Michaëlle Jean
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| File:Mjean.jpg | |
| Rank: | 27th |
| Term of Office: | September 27, 2005 - |
| Predecessor: | Adrienne Clarkson |
| Successor: | |
| Birth: | 1957 |
| Place of Birth: | Port-au-Prince, Haiti |
| Spouse: | Jean-Daniel Lafond |
| Profession: | Journalist, Professor |
| Religion: | Roman Catholic |
Michaëlle Jean (born 1957 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti) is the Governor General-designate of Canada. Jean was recommended to and approved by Queen Elizabeth II by Prime Minister Paul Martin to succeed Adrienne Clarkson and become the 27th Governor General of Canada. An official announcement was made on August 4, 2005. Her installation is scheduled for September 27.
Biography
Jean was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti and fled with her family from dictator François Duvalier's regime in 1968. Her father, whom she recently reconciled with, was a philosopher who was tortured under Duvalier's regime and separated from the family for 30 years. The Jean family settled in Canada and first resided at Thetford Mines.
Besides French and English, Jean is fluent in three other languages: Spanish, Italian and Haitian Creole. Jean studied at the Université de Montréal and as well as universities in Florence, Milan and Perugia, Italy.
Jean is married to documentary film-maker Jean-Daniel Lafond and has a six-year-old adopted daughter, Marie-Eden. She is the niece of Haitian poet and essayist René Depestre.
As Lafond was born in France, and their adopted daughter Marie-Éden born in Haiti, the entire Vice-Regal family will be of non-Canadian birth. It will also mark the first time in over 30 years that children have lived in Rideau Hall.
Career
Before becoming Governor General, Jean was an award-winning Canadian reporter, filmmaker and broadcaster. She has won many prizes, such as Amnesty International journalism award. She has hosted and produced news and documentary programming for television on both the English Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and French Radio-Canada. She was most recently the host of CBC Newsworld's The Passionate Eye and RDI's Grands Reportages. Before becoming a journalist, Jean had written about the experiences of immigrant woman and had helped create shelters for battered women.
Jean will be Canada's first Black Governor General, the third woman — after Adrienne Clarkson and Jeanne Sauvé, the fourth youngest person — after Lord Lorne in 1878 (33 years old), Lord Lansdowne in 1883 (38 years old) and former Manitoba Premier Edward Schreyer (43 years old) — and the fourth journalist to hold the position, as well as the second non-political and civilian to hold a traditional military post.
External links
- CBC News Indepth profile of the new Governor General
- Michaëlle Jean CBC biography
- Governor General of Canada website
- Buckingham Palace statement on Queen's approval of appointment