Luncheon with the Heads of Federal Agencies

Ottawa, Tuesday, April 14, 2009

It is in the spirit of sharing and in the name of the collaborative partnerships between the institution of the governor general and your own that I decided to come and meet with you today.

I see a number of parallels between our respective missions and the work we do, and I would like for us to consider these parallels as bridges between us.

But I would like to begin by speaking to you from the heart as commander-in-chief. In the past couple of days, we have received two pieces of tragic news out of Afghanistan.

First, the horrendous murder of Afghan parliamentarian, Ms. Sitara Achakzai, an act that was immediately claimed by the Taliban.

The following day, I learned with profound sadness of the death of Trooper Karine Blais, whose vehicle struck an improvised explosive device near Kandahar. She was just 21 years old and had been deployed just two weeks prior to her death.

These two women shared a dream of creating a more just and equitable world and bringing desperately needed peace to Afghanistan. Both the soldier and the parliamentarian knew how important it is for women and men of goodwill to join forces to achieve this end. 

It is the same dream that I saw burning in the eyes of the Afghan women I met in Kabul, in Kandahar, on March 8, 2007. And I will never forget my conversations with a group Afghan women parliamentarians who came to see me in Ottawa and whose determination and courage, beyond the fatigue, trials and many obstacles, could be heard in their every word.

As commander-in-chief, I also work every day alongside women and men who have chosen to don the uniform and whose commitment, bravery, valour, altruism and merit I am called upon to recognize.

I can testify to their generosity, courage and desire to help improve the lives of populations living where it is urgent that peace be re-established and maintained; to bring much needed assistance; or to take part in reconstruction efforts.

I entered into this position at a time when, for the first time in many years, Canada is faced with the harsh and painful reality of armed conflict.

Canada’s military involvement in Afghanistan has thrust our military women and men into the deadliest combat situations since the Korean War.

Having stood alongside grieving families at CFB Trenton during repatriation ceremonies, I know all too well the cost of that conflict, and it is high. It is not easy.

Our soldiers and their families willingly make tremendous sacrifices, and they have my full support, in good times and in bad.

Because I know the depth of their commitment, and I respect it. Many of them risk their lives in the name of democracy and with the goal of bringing peace and stability to the world.

Having witnessed as a child the abuses of a bloody dictatorship, I know that freedom, justice, respect for human dignity and human rights are never a sure thing and require constant vigilance.

I would now like to tell you about the path that has led me to where I am today.

Born in a country where the social foundations had collapsed, where power was exercised brutally to the detriment of all, I understood from an early age the unbelievable opportunity I had to move from Port-au-Prince to Montréal and to live my life in a country where anything is possible, where terror gave way to peace, repression to freedom, misery to prosperity.

And with that opportunity came an enormous responsibility: to spread hope and find the means for it to be fulfilled.

It is because of that responsibility that I began to help women and children to recover from their physical and psychological wounds after years of abuse, which led me to help establish a network that provides emergency shelters and support to battered women in Quebec. I took that cause to heart, and to this day, it remains at the centre of my engagement.

It was also because of that responsibility that later on I worked with passion and conviction in public television, whose mandate was to present information to the public that was accurate and informed while never, I would hope, trivializing it.

And it was because of that responsibility that, after much thought, I agreed to become the 27^th governor general of Canada.

In my installation speech, I invited all of the citizens who make up the Canada of today to eliminate once and for all the spectre of all the solitudes and promote solidarity.

Breaking down solitudes. This is the motto that I chose and that has guided my every action, my every word, my every choice ever since.

I believe profoundly that the time has come to put an end to the years of fanatical individualism. I believe that the “everyone for themselves and their clan” mentality will get us absolutely nowhere and has already led too many women, men and youth to isolation and despair.

Whatever the cost, we must return to more collective, more human values. Particularly in this age of economic crisis, which requires that we recognize our weaknesses and pool our strengths.

In that spirit, I expressed my determination to ensure that the position I occupy is now more than ever a place where the values of respect, tolerance and sharing will prevail—values that are so essential to all Canadians and that are paramount for me. A place where citizens’ voices will be heard.

But I could not hope to give a voice to those who are seldom heard without doing all I could to bring the institution that I represent closer to the people.

I needed to get closer to the realities, concerns and aspirations of Canadians, particularly youth, whom I have made my priority.

So I hit the road.

I have travelled back and forth across Canada, from east to west, north to south. I have met with women, men and youth, in their cities and villages, neighbourhoods and schools, community centres and homes.

Everything that I have heard, all of the experiences that they have shared with me, every one of their actions that I have witnessed have greatly impressed me.

And what interested me even more was not the differences, but rather all that we have in common, the values we share, the determination with which we are all searching for solutions to the challenges facing our communities.

I could see that, from one province to the next, from one territory to the next, many of the challenges and initiatives are the same, and many of the solutions deserve to be shared with all Canadians.

What better way to share these solutions in a country as vast and boundless as ours—that is the true challenge—than to tap into today’s communication technologies?

My husband Jean-Daniel Lafond and I decided to launch a new initiative, a Web site running parallel to the Rideau Hall site that we have called Citizen Voices and that allows us to explore new possibilities for dialogue.

This site is available to anyone who wants to share their experiences with others, debate issues that are important to them, tell others about their ideas and about what they are doing, and explore ways to create greater social harmony and build a better world.

To date, over half a million visitors have been to the site.

This site is also a way for us to reach youth, who grew up as these technologies were evolving and who use these technologies as tools for interacting with the world.

You know, as I have visited our provinces and territories, I have held discussion forums with youth.

Youth who have a true sense of social engagement and who, without any prompting from the rest of us, are making every effort to find solutions to real problems.

Youth who told me that solidarity is a responsibility.

Many of them use the power of art to take a stand against exclusion, to fight marginalization, to ease tensions, even using art as an alternative to the stranglehold of street gangs and the nightmare of drug use.

In Vancouver, as in Calgary, Winnipeg, Ottawa, Toronto, the City of Québec, Montréal, Fredericton and Halifax, some of these young people have told me quite frankly: “The urban arts got me off the streets and saved my life.”

I heard that same message when I visited young detainees.

I am the first governor general to set foot inside a penal institution, because it is my profound belief that nothing is ever final and that we must have faith in the ability of others to get their lives back on track. Recognizing this ability in them makes all the difference.

It is astounding to see how certain initiatives, particularly those that use the arts as a tool for individual and social change, can produce unexpected results.

To see “at-risk youth” put down their weapons to work with other young people and feel proud of what they are able to give back to their community. 

Of these moving encounters was born the idea to hold Urban Arts Forums here in Canada and abroad.

Through these forums, I have seen the extent to which art has the power to inspire, heal, rehabilitate.

Art is also a way for society to reinvent itself, a source of innovation that propels us forward.

For a long time, Rideau Hall has been a place open to creation and imagination. My husband and I wanted to turn it into a think tank.

This led us to launch a series of forums called Art Matters, created as a space for dialogue and reflection on the arts and culture. These forums bring together artists, creators, researchers, thinkers, administrators, and cultural representatives, to name but a few.

We hold an Art Matters forum in conjunction with the presentation of every Governor General’s Award related to the arts and culture, even while on State visits abroad. I will come back to this.

To date, we have held 36 editions of Art Matters and are delighted to see the collaborations that have come out of this initiative and the ties that have been forged between participants from every province, every territory and every background, beyond the barriers we mistakenly believe to be insurmountable.

When you meet so many people and travel across this country from coast to coast to coast, you come to realize how breathtaking, astonishing and inexhaustible Canada is.

It deserves to be celebrated for its creativity, certainly, but also for the daring, courage, compassion and commitment of the women and men who make Canada what it is today. This is precisely the raison d’être of our honours system.

It is important that we recognize the desire to excel in some that can become a source of renewal and inspiration for others.

I believe that these individuals are a veritable treasure trove of knowledge and role models for us all.

And I believe that we need to call upon these exceptional women and men to an even greater extent to help those who dream of following in their footsteps.

This is why we launched a mentorship program to connect members of the Order of Canada—women and men from every discipline, recognized for their merit and remarkable contribution—with youth looking for role models and sources of inspiration, while establishing an enriching dialogue between them to benefit both mentor and mentoree.

Which is why I also take my role of ensuring the stability of our political institutions, which are at the very heart of our democratic life, so seriously.

Once again, I am called upon to address unprecedented challenges brought on by the dynamics of successive minority governments.

What is most important is to ensure democratic vitality and the continuity of government in this country where anything is possible. This is one responsibility that I do not take lightly, and I am guided solely by my commitment to do what is best for our country.

I believe it is essential that we rethink society and, more generally, the world in which we live, not in terms of the borders that separate us but in terms of the values that bring us together.

The challenges we are facing concern the entire world. The time has come for solidarity, dialogue and co-operation, and it is my intention that my State visits abroad at the request of the Prime Minister will contribute to that perspective of openness.

These visits serve precisely to encourage dialogue between nations and increase our influence in the world.

I have the opportunity to speak with other heads of State in order to advance certain files and discuss issues that require a concerted approach.

But diplomacy, if you ask me, should not be exercised exclusively at the highest decision-making levels; rather, it should resonate within civil society as well.

Once again, in a spirit of reciprocity, I have made it my duty to go out and meet with the people who welcome me.

This openness to the other is part of what I like to call diplomacy on a human level, which enables us to increase opportunities for exchange and co-operation.

That is why I decided, in 2007, to celebrate International Women’s Day in Afghanistan with women whose words, eyes, courage and resilience have remained with me to this day.

This past March 8, I was in Liberia, at the invitation of their president, Her Excellency Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, the first woman on the African continent to be elected as head of State, to take part in the International Colloquium on Women’s Empowerment, Leadership Development, International Peace and Security.

That was not the first time that I had been to Africa. In 2006, I went on what I am calling a tour of hope. That State visit took me to Algeria, Ghana, Mali, Morocco and South Africa.

There have been other State visits as well: to Brazil, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. And there have been official visits to France, Argentina, Chile, Haiti and Italy.

In every country to which I have travelled, I have met engaged citizens who are working to promote new development and democratization processes.

I have often gone where the decision makers of these countries did not expect me to go. This has resulted in some unexpected surprises and interesting connections.

I have met youth in disadvantaged neighbourhoods who have also used the urban arts as a tool for creating peace and opportunities to grow.

I have met women who carry their communities on their shoulders. 

I have met with communities with which I have had extremely enriching discussions on ways to fight exclusion and break down solitudes.

Furthermore, my husband and I are convinced that by encouraging dialogue on the ways in which we express ourselves, we will best be able to explore how we are addressing the issues facing the world today.

We see culture as essential to civilization and an extraordinary instrument of diplomacy.

On every one of our missions abroad, we are accompanied by a delegation.

The members of the delegation are chosen on the basis of not only what they bring with them, among other things the solutions they are putting forward in Canada and that can serve as examples, but also on the basis of what they can get out of the experience and the potential they have to share that with others.

Many of our delegates describe their experience during the visit in blogs posted on Citizen Voices.

We document each of our encounters with photos and videos that Canadians can access on either one of our sites.

We also publish a travel journal so that we can leave behind a tangible record of all that we have seen and done.

It is quite an adventure that I began almost four years ago, when I accepted the mandate given to me, and I can assure you that my enthusiasm has not waned in the least.

Now more than ever before, it is my profound and unwavering belief that our collective success, both nationally and worldwide, rests on the strength of our unity. In other words, our ability to focus on all that we share.

Thus far, I have been able to count on the support of many of your institutions, and I could not be more pleased.

May we continue on this path and find new opportunities to increase the scope of our actions and achievements.

Thank you.