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Québec, Monday, June 23, 2008
It is with great pride and joy that I welcome you to the magnificent City of Québec, a world heritage jewel, particularly at this time when we are celebrating its 400th anniversary.
From the heights of the Citadelle to the streets of Lower Town, our history is everywhere before our eyes and is revealed in the traces that time has left behind for our collective enrichment.
I believe that we would not be able to find a better location, nor a more auspicious occasion, to hold this 28th International Congress of Genealogical and Heraldic Sciences. All of you who are passionate about history and appreciative of culture will find that there is much to see and discover here.
For me, opening this congress is a much more significant and consequential duty than simply performing the task required of me as honorary patron of an event of this calibre.
Genealogy and heraldry are auxiliary sciences of history, and I believe that they are relevant and vitally important at the beginning of the third millennium.
When I was appointed governor general of Canada two and a half years ago, I had the occasion, not to mention the privilege, to reflect on the path of my life.
Haiti, the island of my birth, had an oppressive and brutal regime that my family and I had to flee before I was 11 years old. I then came to this land, Canada, where I have set down root and which has become for me a country of endless possibilities.
I have also looked back in time to retrace the paths of my ancestors. Some were uprooted from Africa. They were transported like merchandise to this side of the Atlantic and were reduced to a state of slavery, an outrageous, devastating experience shared by the Aboriginal peoples on the island. Dispossessed of their land and colonized first by the Spanish, then the French. So, some of my ancestors were also Taino, Arawak and Carib, the three Aboriginal nations who flourished in the Caribbean region before the arrival of the Europeans.
This reflection was an internal voyage, a journey that has allowed me to better understand the hope I embody for all those who, at some point, had to reclaim their freedom.
In my duty as head of the Canadian Heraldic Authority, I had to create, in a few weeks, my personal coat of arms, which I shall transmit to my daughter, Marie-Éden and to her descendants.
My arms reflect the journey of my African and Amerindian ancestors, of those women and men who had to break their bonds, free themselves, rise up from the most disgraceful of atrocities, reclaim their freedom after three and a half centuries of despicable slavery.
My arms are also a symbol of my profound convictions, of what I hope to accomplish over the course of my mandate, and of the heritage that I would like to leave to the country that has opened its arms and its heart to me.
Briser les solitudes. Breaking down solitudes. This is the motto I have chosen.
It provides a wonderful link to the theme of the Congress—The meeting of two worlds: quest or conquest.
I believe that Canada has become what it is today because it has never ceased to count on the infinite possibilities that can stem from the meeting of people coming from all over the world to participate in the ideal of a pluralist society where each person enjoys equal rights.
This year, my husband, Jean-Daniel Lafond, also created his coat of arms, which I saw for the first time only two weeks ago.
For him, as for me, this has been a unique, deeply moving and unforgettable experience.
In a way far more profound than we had initially expected, we were following in the footsteps of others who had taken the journey before us.
His motto says a lot about him as a philosopher, a filmmaker and a man profoundly engaged in joining me in this great adventure. He has chosen L’Humanité est ma patrie, meaning “Humanity for one’s homeland.”
This is another wonderful legacy for our daughter Marie-Éden; for Estelle and Élise, from his first marriage; and for our two granddaughters, Éléonore and Justine. Five girls!
Nothing is more precious than passing on to our children our world view on which they will be able to reflect.
Certainly, this has been an exercise that one cannot enter into lightly, and which requires total involvement. Because to choose the elements of an emblem–regardless of its type–some fundamental questions need to be asked.
Who are we?
How do we express in symbols our roots, our history, and our values?
How do we ensure that the proposed message is at the same time powerful and meaningful?
How do we express the essence of our family or of our society and the place we hold in it?
How, finally, do we succeed at this endeavour while respecting the rules of blazonry, because nothing in a coat of arms is left to chance, and because each colour and charge carries the message that we choose to give it.
My husband and I were able to count on the heralds of arms of Canada to aid us in this process.
They allowed us to discover their passion and their discipline.
They convinced us of the evocative power of coats of arms and of their importance to expand our understanding of ourselves and of the world and to assure continuity in this era of instant gratification.
Today, I would also like to salute their expertise and to express my pride that a woman–and a very capable woman–Claire Boudreau, is in charge of the Canadian Heraldic Authority.
Genealogy was born of a desire to know who one is and from where one has come, in order to project oneself into the future.
It is a pastime, but it is also a science that for the last quarter century has undergone a rebirth in many countries.
My curiosity and my enthusiasm concerning my own history are likely quite similar to those of the descendants of the first settlers who came to Canada.
No doubt, they are also shared by members of the First Nations, the Métis and the Inuit communities, who are as committed as always to preserving their cultures, languages and the knowledge of their elders and their ancestors.
This quest, this need to connect to one’s own story in the preservation of so many stories are universal.
Now, the desire to know who one is can lead us to advanced genealogical research that requires training in new skills in order to read and interpret primary sources and old documents in the archives.
This highlights the importance of your role, of your knowledge, and, as I said, of your passion. You, the renowned experts in your field. The program of this congress bears witness to this.
I encourage you to make the most of this occasion to discover the fields of study and research of your colleagues who have come here, to the City of Québec, to share and present the results of their work.
This year, the Canadian Heraldic Authority is celebrating its 20th anniversary. In spite of the distance, and as much as possible, the Authority gladly contributed to the monumental task which the organizers of the Congress had undertaken.
In 1996, this same congress took place in Ottawa, and the heralds have told me of the considerable work and of the time required to organize such a meeting.
Allow me to congratulate the Fédération québécoise des sociétés de généalogie and the Société de généalogie de Québec for their generosity, their enthusiasm and their professionalism.
Many volunteers from these organizations will be on duty all week. Their dedication deserves to be acknowledged and warmly applauded.
In closing, I would like to invite you this Saturday, June 28, in the afternoon, to an open house at the Citadelle, which is the second official residence of the governor general. Several exhibits on the 400 years of history of the City of Québec will be presented. I look forward to seeing you there.
May these five days in the City of Québec be filled with happy meetings and fortunate discoveries. Have a great congress.