to organize, for the first time, McGill's participation in the Terry Fox Run. Later that same year, another committee was formed to write a new constitution for the Society. This constitution was approved on January 31, 1990, and spells out the three main goals of the Society: recognition of leadership at McGill, service to the University and the greater community, and the maintaining of an organized Society for its members.

In the summer of 1995, the elected Executive of the Scarlet Key Society began another "soul searching" process. Keys were no longer needed as official escorts for the University and had taken on a purely ceremonial role at Convocations. The locus of the Society had clearly shifted off campus; the past winners of the award now numbered more than 1,500 Keys living across the world.

As a result of extensive consultation with the membership, it was agreed to further expand the role of the Society beyond the confines of the Roddick Gates. As well, the members chose to rally around "leadership" as a common feature to its various forms of service to the community. The Scarlet Key Society is now a McGill Alumni Association "Constituent Group" which is financed by its own members and which seeks to "promote and foster" leadership at McGill and in various forums.

Eligibility
The Scarlet Key Honor Society accepts applications from potential candidates, or nominations by others within the McGill community who believe that an individual is deserving of the award. The award is not based on academic merit but to be eligible for the Scarlet Key Award the candidate must be a McGill student who has completed at least two full-time semesters and is in satisfactory standing, or a McGill graduate.

Events
In the fall, the Scarlet Key Society sends out a newsletter to all Keys outlining important event dates. The Scarlet Key organizes a number of events on and off campus each year. Since 1989, it has been a long-standing tradition for the Scarlet Key to help raise money for cancer research by participating in the annual Terry Fox Run. In addition, the officials of the Scarlet Key organize a homecoming luncheon to reunite old Keys.

Other events include a speaker series, calling on prominent Scarlet Key alumni and other notable McGill alumni to come share their experiences as students and discuss leadership from their perspective to new Keys and non-Keys. Noteworthy speakers include Jan Wong, Yves Fortier, and Ian Binnie.

The Awards reception is held every spring at the University Club during whereby each inductee receives their Scarlet Key pin from either the Chancellor or the Principal of McGill University. Occasionally, there is an Honorary Key Award bestowed to non-students, typically revered professors and members of the McGill Administration.

Notable Members
In this list of notable Keys, the number in parentheses represents the cohort year as well as their graduation year(s).


 * Dick Pound (SK '63) – Canadian Lawyer, former President of the World Anti-Doping Agency, former Chancellor of McGill University, and former Vice-President of the International Olympic Committee (B.Comm 1962, Licentiate in Accounting 1964, B.C.L. 1967)
 * Ian Binnie (SK '59) – Senior Puisne Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada (BA 1960)
 * Mark Warner (Canadian lawyer) (SK '86) – Canadian Politician and Lawyer (BA 1988)
 * Irwin Cotler (SK '60) - Canadian Lawyer, Former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada (BA 1961)
 * Patricia Baird (SK '59) - Geneticist and Chair of the Royal Commission on New Reproductive Technologies (B. Sc. 1959, M.D., C.M. in 1963)
 * Brian Topp (SK '83) – Canadian Politician, Union Leader, and Writer (BA 1983)
 * Moses Znaimer (SK '63) – Co-founder and former President and Executive Producer of CityTV and Chairman/Executive Producer of the Access Media Group (BA 1963)
 * Morris J. Fish (SK '62) – Puisne Justice at the Supreme Court of Canada (BA 1959, BCL 1962)
 * John MacBain (SK '80) - Entrepreneur and Philanthropist (BA 1980)
 * Mortimer Zuckerman (SK '57) - Magazine Editor, Publisher, and Real Estate Magnate (BA 1957, BCL 1962)
 * John Cleghorn (SK '62) – Businessman, Former Royal Bank of Canada CEO (B. Comm 1962)