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Michaelle Jean is a
Canadian stateswoman and former journalist who is the third and
current Secretary-General of the Organisation internationale de la
Francophonie...she is the first woman to hold this position. From
September 27, 2005 to October 1, 2010, Jean was Governor General of
Canada, the 27th since Canadian Confederation.
Jean was a refugee from
Haiti ~ coming to Canada in 1968...and was raised in the town of
Thetford Mines, Quebec. After receiving a number of university
degrees, Jean worked as a journalist and broadcaster for Radio-Canada
and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), as well as charity
work, mostly in the field of assisting victims of domestic violence.
In 2005, she was appointed governor general by Queen Elizabeth II, on
the recommendation of Prime Minister Paul Martin. She was noted for
her attention to the Canadian Forces, Aboriginal Canadians and the
arts, especially youth involvement in them. She is also currently
the Special Envoy for Haiti for the United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization and Chancellor of the University
of Ottawa.
Michaelle Jean was sworn
in as a member of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada
on September 26, 2012,
giving her the accordant style of
The Right Honourable.
Early Life and
Education: Jean's family hails from Haiti; she was born in
Port-au-Prince, baptised at the Holy Trinity Cathedral. Though her
father worked as principal and teacher for an elite Protestant
private school in Port-au-Prince, Jean was educated at home...as her
parents did not want her swearing allegiance to the then Haitian
President, Francois Duvalier, as all Haitian schoolchildren were
required to do. With her family, Jean fled Haiti to escape
Duvalier's regime ~ her father left for Canada in 1967 and the
following year the rest of the family.
Jean received a Bachelor
of Arts degree in Italian and Hispanic languages and literature from
the University of Montreal...and from 1984 to 1986, taught Italian
Studies there, while completing her Master of Arts degree in
comparative literature. She then went on with language and
literature studies at the University of Florence, the University of
Perugia and the Catholic University of Milan. Besides French and
English, Jean is fluent in Spanish, Italian and Haitian Creole...and
can read Portuguese.
Concurrent with her
studies between 1979 and 1987, Jean coordinated a study on spousal
abuse and worked at a women's shelter, which paved the way for her
establishment of a network of shelters for women and children across
Canada. She also involved herself in organizations dedicated to
assisting immigrants to Canada and at the Conseil des Communautes
culturelles du Quebec where Jean began writing about the
experiences of immigrant women. She married French-born Canadian
filmmaker Jean-Daniel Lafond...and the couple adopted as their
daughter, Marie-Eden, an orphaned child from Jacmel, her mother's
hometown in Haiti.
Journalism,
Broadcasting and Film Careers: Jean became a reporter,
filmmaker and broadcaster for Radio-Canada in 1988, hosting news and
affairs programs. She was the first person of Caribbean descent to
be seen on French television news in Canada. She then moved in 1995
to Radio-Canada's all-news channel to anchor a number of its French
programs. Four years later, she was asked by CBC's English language
all-news channel, CBC Newsworld, to host The Passionate Eye
and Rough Cuts which both broadcast the best in Canadian and
foreign documentary films. By 2004, Jean was hosting her own
show...while continuing to anchor a couple French news programs. ,
Over the same period,
Jean made several films with her husband, including the award-winning
Haiti dans tous nos reves (“Haiti in All Our Dreams”)...in
which she meets her uncle, the poet and essayist Rene Depestre, who
fled from the Duvalier dictatorship into exile in France and wrote
about his dreams for Haiti...and tells him Haiti awaits his return.
Governor General of
Canada: Jean was Canada's first governor general of
Caribbean origin. Jean was also the first representative of Queen
Elizabeth II to have been born during the latter's reign…and her
appointment saw the first child living in Rideau Hall, the official
residence since Schreyer and his young family lived there in the
early 1980's.
Prime Minister, Paul
Martin said of Jean that, “She is a woman of talent and
achievement. Her personal story is nothing short of extraordinary.
And extraordinary is precisely what we seek in a governor generalship
~ who after all must represent all of Canada to all Canadians and to
the rest of the world as well.”
The Glove and Mail
columnist, John Ibbitson reflected the general captivation with
the new governor general in the following way: Here is this
beautiful young Canadian of Haitian birth, with a smile that makes
you catch your breath, with a bemused older husband by her side, and
a daughter who literally personifies our future...and you look at
them and you think...'Yes, this is our great achievement, this is the
Canada that Canada wants to be, this is the Canada that will
ultimately make way for different cultural identities.'
Over the first 2 years of
her mandate, Jean embarked on the traditional vice-regal tours of
Canada’s provinces and territories. In British Columbia,
Jean presented the Grey Cup at the 93rd Canadian Football
League championship game. In Iqaluit, Nunavut she opened the
Toonik Tyme Festival where she donated 80 books in Inuktitut,
French and English to the Centennial Library in commemoration of
Queen Elizabeth II’s 80th birthday. On May 4, 2006 she became the
first governor general to address the Alberta Legislature.
During these tours, Jean also focused strongly on the plight of
female victims of violence…meeting with representatives of women’s
organizations…in 2007, she participated in a historic discussion
with aboriginal women chiefs and elders at Saskatchewan’s
Government House.
Military Duties and
Welcomes Overseas: The vice-regal family undertook their
first international trip in February 2006, journeying to Italy to
attend the 2006 Winter Olympics closing ceremonies, meeting the
Italian President in Torino and Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican.
Three months later, Jean attended the investiture of Rene Preval as
President of Haiti (her first visit to her homeland in her capacity
at the Queen’s representative)…and where she was greeted with
enthusiasm in Jacmel.
At the end of the year,
Jean embarked on a trip consisting of state visits to 5 African
countries ~ wherein the Governor General encouraged women’s rights.
Jean made on March 8,
2007, her first visit to Canadian troops taking part in the
Afghanistan offensive. Prime Minister Stephen Harper advised against
this endeavour due to security concerns. Two attacks were made
against Canadian soldiers on the same day the Governor General landed
in Kabul. Jean had the arrival, timed specifically for International
Women’s Day, stating, “The women of Afghanistan may face the most
unbearable conditions, but they never stop fighting for survival…but
I am here to tell them they are no longer alone.” She met with
Afghan women, Canadian soldiers, Royal Canadian Mounted Police
teams, humanitarian workers and diplomats.
A series of state visits
followed in 2009 to Norway, Croatia, Greece and Mexico as well as
another visit to the Canadian troops in Afghanistan. She presided
over the ceremonies in Halifax, Nova Scotia for the consecration and
presentation of the new Queen’s Colour to the Canadian navy; she
wore at that time, the Commander-in-Chief’s naval uniform. She and
Prince Charles did the same thing at the 2009 Remembrance day events
in Ottawa…both at that time sporting Canadian army dress uniform.
Then in June 2010, Jean conducted a fleet review in Esquimalt Harbour
to mark the 100th anniversary of the founding of the
Canadian Navy.
After officially opening
the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver on February 12 and the Winter
Paralympics a month later, the Governor General made a visit to Haiti
to observe the earthquake devastation and Canadian assistance being
meted out there and to meet President Preval.
End of Tenure:
Jean announced to the press in 2010 that she would step out of the
vice-regal role near the end of the traditional, but not official,
five-year period.
On May 10, 2010, Princess
Margriet of the Netherlands presented Jean with a new tulip cultivar
named the Michaelle Jean tulip…with maroon petals, designed
to reflect the Governor General’s personal tastes. This carried on
the tradition of Dutch royals gifting tulips to Canada.
Information compiled by
Merle Baird-Kerr…February 26, 2015
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exceptional woman…email to:
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