New GG calls for unity

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This article was published 27/09/2005 (7476 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA (CP) — Michaelle Jean used her maiden speech as Governor General to proclaim that the time of the “two solitudes” is over and to call for greater unity.

Jean, a Haitian-born Montrealer and television journalist who endured controversy over alleged sympathies for Quebec separatism, said it’s time to focus on promoting national solidarity.

“The time of the ‘two solitudes’ that for too long described the character of this country is past,” she said Tuesday during a colourful swearing in ceremony in the ornate Senate chamber.

“We must eliminate the spectre of all the solitudes and promote solidarity among all the citizens who make up the Canada of today.

“Along with my husband, Jean-Daniel Lafond, I hope to rally our creative forces around those values that unite us all and that are universal in scope.”

The 27th Governor General and first black vice-regal — a descendant of Haitian slaves — spoke of hope, freedom and overcoming prejudice.
Prime Minister Paul Martin hailed Jean as a glowing example of what lies at the core of Canada — respect for all cultures, races and religions.

At the end of the ceremony, a teary-eyed Jean sang along to O Canada.
Jean, 48, and Lafond, a Quebecois filmmaker, have a six-year-old daughter, Marie-Eden.

Among the many dignitaries at Jean’s investiture was Adrienne Clarkson, marking the first time in 107 years that an outgoing governor general has attended the swearing in ceremony.

Martin announced Jean’s appointment in August to a curious nation. While a popular TV news presence in Quebec, Jean was little known outside the province.

After glowing reviews about a true immigrant success story, Jean was sideswiped by claims she and her husband harboured separatist sympathies.

Her political allegiances were largely questioned on the basis of a 1991 documentary made by Lafond. The film shows Jean toasting to “independence” in a Montreal bar with a group of well-known separatists, including Pierre Vallieres, one of the co-founders of the FLQ.

As the controversy grew, Jean released a statement Aug. 17 stating both she and her husband were “fully committed to Canada” and did not subscribe to separatist ideology.

This week, she also announced that she had renounced her French citizenship which she gained after marrying Lafond, who is French.

Jean and her family fled the repressive Haitian regime of Francois (Papa Doc) Duvalier in 1968 after her father, a school principal, was tortured.

The family landed in Thetford Mines, Que., an asbestos mining town south of Quebec City, where her father became abusive and abandoned them. Jean’s mother moved to Montreal and raised two girls on wages from textile and night jobs.

Jean persevered.

She studied literature and languages in Canada and abroad, learning to speak five fluently: French, English, Spanish, Italian and Haitian Creole.

Jean became an award-winning journalist with Radio-Canada and a university professor. In 1995, Jean became the news anchor on RDI, CBC’s all-news French network.

She has done extensive community work with the poor and with battered women.

Jean and Lafond were married in 1992. They adopted their daughter in 1999 from the impoverished Haitian home town of Jean’s grandmother.