Famous Canadian Immigrant Michaëlle Jean
As Canada's Governor General she is entitled to be styled Her Excellency while in office, and The Right Honourable for life; given current practice, she will be sworn in to the Queen's Privy Council for Canada after her term as the Queen's representative has ended.
Born in Haiti, Jean and her family fled the country in 1968. Her father, a philosopher was tortured under Duvalier's regime and he was separated from the family for 30 years. The Jean family moved to Thetford Mines, Quebec.
Jean attended the University of Montreal, and studied Italian and Hispanic languages and literature. She completed a Master of Arts degree in comparative literature.
Jean also studied at the University of Florence, the University of Perugia, and the Catholic University of Milan.
She is fluent in French and English, Spanish, Italian, and Haitian Creole and can she can read Portuguese.
From 1979 untill 1987 she worked at a women's shelter and later on helped establish a network of shelters for women and children across Canada.
Jean is married to documentary film-maker Jean-Daniel Lafond. They have a daughter, Marie-Éden, adopted from Haiti.
As a reporter for Radio Canada, she won awards as a reporter, filmmaker, and broadcaster. She has hosted CBC The Passionate Eye and Rough Cuts, and in 2004, she began her own show, Michaëlle, and she and her husband have made several films, including the award-winning "Haiti in All Our Dreams".
Jean is Canada's first black Governor General, and the second person from a visible minority and foreign-born.
