Announcement of the Recipients of the 2009 Governor
General’s Performing Arts Awards

Toronto, Monday, March 2, 2009

My husband Jean-Daniel Lafond and I are so pleased to be here with you today.

Jean-Daniel and I share the belief that art is in itself a lesson in freedom.

A lesson in freedom that is so essential in this day and age, when we are under pressure to conform.

In today’s society, marked by an increasing standardization of the ways in which we express ourselves, the artist’s work and role are now more important than ever.

It is my great fortune to share my life with a creator, an artist, who supports me wholeheartedly and who has invited me to be a part of his world, where his art has given him true freedom.

He brings his unique vision to my role as governor general of Canada.

It was on his initiative that we created Art Matters, a forum for dialogue that we hold in conjunction with the presentation of the Governor General’s Awards celebrating the arts and culture. These forums bring together artists, thinkers, researchers, decision makers, representatives of organizations and many others.

Whenever we travel abroad on State visits, we bring this initiative with us. It is one way for us to highlight the vital role of culture as essential to civilization and as an instrument of diplomacy.

Increasingly, the Art Matters forums are reaching out to the public. I would like to take this opportunity to invite you to join us this evening for an Art Matters forum on music that will be held at Toronto City Hall.

Toronto mayor David Miller and his entire team have graciously offered to lend their support to the organization of this Art Matters forum.

Their participation is a clear expression of their commitment to the arts and culture, and I would like to thank them publicly for that.

You can take part in the discussion at City Hall or online via the Citizen Voices Web site on the governor general’s site, another one of Jean-Daniel Lafond’s wonderful initiatives.

Some of the award recipients, whose names we will be announcing shortly, will be taking part in the forum this evening, along with members of the Order of Canada and Toronto’s arts community.

I for one believe that life would lose all meaning without artists.

Without artists who question us, who challenge us, who make us think, even if it means taking a closer look at what we have long held to be true and shaking the very foundations of our traditions.

We would be lost without artists who explore the wide scope of human experience.

Art opens within us the realm of possibility.

Our perception of things and the world around us expands, connecting with a kernel of truth, with something universal.

And this, I believe, is how art brings us closer together.

Through the thoughts and emotions it evokes, art touches that profoundly human part in each of us.

In these uncertain times, artists remind us that it is always possible to reinvent the ties that bind us to one another and to reinvent the world in which we live.

They remind us that in the simple freedom to invent, to create, resides a promise of renewal.

It is to recognize the vital role of art and the contribution of artists who have chosen the stage as a space in which to create and express themselves that the Governor General’s Performing Arts Awards were created.

These Awards honour years of learning, exploration and hard work.

They celebrate the courage, determination and talent of those artists and art enthusiasts who speak to us beyond that moment on stage.

These Awards certainly owe their prestige to the commitment of the members of the Governor General’s Performing Arts Awards Foundation, to whom I offer my most heartfelt thanks today.

Let us pay tribute to those performing artists who dedicate their lives to enriching our own and whose names will be revealed shortly.

Thank you.