Michaëlle Jean- Canada's Governor-General (quite a story)

[depakid]

Jean fled Haiti with her family from dictator François Duvalier's regime in 1968. Her father, from whom she was estranged for many years, was a philosopher who was tortured under Duvalier's regime and separated from the family for 30 years. The Jean family settled at Thetford Mines, Quebec.

As a student at the University of Montreal, Jean received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Italian and Hispanic languages and literature and, from 1984 until 1986, taught Italian studies while completing a Master of Arts degree in comparative literature.

Jean attended the University of Florence, the University of Perugia, and the Catholic University of Milan to continue her studies in language and literature. Besides French and English, Jean is fluent in Spanish, Italian, and Haitian Creole and can read Portuguese.

While attending university, Jean worked at a women's shelter from 1979 until 1987. She later helped establish a network of shelters for women and children across Canada.

Jean also worked in organizations that helped immigrants come to Canada and then later worked for Employment and Immigration Canada (now Human Resources and Skills Development Canada) and at the Conseil des Communautés culturelles du Québec, where Jean began writing about the experiences of immigrant women.

Family

Jean is married to documentary film-maker Jean-Daniel Lafond. They have a daughter, Marie-Éden, adopted from Haiti.

As Lafond was born in France and Marie-Éden was born in Haiti, the entire vice-regal family is of non-Canadian and non-Commonwealth birth, although all were born in, and now live in, countries that belong to La Francophonie.

Career

Jean was an award-winning reporter, filmmaker, and broadcaster, previously employed by Radio-Canada in 1988, where she worked as a reporter and then host of news and affairs programs such as Actuel, Montréal ce soir, Virages, and Le Point. In 1995, she anchored a number of programs for Réseau de l'information (RDI), Radio-Canada's all-news channel, such as Le Monde ce soir, l'Édition québécoise, Horizons francophones, Les Grands reportages, Le Journal RDI, and RDI à l'écoute.

In 1999, she was also asked by the English network, CBC Newsworld, to host The Passionate Eye and Rough Cuts, which broadcast the best in Canadian and foreign documentary films. By 2004, she began her own show, Michaëlle, while continuing on Radio-Canada, hosting RDI's Grands reportages, as well as an occasional anchor of Le Téléjournal.

She and Lafond have made several films, including the award-winning Haïti dans tous nos rêves ("Haiti in All Our Dreams"). In the film, she meets her uncle, the poet and essayist René Depestre, who fled from the Duvalier dictatorship into exile in France and wrote about his dreams for Haiti, to tell him Haiti awaits his return. She has hosted and produced news and documentary programming for television on both the English and French services of the CBC.

As Governor General

Michaëlle Jean's focus during her time as the Queen's representative has been on breaking "solitudes" (in reference to the "Two Solitudes", which is reflected in the motto on her coat of arms, Briser les solitudes, or "breaking down solitudes."

This mandate extended beyond simply the relationship between francophones and anglophones in Canada, to include relations between peoples of all racial, linguistic, cultural, and gender groups. Jean also focused strongly on the plight of women victims of violence, meeting with representatives of women’s organizations during each of her provincial, as well as foreign state, visits.

Following a tradition for governors general, Jean's first months in the position saw her visiting some of Canada's provinces; the beginning of a series of visits to each province and territory.

<snip>

Jean became the first governor general to launch an online chat with Canadians, on September 27, 2006. This initiative was part of a larger project: creating a website within the Governor General's domain name dubbed "Citizen Voices: Breaking Down Solitudes", where users could engage each other in blogs and discussion forums.

Jean embarked on a trip consisting of five state visits to African countries - Algeria, Mali, Ghana, South Africa and Morocco - between November 18 and December 11, 2006. She encouraged women's rights in each country she visited, stating that women in Islamic countries were "builders and doers", and that westerners should "look beyond the veil."

Much more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micha%C3%ABlle_Jean

[malaise]

1. Very cool

Thanks for this. :D

[mithnanthy]

2. What an incredibly accomplished woman...

...and her involvement in ALL good causes.....I'm impressed and am sending this to others. The attention that Palin gets, belongs to this great woman.

[depakid]

3. "The attention that Palin gets..."

Impressive is about the only word after years of watching (and dealing with- or fighting against) Republicans that I can think of.

How can that be?

Michaëlle Jean is a real journo, with a real story- not a fabricated or some shallow one.

And while it's true that she's never been elected- it does give a person pause, and also- perhaps a bit of hope to see that people do find their way through merit into positions where they can (and do) make a difference.

[panAmerican]

4. K&R; Ms Jean's story always leaves me breathless

She makes all women proud.