\nThe honour Thursday comes a day before Dion performs a free concert for the year-long 400th birthday celebrations of Quebec City – the oldest city in Canada and also the capital of Quebec province.
\nReceiving the honorary doctorate from Laval University superintendent Denis Briere at a ceremony attended by 800 people, Dion said the degree was a great honour for \u201ca little girl from Charlemagne\u201d.
\nCharlemagne is a small suburb of Montreal where Dion was born as the fourteenth child of poor parents in 1968.
\nThanking the university for the honour, Dion said: \u201cIf there is something that has guided my life, it\u2019s my wish to excel and go further, to the maximum of my abilities, to the top of my goals, my hopes and my dreams.\u201d
\nReferring to her unfinished high school education, Dion said: \u201cthe school of life is also very important.\u201d
\nTo thank her for performing free Friday, the organisers also presented her a commemorative medal.
\nDion, who is currently on her on-off \u2018Taking Chances Tour\u2019, said she was dedicating the honour to her much older husband-manager Rene Angelil.
\nLater, Angelil surprised media persons when he said the couple wanted to have a sibling for their six-year-old son Rene-Charles after the end of their \u2018Taking Chances Tour\u2019 next year.
\nDion has undertaken the world tour after the end of her five-year contract with a Las Vegas club.
\nCongratulating Dion, Canadian heritage minister Josee Verner called her \u201ca citizen of the world who promotes Canada wherever she goes\u201d. Dion, who started her music career in the early 1980s, has sold over 200 million albums worldwide so far.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"