Michaëlle Jean

Her Excellency the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean, CC, CMM, COM, CD {{IPA|}} (born September 6, 1957 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti) is the current governor general of Canada. Jean was approved by Queen Elizabeth II, on the recommendation of Prime Minister Paul Martin, to succeed Adrienne Clarkson and become the 27th governor general of Canada.

Governor General

In announcing Jean as his choice to succeed Clarkson, Prime Minister Martin said 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-General — who after all must represent all of Canada to all Canadians and to the rest of the world as well." {{ref|PMO}}

Related Topics:
Canada - Canadians

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Jean is Canada's first black Governor General, the second person without either a political or military background (after Adrienne Clarkson), the second person from a visible minority and (again after Clarkson), foreign-born (like Clarkson and breaking tradition since Vincent Massey's appointment), the second person in an interracial marriage (again after Clarkson), the third woman (after Jeanne Sauvé and Clarkson), the fourth-youngest person (after Lord Lorne (33 years old in 1878), Lord Lansdowne in (38 years old in 1883) and Edward Schreyer (43 years old in 1979)), and the fourth journalist (after Sauvé, Roméo LeBlanc and Clarkson) to hold the position. She is also the first Governor General to be born during the reign of Queen Elizabeth II.

Related Topics:
Canada - Black - Adrienne Clarkson - Vincent Massey - Interracial marriage - Jeanne Sauvé - Lord Lorne - Lord Lansdowne - 1883 - Edward Schreyer - Roméo LeBlanc

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As Lafond was born in France and their six-year-old adopted daughter, Marie-Éden, born in Haiti, the entire vice-regal family will be of non-Canadian and non-Commonwealth birth. Ms. Jean had held dual citizenship; she applied to become a French citizen upon marrying her husband who also held Canadian and French citizenship. She renounced her French citizenship, however, on the eve of her appointment to Governor General, in light of the responsibilities of a head of state.http://www.canada.com/national/story.html?id=282b3441-920e-431f-afc7-a0d9ddf726b4 {{ref|French}} It will also mark the first time in over 30 years that children have lived in Rideau Hall.

Related Topics:
France - Commonwealth - Canadian - French citizenship - Rideau Hall

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Jean, in her first remarks after her appointment, said she wanted to reach out to all Canadians, regardless of their background. Jean also made it a goal to reach out especially to Canadian youth and those who feel disadvantaged. {{ref|CP}} Jean also encouraged all Canadians to become involved in community affairs.

Related Topics:
Canadians - Canadian

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On September 6, 2005, Queen Elizabeth II granted an audience to Jean and her family at Balmoral Castle. Though it is standard for a new governor general to have an audience of the monarch before assuming office, this meeting was unique in that Madame Jean's young daughter was present, marking the first time in the Queen's reign that a governor general has brought her young child to an audience.

Related Topics:
September 6 - 2005 - Queen Elizabeth II - Balmoral Castle

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Reaction

• Stephen Harper, the leader of the Conservative Party, and also the Leader of the Opposition, congratulated Jean on her appointment and said that her life story "serves as a great example to many Canadians. I know Mme. Jean will serve Canada in a dignified, vice-regal fashion." {{ref|Harper}}
• The departing Governor General, Adrienne Clarkson, applauded Martin for choosing Jean by saying she is "an exciting and imaginative choice for Governor General." Clarkson said she and her husband John Ralston Saul look forward to Jean being invested with her position with "great enthusiasm." {{ref|Clarkson}}
• Gilles Duceppe, the leader of the Bloc Québécois was disappointed when Jean decided to "accept a position that is strictly honourary and within an institution that is not democratic." {{ref|Bloc}}
• Jack Layton, the leader of the New Democratic Party, said he wished Jean and her family well and that he looks "forward to seeing a family again in Rideau Hall, which is fitting for the first Governor-General of a new century." Layton also commented about Canadian peacekeepers at this time by saying Jean "knows well the value of the peacekeeping operations that give Canadians so much pride." {{ref|NDP}}
• Political commentator Rex Murphy wrote an opinion piece in the national newspaper The Globe and Mail the week of Jean's appointment, criticizing the undemocratic nature of the institution as a whole, along with the appointment of five additional Canadian senators by the Prime Minister that same week.