[pause 00:00:00]

Jean-Daniel Lafond: Dear Michaëlle, if I began at the end, I would remember the images of the moment when we left Rideau Hall on October 1st, 2010. We plant a tree, a fine drizzle is falling, then we huddled together under an umbrella. There's three of us, you, Marie-Éden, and I, and off we go.

If I had been told three months before you were sworn in as governor-general of Canada, and we became part of the political scene-- If I had been told what was about to happen in our lives, I would not have believed it.

[background soldier commanding]

Jean-Daniel: What were we to do for those five years? You told me everything is possible, even the impossible. You chose to rise to the challenge. Today, by making this film with you, I'm pursuing the goal of your quest, but it's a secret.

Michaëlle Jean: [French language]

Translator: My life, it's true is filled with the unexpected. I always found myself in places where someone like me was not really expected. I've often faced choices, possibilities that I never asked for.

When someone came to me and said, you being considered for the position of governor-general of Canada, my first reaction wasn't "Aha, here's a career opportunity," but rather "What changes would this position allow me to make? What can I contribute? What can I do?" When I did say, yes, it was because I was ready for the challenge.

[music]

Translator: What is this institution? Canada is a constitutional monarchy, a parliamentary democracy, but still a constitutional monarchy. What can be done with that? Since the 1947 Letters Patent, all powers of the sovereign a conferred on the governor-general, including the exercise of the powers of the head of state.

Paul Martin: For almost four decades, Michaëlle Jean has seen Canada change. She has been part of that change. As our governor-general, she will represent the Canada of the 21st century. She will represent us to the peoples of the world.

Translator: I told Prime Minister Martin, "I'm a woman, a black woman. That will have an impact." He was delighted. He was thinking "Canada is going to send out a very powerful message."

[cheering]

Translator: I wasn't born in Canada. I didn't grow up with a silver spoon in my mouth. Like all refugees and immigrants, I experienced hardship. I don't come from a prominent family or there you are, that too, is Canada.

I come from Haiti, a former French colony. I do have a perspective on monarchs but at the same time, I don't make a value judgment. There could be a decision to dispose of the institution, meaning Canada could possibly become a republic or we could decide to remain a constitutional monarchy. What mattered to me was this institutional space where we could create a place for citizens' voices to be heard.

Jean-Daniel: Meanwhile, I was wondering if it was possible to modernize this institution that I felt was outdated and make it a useful tool but I soon realize that you wasted no time putting your words into action.

Steve Wilson: One of my staff came to me and said, "Steve, there's some general on the phone that wants to talk to you." Well, what general could be calling here? The Governor-general of Canada wanted to come and do a urban art forum at our place, and I was really shocked. Also to find out that part of her mandate was to talk about how youth and arts can contribute to a community's development. I thought what a perfect fit. I didn't know what we could do, not knowing what was about to happen.

[applause]

Michaëlle Jean: From the first day in my installation speech I had said, and this is my vision that I wanted really to give a voice to people who are not often heard. Why do I believe in dialogues like this one? Because it's wonderful to see people really sharing with others their concerns. It's wonderful to see people from different walks of life sharing their experiences, and really willing to really make things happen just by joining their strengths and working together.

[applause]

Audience 1: When you learn from an early age that what you have, your body is precious and it's stolen from you, your innocence, you become a child that's angry. When you don't have an outlet to speak when you don't have art-- For me, I went through incest and so art became my outlet, but I see these kids and they don't have therapy, some of them don't get it right away.

If you don't catch them young, while they're hurt, they grow up, they join gangs because that's the only stability that they know. They end up terrorizing other people because when you don't have a voice, you become angry. When that voice is internalized, you just want to hurt other people because you're so hurt or you turn the hurt inside and you become a cutter or you become suicidal.

Audience 2: If we keep kids off the street and give them a sense of pride and accomplishment and articulation as Your Excellency says, that's what prevents us from doing the stupid, immoral thing of building bigger and more expensive prisons to hold people who have no right to be there at all. I'd like to find all the politicians in this room to start buying into the rhetoric of punishment and start buying into the rhetoric of praise, which is what we all have to do.

[applause]

Eric Robinson: When the governor-general held the forum here, I felt a sense of urgency and those of us that work in government have to work with the people on the ground, to initiate and make sure that these plans and these dreams and these aspirations become reality.

Steve Wilson: We're seeing a tremendous reduction in crime in the neighborhood, but not just the reduction in crime. Now, the residents and specifically the children have hope.

Michaëlle Jean: What we need to do is create the opportunity for this individual, really, to be able to say something and to express a talent, to express an idea. I think that for far too long, people have said, "Youth are the leaders of tomorrow. They're other leaders for the future," but I really believe that we need to keep it real. We need to say the obvious that the youth are really the leaders of today.

[rapping]

Jean-Daniel: Your priority was to meet young people at risk, often the most disadvantaged, and to open up a dialogue. You believed in the power of art.

Michaëlle Jean: [singing in foreign language]

[applause] [silence]

Translator: Some situations are ignored. The plight of aboriginal peoples, for instance. There are some very painful realities, poverty, insecurity, housing conditions, living conditions, health, the despair felt by young people that I could hear and feel in aboriginal communities.

Aboriginal lady: I'm 20 years old. I just want to share my story with all of you. In my home, every single weekend, there was a death, every single weekend, there was a car accident and a murder. There was a drug overdose and there was a woman that was abused every single weekend. There was a group of young people from my community-- I'm from Six Nations of the Grand River, and I'm a citizen of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy.

A small group of youth got together and Tim Hortons, and we needed to talk about this. What was going on in our community and what's happening to our people? A difference needs to be made within our communities and it needs to start with our young people. We looked at ourselves as being the ones that needed to encourage the quiet ones and to be a voice for them when they need that voice.

[music]

Translator: When I landed in the North with you, Jean-Daniel, and with Marie-Éden she would say, "Mom, look, there are children everywhere." 70% of the population is under 20. Those kids dream big.

[applause]

Michaëlle Jean: My [unintelligible 00:11:40] is to have more [unintelligible 00:11:44] professionals in all imaginable and very essential fields and trades.

Translator: They want to be pilots, medical doctors, teachers.

Michaëlle Jean: We need teachers. Two social workers. [unintelligible 00:12:00]

Translator: The dream of all these jobs that are held by Whites from the South. They long to take part in the development of their communities. We have yet to see a single university in Canada's North. Of all the Northern countries, only Canada has not invested in professional training for its peoples of the North.

Michaëlle Jean: There's a lot of talk right now about restoring national resources in the North, but there's one thing that should never be forgotten. The first resource in the North is the people of the North.

[music]

Translator: This creates angry youth who turn their anger against themselves through drug abuse and addiction. We see young people taking their own lives. How beautiful it was when these young people came all the way to Rita Hall.

Stephen "Buddha" Leafloor: The system doesn't really do grassroots social work a lot of the time. It doesn't help people change in the pit of the stomach where they need to change. We inspire the kids. As our relationships drove with the kids through the week, then we progressively get into the difficult conversations, about the pain and the suffering and the stuff that's going on in their lives. All right, enough talking? Say, "Yes."

Crowd: Yes.

Stephen: We can do this. DJ, you got to beat? Turn it way up. [unintelligible 00:13:34]

[music] [cheering]

Translator: The idea was to reconnect them with their soul. Help, bring them back to the joy of being alive.

[music ] [cheering]

Translator: It was really about what I call, "The other use of institutional space." Bringing into that space, those you wouldn't expect to see there.

Jean-Daniel: We presented medals, we received the heads of state, we welcomed the queen. We cut ribbons, sometimes. Lots of flowers, and honorary functions if you like. This was all done and very well done.

At the same time, I think, we needed to shake up the institution a bit, which is not so easily done. An institution like this, which must, of course, remain apolitical and nonpartisan tends to find comfort in great social timidity.

Michaëlle Jean: [French language].

[foreign language song]

Michaëlle Jean: : Now is the time for us to travel the road of truth and reconciliation together. When the present does not recognize the wrongs of the past, the future takes its revenge

Aboriginal man: Woman of the South and of the North, who traveled across the vast Canadian Arctic and became a woman of the far North, you might [unintelligible 00:17:39] with, you took the time to listen. You saw yourself in their culture. It was the start of a true love story.

[Aboriginal singing]

Translator: When I visited these communities, Europe was boycotting some Canadian products because of the seal hunt. I was invited to take part in this feast, a traditional feast, where they shared with me their way of life and their history. There was a profound cultural dimension.

[applause]

Translator: What they offer you comes straight from the land. It's food from their hunt and at the same time, they feel at one with it. The hunters came and threw the seals on the ground. The women grouped together to prepare the meat.

With skillful and precise gestures, they showed me how to use the knife. As I did that, I felt right at home because I used to see these gestures every day, where I come from. When the woman reached the heart, she said, "Excellency, this is a delicacy. Care to taste it?" She waited for my reaction and she knew that if I ate it with her, it would become a totally political gesture.

[indistinctive voices] [silence]

Translator: I know very well that I put myself in high-risk situations, but I never looked the other way. True, I have named some realities, I take a stand because it raises the issue. It sheds new light.

Interviewer 1: You helped a lot with our fight, I guess, by eating a piece of seal meat? That's for everyone around the table, it doesn't mean a whole lot, but I guess it meant a whole lot for the population, the majority.

[footsteps sound]

Translator: I had to travel across this vast country of ours. I also had to be ready to represent Canada abroad. I was faced with a minority government in Canada, whose main concern was its political survival. The prime minister and I agreed I should undertake a great many state visits. The way was open.

[brass band playing]

Translator: I went to Brazil on a state visit at a time when relations were rather strained between Canada and Brazil, with trade disputes and rivalries between Canadian and Brazilian aerospace companies. It was really important to start a new chapter between the two countries.

Michaëlle Jean: [French language]

[applause]

Translator: The discussion was quite productive at the political, economic, and social levels. I also wanted to go into some of the poor neighborhoods and see the projects of Canadian NGOs in the favelas. It was really festive, among others, in that bakery, the cooperative. We talked about solidarity, citizen-based initiatives, which is a powerful way of building ties and moving forward together.

[Brazilian music]

[Brass band playing]

Translator: France has always been an important issue for Quebec. When I went to France on an official state visit to represent Canada as part of the 400th anniversary of the founding of Quebec City, some were furious, others thought it was legitimate. I found myself caught up in this debate.

[brass band song]

Translator: No French Prime Minister or French president has ever been able to set foot in Canada without becoming involved in the debate between Quebec and Canada. For me, Quebec is an important part of my life, I have roots there. The French fact is also clearly an important issue for me in terms of values, in terms of principles.

President Nicolas Sarkozy: [French language]

Translator: President Sarkozy found himself having to explain how he felt towards Canada and towards Quebec. I found myself in the midst of the controversy. The target of all kinds of accusations have had nothing to do with me. "Here she is the Negro queen in thrall to the British." Nonsense all of it. I was blackening Quebec, I was blackening the names, the history, the experience? When a black woman is targeted like this, the words speak for themselves.

[background punching bag sound]

Michaëlle Jean: [French language]

[cheering]

Michaëlle Jean: [French language]

Translator: I spoke up to help 330 Women who are being held in a prison among 200 male prisoners. Women still awaiting trial had never been convicted and were held for months in prison and were being systematically raped by the male inmates. [silence] I can't turn a blind eye and leave without an assurance that action will be taken to get them out of there. [silence]

Michaëlle Jean: [French language]

[applause]

Michaëlle Jean: [French language] [background conversation in foreign language]

Michaëlle Jean: [French language]

[music]

Michaëlle Jean: [French language] "Slave exit to waiting boats."

[background inaudible speech]

Translator: January 20th, 2009 was Inauguration Day for Barack Obama, first African-American first Black president of the United States.

Michaëlle Jean: [French language]

Translator: On that day, we were gathered in front of a big screen. We had to mark this momentous occasion. For my part, I truly felt I could hear the cry of my ancestors, breaking free from slavery, a definitive victory for the Americas because the start, the spark, the whole burning fire of the movement to abolish slavery came from Haiti.

[background plane landing]

Translator: President Obama knows the history, he knows where he comes from. It's no small thing, a Black man leading the United States of America, the former land of segregation of the slave trade of slavery, with American racism, still a reality. [silence] All of a sudden, a powerful message ripples across the globe. Obama's name is on everybody's lips.

[background chatter]

Translator: President Obama comes to Canada for his first official visit. As I prepare for the meeting, I don't quite know what to expect. Air Force One lands, he comes down, immediately our eyes lock and there is a huge smile.

[background chatter]

Translator: The first thing we said, "Who would have thought?" He uses the words "The Commander in Chief of Canada and the Commander in Chief of the United States, would both be of African descent. Who would have thought?" Indeed, who would have thought?

An American president got elected in spite of racism, segregation, with a message of hope. His "Yes, we can." Yes, everything is possible. That too, I believe, is part of the struggle for freedom and emancipation. [silence] Commander in Chief, I don't come from a military background. Rather, I come from a history where the uniforms I knew in Haiti, the marching feet, public executions, and terror were something else.

Michaëlle Jean: [French language]

Translator: When I became Governor-General and Commander in Chief, Canada was on the ground in Afghanistan, and the missions were changing. Canada is deploying its forces in Kandahar, a warzone. There are daily clashes with the Taliban, minefields, improvised explosive devices, high-risk patrols, soldiers' lives in danger.

I choose and agreed to go to Afghanistan on reconnaissance missions, to meet the soldiers in the field, and to meet with the Afghan authorities.

I urged the Chief of Defence Staff to consider the importance of meeting with civil society as well. "Listen," I said, "Canadians don't understand this mission. They wonder why we're there. We may even sometimes wonder ourselves why we're there. The only way to be clear about why we're over there is to connect with civil society. We can't just be there as military patrols, we must also be exchanging with the population."

Michaëlle Jean: Convinced that the solutions will come first and foremost from Afghans and from your perspectives.

Translator: I also sought to encourage progress among the Canadian Armed Forces towards recognizing psychological trauma. I know I did move this forward with the forces. You can be afraid, you can be traumatized. You can be in a state of shock. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and its effects really devastating effects on the military must be recognized.

Afghanistan is extremely terribly harsh terrain. What I saw at Kandahar Hospital was horrific. What I experienced at all the repatriations of fallen soldiers, as I accompany and their families was always that lingering question "Was it worth it really? Tell me, in fact, what did my son die for? What did my daughter die for?"

When you've seen these Afghan children in the hospital, they too, have been mutilated by landmines and you know that dozens of these mines were cleared by someone who ultimately gave his life. He, too, saved their lives. [background noise]

Michaëlle Jean: [French language]

Lady soldier: [French language]

[chuckling]

[piano playing]

Jean-Daniel: We have seen the best of the world, the beauty, the humanity, but also the worst, the violence, the war, and barbarity. There is a terrible tension between the brighter side of life and its more somber side. It's saddest.

[background sound]

Michaëlle Jean: [French language] I believe that now more than ever, it is time for us to show our solidarity with the most vulnerable people in the Americas. Our brothers and sisters in Haiti [sobs] whose courage is once again being so harshly tested and I want to say to them "[Foreign language]." Thank you very much. Merci Beaucoup.

[helicopter sound]

President René Préval: [French language]

[Haitians singing]

Announcer: [French language]

[crowd responded]

Michaëlle Jean: [French language]

[cheering]

Michaëlle Jean: [French language]

[applause]

Michaëlle Jean: [French language]

[applause]

Michaëlle Jean: [French language]

[applause]

Michaëlle Jean: [French language]

[applause]

Michelle Jean: [French language]

[applause]

[Haitians singing]

Michaëlle Jean: [French language]

Haiti Lady: [French language]

Michelle Jean: [French language]

Haiti Lady: [French language]

Michelle Jean: [French language]

Michelle Jean: [French language]

Michelle Jean: [French language]

Michelle Jean: [French language]

Translator: Today is rather disturbing for me because I'm thinking of my mother's ashes, of the urn that will place in the family vault tomorrow. My mother never came back here, ever.

[Haitian singing]

Translator: For my grandmother and my mother, there were no barriers between the Christian world and the spiritual world inherited from our African ancestors. In the plantations, all the slaves had to forge themselves a new language. They were deprived of everything, their beliefs, their history, and voodoo became this revival of our spiritual roots.

[background chanting]

Translator: My mother's wish was that when she died, we would commemorate her in the Christian manner but also in the manner of the ancestors so that part of her ashes would be dispersed on her beloved Caribbean Sea, in the way of our ancestors.

[Haitians singing]

[Sound of waves]

Michaëlle Jean: [French langauge]

Translator: We can't be sure of winning all the battles. We can't be sure of achieving victory in all the struggles of our lives but what matters is that we try. The important thing is that we believe.

[French song]

[00:52:04] [END OF AUDIO]