US embassy cable - 05OTTAWA2361

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 OTTAWA 002361 
 
SIPDIS 
 
NOFORN 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/05/2010 
TAGS: PGOV, CA, PINR 
SUBJECT: HAITIAN-CANADIAN ANNOUNCED AS NEW GOVERNOR GENERAL 
 
 
Classified By: POL M/C Brian Flora, reasons 1.4 (b) (d) 
 
1. (C/NF) Summary:  PM Martin today announced that the Queen 
has approved the appointment of Michaelle Jean, a prominent 
Quebec journalist and media personality, to a five-year term 
as Governor General when Adrienne Clarkson's term ends 
September 27.  Jean covers all the right bases, indeed it 
would be difficult to pack more value into a single 
appointment: she is a strong federalist at a time when 
separatism is of concern; she is from Quebec, the province 
where the Liberals have lost the most ground in the past 
year; she is a woman and a minority from a party that is 
trying to shore up its base; she is an immigrant who has made 
good, as Canada struggles to contain Muslim extremists on the 
margins of society; and she has little political baggage (or 
even political experience) going into a highly charged 
political brawl as the minority Parliament resumes.  On top 
of all this, she is strikingly photogenic, as well as being 
publicly engaging.  But all this aside, it is difficult to 
argue with the PM when he says that this Governor General 
will "represent all of Canada to all Canadians, and will 
credibly represent the new Canada abroad."  Jean will be the 
third woman and the first black Governor General, and the 
first Quebecker to hold the post since 1984. 
 
THE NEW GOVERNOR GENERAL 
------------------------ 
 
2. (U) PM Martin announced today at a press conference that 
Michaelle Jean would be appointed the 27th Governor General 
(the Queen's representative in Canada), when Adrienne 
Clarkson's term expires on September 27.  In brief remarks 
introducing the new Governor General to Canada, the PM 
thanked Adrienne Clarkson for the fine work she had done, 
highlighting her emphasis on the arts, Canada's North, and 
Canada abroad.  He called Jean's story "extraordinary -- and 
extraordinary is precisely what we seek in a Governor-General 
- who after all must represent all of Canada to all Canadians 
and to the rest of the world as well." 
 
3. (U) Jean highlighted Canada's "immense and unlimited 
possibilities. . .rich with the daily contributions of people 
who have come from all over the world. . . The diversity of 
our landscape, people and cultural background gives us a 
sense of community in Canada."  She went on to highlight the 
importance of giving voice to all of Canada's citizens and to 
preserving the founding values of Canada -- foremost among 
them "respect -- respect for others and through its 
recognition of each person's integrity and dignity."  Jean 
earlier commented about what her success in journalism says 
about her adopted homeland and the changes it has undergone: 
"It would have been unthinkable 50 years ago, no, not even so 
long ago, that someone like me would occupy the position I 
now have."  She most commonly described her professional 
ambition as that of being an "agent of change." 
 
4. (SBU) While the PM has justifiable confidence that Madame 
Jean will carry out the duties of her office well, the many 
bases he shores up by the appointment were not lost on 
journalists and political commentators, indeed the first 
question at the announcement was whether the PM worried that 
people would see the appointment as being politically 
motivated.  The PM answered that he thought Madame Jean was a 
perfect symbol of the evolution of the country, and 
highlights "what we are and what we want to be, as well as 
how we want to represent ourselves to the world." 
 
SHORING UP KEY BASES 
-------------------- 
 
5.  (C/NF) But all sincerity aside, the appointment does 
indeed shore up a number of critical bases for this Prime 
Minister, among them: 
 
--    Quebec:  Political analyst Bruce Campbell told Poloff 
he believes Jean's appointment "from the Quebec immigrant 
community, is highly significant, reflecting growing 
federalist concern about rising support among Quebec 
allophones (those whose first language is neither French nor 
English, or more generally, from beyond the French and 
English core groups) for sovereignty, up to 31% in a recent 
poll.  At the time of the 1995 Quebec referendum, support for 
Quebec sovereignty among allophones was in single digits." 
(The downside to this, however, is that Jean is not well 
known outside of francophone Canada, and the appointment will 
be seen as pandering to Quebec in certain circles.) 
 
--    Women and Minorities: Liberal Senator David Smith said 
of the appointment, "it is a statement about what Canada is 
all about.  We are the most multi-cultural country in the 
world.  This symbolizes what we are all about and the 
openness of our society.  I hope that young people will 
relate to her -- she's the future."  The appointment can't 
hurt the Liberal efforts to hold on to its urban Ontario 
strongholds. 
 
--    Immigrants:  In addition to Quebec allophones, Madame 
Jean will appeal to all immigrants as a symbol of the lack of 
barriers to social momentum in Canada and will help shore up 
the Liberal contention that it is the natural party for 
immigrants.  British Political Counselor recently told Poloff 
that HMG recognizes how advanced Canada is in integrating new 
immigrants over Britain.  Canada prides itself on this, and 
in the wake of the London bombings would like to highlight it 
whenever possible to help quell the enemy within.  Adrienne 
Clarkson was also an immigrant, but being from a much earlier 
generation (her family left Hong Kong in the 1930's), she did 
not have the kind of resonance with recent immigrants that 
Jean could have. 
 
--    Media Presence:  Like Clarkson, Jean comes directly 
from the world of broadcast journalism and is quite 
photogenic.  Gerald Baier, a political scientist at the 
University of British Columbia, said "it certainly does 
suggest that it's very much a kind of media role, or a public 
communication role, and that is something well served by 
someone with that kind of experience."  This will be good for 
Canada, of course, but it won't hurt the Liberals in the 
process. 
 
--    Political Neutrality:  Not much is known about Madame 
Jean's politics.  She is thought to be a strong federalist, 
but she has not had any real involvement with partisan 
politics.  This would tend to be a good thing in the 
contentious political battles to come, when the Liberals will 
want a Governor General who simply plays by the rules when 
making key decisions on the timing of elections and other key 
issues. 
 
Biographic Data 
--------------- 
 
6. (U) Michaelle Jean was born in Port-au-Prince in 1957. 
Her family fled the Duvalier dictatorship in 1968 and settled 
in Quebec.  Madame Jean studied Italian and Hispanic 
languages and literature at the University of Montreal, where 
she taught in the Italian Studies department from 1984-1986. 
She also studied at the Universities of Perouse, Florence and 
Catholic University in Milan during the 1980's and is fluent 
in five languages (English, French, Spanish, Italian, and 
Creole). 
 
7. (U) For the past 18 years Madame Jean has worked in 
journalism, where she was a reporter and host on news and 
radio programs for Radio Canada, leading to her anchoring 
several prominent news and public affairs radio programs in 
the mid-1990's.  In 1999 she gained national prominence for 
hosting several English language programs.  Since 2001 Madame 
Jean has anchored the weekend edition of Radio Canada's major 
francophone news broadcast Le Telejournal and in 2004 she 
started her own show, Michaelle, which is broadcast in both 
French-language public television networks.  She has tried in 
her journalistic work to be broad based and penetrating. 
"For me, that's my biggest victory," she told the Citizen, "I 
refused to fall into a ghetto situation, for example, talk 
only of cultural or ethnic communities, immigration and so 
on.  I wanted to cover everything -- national, international 
-- like a true citizen." 
 
8. (U) Madame Jean has won critical acclaim for her 
documentaries, many of which she produced with her husband, 
filmmaker Jean-Daniel Lafond.  One of their joint productions 
was the 1993 documentary "Tropic North" about what it was 
like to be black and Haitian in Montreal.  Madame Jean has 
also been prominent in various social causes, including work 
with battered women and immigrants, and children at risk. She 
and Lafond have a seven-year old Haitian child that they 
adopted several years ago.  Martin emphasized that this will 
be the first time in a long while that Rideau Hall will be 
occupied by a family. 
 
9. (U) As part of her journalistic career, Madame Jean has 
often been outspoken.  The Globe and Mail reports that after 
the 9/11 attacks she "expressed sympathy for the victims but 
also raised questions about the world's response," quoting 
her as saying "Why such outpouring and compassion for New 
York and so little for the hundreds and thousands of victims 
in Rwanda a few years ago?"  The paper also said she "drew a 
link between the attacks and U.S. foreign policy," saying she 
stated "the attacks on New York and Washington were, in a 
way, foreseeable." 
 
Visit Canada's Classified Web Site at 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/ottawa 
 
WILKINS