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Winnipeg Free Press - ONLINE EDITION
GG meets with inner city student
Gov.-Gen. Michaëlle Jean shares a laugh with Katie Henderson at the Graffiti Gallery. (KEN GIGLIOTTI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS )
WINNIPEG--Gov.-Gen. Michaëlle Jean met today with one of the inner city students whose letter to Jean three years ago helped transform North Point Douglas.
Katie Henderson, now 15, was a student at Norquay School in 2007 when she and her classmates penned a letter to Jean, describing the drugs and violence that plagued the neighbourhood. The letter became national news and spurred the community and law enforcement to rid the area of drug dealers and other criminals.
This morning, at the Grafitti Gallery on Higgins Avenue, Henderson met Jean, who hugged her and told her how proud she was of her and the other kids who wrote to her.
Jean began her two-day vice-regal visit to Winnipeg with a stop early this morning at Government House, where she met Lt.-Gov. Philip Lee and his wife Anita.
She also met Premier Greg Selinger at the Manitoba Legislative Building and together they viewed an original Magna Carta, dating back to 1217, which will be on display until the end of next month.
Later this afternoon, Jean will host a "youth dialogue" honouring area residents for their successful efforts in battling crime, and attend the naming of Michaëlle Jean Park near the Norquay Community Centre.
While posing for photos at Government House, Lee told Jean that he was delighted at her appointment as governor general five years ago. Her term concludes next month. She will be succeeded by David Johnston, president of the University of Waterloo.
Lee also noted that both he and Jean were born outside of Canada — Jean arrived in the country as a refugee from Haiti in 1968 while Lee came from Hong Kong in 1962. Lee said he never imagined being in his current position when he emigrated to Canada three decades ago.
Jean, meanwhile, said she would continue to support reconstruction efforts in her homeland, which was ravaged by an earthquake in January that killed an estimated 200,000 people and left two million others homeless.
History
Updated on Wednesday, August 25, 2010 at 1:05 PM CDT:
updated with information about meeting with student and new headline
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