Paris, Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Thank you, Excellency, for this warm welcome. We have been waiting for this moment for a long time. And here we are.

It is a great joy for me, my husband, Jean-Daniel Lafond, and our daughter, Marie-Éden, who is celebrating her ninth birthday today, to be here with you.

We had promised Marie-Éden a big party. You see, Marie-Éden, a promise is a promise!

You know how deep the bonds of fellowship uniting Canada and France run.

You know the extent to which these bonds stem from our shared history, which has made us sisters and brothers in language and culture on both sides of the Atlantic.

A language and culture that are a gift to future generations. A language and culture that continue to thrive throughout all of French-speaking Canada. From the far-reaching influence of Quebec, of which we are so proud, of which I, as a Québécoise, am so proud, to all Francophone communities across Canada: it is a history of courage, resistance and stubbornness.

With this my official visit to France as governor general of Canada, we have the opportunity to celebrate the friendship that ties our two countries and our peoples.

Here in Paris, we have had the pleasure of meeting the President of the French Republic, the Prime Minister, the Speaker of the Senate, the President of the National Assembly, and the Mayor of Paris. These encounters have been rich, friendly, open, and filled with the promise that we will further strengthen the bonds between us.

Our journey will then take us beyond the French capital, along the Atlantic coast, from Normandy to La Rochelle to Bordeaux, skirting the ocean that first served as a bridge between France and the Americas, the two forever linked by maritime routes travelled by seafarers like Samuel de Champlain.

This year, as we celebrate the 400^th anniversary of the founding of the City of Québec, let us also salute that spirit of adventure that compelled women and men to cross the great ocean and that led the Aboriginal peoples to share with them the spirit of that generous and boundless land.

And thus our history began to be shaped by encounters, and it is in this same spirit of encounter that we will commemorate this important chapter in our history in La Rochelle, once the major port for sailing to Canada.

As commander-in-chief of the Canadian Forces, I will have the honour and immense privilege of taking part in the ceremony commemorating the 63^rd anniversary of VE Day, May 8, 1945, in Normandy, at the invitation of the President of the French Republic.

Following the ceremony at the beach at Ouistreham, the President and I will make our way to the Canadian military cemetery at Bény-Reviers to pay tribute to the soldiers who, in the prime of their lives, fought alongside French soldiers for the shared ideal of justice and freedom.

Those values, which we cherish, continue to sustain and strengthen the already productive relationship between our two countries.

I will also be taking part in ceremonies in Bordeaux to honour the memory of the millions of Africans deported to the Americas—yes, even to Canada—and reduced to slavery.

As the great-great-granddaughter of slaves, I know that it will be with great emotion that I open the dialogue on the need to counter the lack of understanding by some that too often leads to the exclusion of others.

This is how we will approach the dialogue.

Rethinking the world beyond our differences to reflect an ideal of equality, freedom and fellowship, so dear to both our countries, is more important than ever if, as the late Aimé Césaire so beautifully wrote, we hope to become [translation] “porous to all the breaths of the world.”

Aimé Césaire, to whom tribute will be paid during a roundtable discussion led by my husband, Jean-Daniel Lafond, in which a number of thinkers from the French‑speaking world will be taking part.

Over the next few days, we will be marking three important chapters in the history we share.

Strong in that solidarity, Canada and France are moving forward together to meet the challenges of the day.

But tonight, dear Embassy friends, we would like above all to thank you for your tireless efforts to make this visit, and this celebration of the ties that bind Canada and France, a success and an unforgettable journey.

Jean-Daniel, Marie-Éden and I are grateful to you and, as we begin this official visit, we would like to express to you our eternal friendship.