Michaelle Jean to join UN agency as special envoy

Michaelle Jean pictured above with President of Haiti Rene Preval in Huntsville, Ontario, Canada on Friday, June 25, 2010 ahead of the G-8 meeting. via{daylife}

"Governor General Michaelle Jean is headed to the United Nations, CTV News has learned.

Jean will be appointed special envoy for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, CTV's Ottawa Bureau Chief Robert Fife reported Monday night.

"Her main goal is to fight poverty and Haiti's appallingly high illiteracy (rate)," Fife said. "She'll not only spend time in Haiti, but also travel the globe to keep the world's eyes focused on Haiti and to raise funds."

The prime minister "went to bat to get her this high-profile job," which starts in late September, Fife said.

UNESCO, as the agency is known, has a broad mandate.

"UNESCO's mission is to contribute to the building of peace, the eradication of poverty, sustainable development and intercultural dialogue through education, the sciences, culture, communication and information," says a statement on the agency's website.

Canada is one of 182 member states to have a permanent delegation with the organization."

 via{ctvnews}

2010 Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony

Canadian soprano Measha Brueggergosman sings during the Opening Ceremony of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics at BC Place

The Governor General of Canada, Michaelle Jean (standing) speaks during the Opening Ceremony of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics at BC Place

Canada enters BC Place in the Parade of Nations

The Olympic flag is carried by Canadians, left, front to back, Betty Fox, Jacques Villeneuve, Anne Murray, and Bobby Orr, and right, front to back, Donald Sutherland, Barbara Ann Scott-King, Romeo Dallaire, and Julie Payettes during the opening ceremony for the Vancouver 2010 Olympics

Torch bearers Rick Hansen, Wayne Gretzky, Catriona Lemay Doan, Steve Nash and Nancy Greene hold their torches during the opening ceremonies at the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Winter Games 

Georgian team enters BC place in the Parade of Nations honoring their team mate who was killed during a practice run.

The Opening Ceremony of the 2010 Winter Olympics (Vancouver 2010) was held on February 12, 2010, beginning at 6:00 pm PST (02:00 UTC, February 13) at BC Place Stadium in Vancouver,British Columbia, Canada. This was the first Olympic opening ceremony to be held indoors. It was directed by David Atkins, who was also the director of the Sydney 2000 and 2006 Doha Asian Games ceremonies.

The event was officially opened by Governor General Michaëlle Jean, the Canadian representative of Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada. The opening ceremonies were dedicated by the Vancouver Organizing Committee to Nodar Kumaritashvili, a Georgian luger who died earlier in the day in a training run.


An estimated 60,000 were in attendance at the venue. There were an estimated 4,500 performers.


View more photos below

Statement by the Governor-General HE Michaëlle Jean regarding the Earthquake in Haiti (French)

Dear friends. Exactly one year ago, I was in Haiti to assess the damage caused by the hurricanes that had cruelly ravaged a country that has suffered so much, and to support the reconstruction efforts there.

Yesterday, fate once again turned against the people of Haiti, who had only just begun to see a glimmer of hope.

I would first like to say that my husband, Jean-Daniel, our daughter Marie-Éden and I are all thinking about the victims, the countless families who have been affected and are in mourning, and all those who, like us, are so worried about their loved ones and friends in Haiti.

Like me, Haitian communities across Canada are heartbroken and overwhelmed by the magnitude of this catastrophe. The images and news reports are unbearable to watch. So much distress, suffering and loss. We are also, of course, imagining the worst, situations no image can capture that only increase our feeling of helplessness.

I salute the friendship and solidarity being demonstrated all across Canada and throughout the international community.

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the Prime Minister of Canada for all the emergency assistance that has been sent. I thank the Minister of Foreign Affairs and in particular the Minister of Defence, with whom I have closely monitored the situation as it evolved and discussed, along with the Chief of the Defence Staff, the urgent needs to be deployed to Haiti.

I am also grateful to our Ambassador, Gilles Rivard, and to his team in Port-au-Prince, with whom we have remained in contact via satellite, who are making remarkable efforts to help Canadians in Haiti and who are standing beside the people of Haiti at this terrible time.

My thoughts are also with our police officers, soldiers, missionaries and humanitarian workers, and our UN family, who have all been hit very hard by this new disaster.

We still have no news of our dear friend, Hédi Annabi, Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Haiti. All we know is that he was with his colleagues in the United Nations’ headquarters, which collapsed.

Thank you to you, the media, for your all your reports and updates on the situation.

Now more than ever, it is time for us to show our solidarity with the most vulnerable people in the Americas, our brothers and sisters in Haiti, whose courage is once again being so harshly tested.

Governor-General HE Michaëlle Jean

source

Help for Haiti Statement from President Barack Obama

Happy Remembrance Day

Governor General Michaëlle Jean and Prince Charles, Prince of Wales attend a Remembrance Day Service at the National War Memorial on November 11, 2009 in Ottawa, Canada. (gettyimages)

Message from Her Excellency the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean, Governor General and Commander-in-Chief of Canada,
on the occasion of Remembrance Day

November 9, 2009

OTTAWA—The annual commemoration of Remembrance Day is perforce a strong reminder that defending freedom and keeping the peace come at a price. That of those who have undertaken to defend the ideals which made Canada a sovereign, prosperous, envied nation, a great many have, unfortunately, paid with their life for the advantages we enjoy today.

In this regard, we have a responsibility of understanding to fulfil, a duty of respect to perform, an obligation of remembrance to honour. Lest we forget the over 66,000 Canadian men and women killed and 173,000 wounded in the First World War, the more than 42,000 killed and 55,000 wounded during the Second World War, the 516 killed and 1,042 wounded in the Korean War, the 116 Canadians killed in United Nations peace operations since 1949 and, most recently, the 133 Canadian soldiers who have died in Afghanistan since we joined the NATO-led coalition, not to mention their comrades who have been wounded there.

We think of all the brave men and women who never came home, all the grieving families, all the soldiers who have been wounded in body and spirit, something we talk about all too seldom. We owe them a debt of endless gratitude. Let us never forget.

Michaëlle Jean

Michaëlle Jean

Her Excellency The Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean


Barack Obama and Michaëlle Jean Feb 19/09 Ottawa, Canada.




Michaëlle Jean Personal Coat of Arms.

Michaëlle Jean CC CMM COM CD FRCPSC(hon) [mi.ka.ɛl ʒɑ̃] (born 6 September 1957) is the current Governor General of Canada. She was appointed as such by Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada, on the recommendation of then Prime Minister of Canada Paul Martin, to replace Adrienne Clarkson as viceroy. The official announcement of the appointment was made on 4 August 2005, and Jean's investiture as the 27th governor general since Confederation took place on 27 September.

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 undertaking charity work, mostly in the field of assisting victims of domestic violence. Her participation in some of her husband's film works through the 1990s, as well as her holding of French citizenship, later caused controversy when her appointment as governor general was announced; comments Jean had been recorded making were construed by some as favouring Quebec sovereignty, and her dual citizenship caused doubt about her loyalties. Jean denied any separatist leanings and renounced her citizenship of France. Continue reading