The Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean will be awarded the degree of Doctor of Laws, honoris causa, in recognition of outstanding contribution to journalism.
The Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. After fleeing the brutal regime of Francois “Papa Doc” Duvalier, she arrived in Canada with her family as a refugee in 1968. She became an award-winning journalist and anchor of news programs at Radio-Canada and the CBC. She also took part in several documentary films produced by her husband, filmmaker Jean-Daniel Lafond.
She was the first black reporter on French TV news in Canada. From 1991 to 1992, she hosted Virages. And for three years, starting in 1992, she appeared on the national and international news program Le Point. In
1995, she began working as a host/reporter on many RDI programs such as Le Monde ce soir, L’Édition québécoise, Horizons francophones, le Journal RDI and RDI à l’écoute. In 2004. she began hosting her own show, a current affairs program on RDI named Michaëlle. She won many awards for her journalism, including a Gemini in 2001.
In 2005, she became Canada’s 27th Governor General and Commander-in-Chief. Throughout her mandate, she promoted dialogue and community engagement among citizens, with particular emphasis on empowering youth. A fervent practitioner of cultural\diplomacy, she led 40 missions and state visits in Afghanistan and China, as well as across Africa, the Americas and Europe.
She is now co-president of the Michaëlle Jean Foundation, UNESCO Special Envoy for Haiti and Chancellor of the University of Ottawa. She was Grand Témoin de la Francophonie for the London 2012 Olympic Games.