Our Patron

The Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean (C.C., C.M.M., C.O.M., C.D.)

In spring 2011, the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean (C.C., C.M.M., C.O.M., C.D.) became the Patron of our Network. This distinction seemed like a natural fit for our emerging national network, recognizing Ms. Jean’s pioneer role in establishing the Quebec women's shelter movement.

Michaëlle Jean is the UNESCO Special Envoy to Haiti. She was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. She immigrated to Canada with her family in 1968, fleeing the dictatorial regime of the time.

During her studies, Ms. Jean worked for 10 years with Quebec shelters for battered women, while actively contributing to the establishment of a network of emergency shelters throughout Quebec and elsewhere in Canada. She later ventured into journalism and became a highly regarded journalist and anchor of information programs at Radio-Canada and CBC Newsworld.

Ms. Jean has won numerous awards, including the Prix Mireille-Lanctôt for a report on spousal violence; the Prix Anik for best information reporting in Canada for her investigation of the power of money in Haitian society; and the inaugural Amnesty International Canada Journalism Award. She has also been named to the Ordre des Chevaliers de La Pléiade, by the Assemblée internationale des parlementaires de langue française, and has been made an honorary citizen by the City of Montréal and the Ministère de l’Immigration et des relations avec les citoyens du Québec, in recognition of her accomplishments in communications.

On September 27, 2005, the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean was sworn in as 27th Governor General and Commander-in-Chief of Canada. Since Confederation in 1867, Canadian governors general have assumed the function of Head of State. During her time in office, Madame Jean ensured that the institutional space she occupied could become, more than ever before, a meeting place where dialogue prevails and citizen voices are heard. A fervent practitioner of "diplomacy of proximity" and "diplomacy on a human scale," she also led forty missions and State visits abroad in Afghanistan, in China, in ten African countries, in nine countries in the Americas, and in more than ten European countries.

Recently, she was presented the 2009 United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) Canada Award for her outstanding manner in advancing gender equality.

In 2009, she received the Board of Governors Recognition Achievement Award from the National Quality Institute for her contribution to the quality of life of Canadians and humanity.