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November 5, 2008 OTTAWA—Ninety years ago, at the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month, the hostilities of the First World War came to an end. The Armistice had been signed six hours earlier, at Rethondes, in the Forest of Compiègne, aboard the train of Marshal Ferdinand Foch, supreme commande...

Rideau Hall, Friday, November 7, 2008 It would be wrong to downplay the efforts of women to gain their freedom and fight for their rights as a mere battle of the sexes. Thank you for being here. I would like to begin by welcoming the Honourable Helena Guergis, Minister of State (Status of Women). Ma...

Rideau Hall, Thursday, November 6, 2008 It gives me great pleasure to welcome you to Rideau Hall, as you celebrate the 100th anniversary of your association and for the official presentation of your new armorial bearings. It is an historic event, a unique one, and I am very pleased and honoured to b...

Ottawa, Monday, November 10, 2008 “I cannot speak of the war, for I do not know the words that could make you understand.” So writes a soldier to his mother in Claude Guilmain’s film. In that letter, as in each of the letters that we will hear, what is left unspoken is as powerfully evocative as the...

Rideau Hall, Tuesday, November 11, 2008 It gives me great pleasure to welcome you to Rideau Hall today, a day we set aside to make moving and necessary efforts to remember. The duty of memory is an important one. Yesterday, I attended the premiere of a deeply moving film, Front Lines / Entre les lig...

Rideau Hall, Monday, November 17, 2008 I am delighted to welcome you to this ballroom, where our country’s highest honours are awarded, under the favourable auspices of the Thunderbird, of all living life forms and all Manitou spirits that inhabit the water, earth and sky. This monumental work, born...

Rideau Hall, Tuesday, November 18, 2008 We are about to set out on a State visit to four European countries: the Republic of Hungary, the Slovak Republic, the Czech Republic and the Republic of Slovenia. We are eagerly getting ready to discover these countries that regained their freedom after havin...

Luncheon Hosted by the Speaker of the National Assembly Budapest, Monday, November 24, 2008 Thank you, Madam Speaker, for your generous introduction. My husband and I are especially touched by your warm welcome. It is good to be in the country of Franz Liszt, Dennis Gábor and Robert Capa. I am very ...

Budapest, Monday, November 24, 2008 Almost nineteen months ago to the day, my husband and I had the privilege and honour, Excellency, of welcoming you and the members of your delegation to Rideau Hall, in Canada. At that time, we highlighted the fact that 2006 had marked the 50th anniversary of the ...

Méltóságos Michaëlle JeanKanada fokormányzójának onagyméltóságapohárköszöntojea méltóságos Sólyom László,a Magyar Köztársaság elnökének onagyméltóságaés Sólyom Erzsébet asszonyáltal adott állami vacsora alkalmával Magyarország, Budapest2008. november 24., hétfo Összevetendo az elmondottakkal Csaknem...

Budapest, Tuesday, November 25, 2008 I am delighted to be with you here today as part of my State visit to Hungary. I am impressed by what I have just seen in this Bombardier train-car factory, and the discussions I had with a few employees and managers seemed to be a good sign of things to come. Ca...

Budapest, Tuesday, November 25, 2008 In 1989, a democratic regime was established in Hungary and with it, the seeds of hope. A wind of renewal swept across Hungary and crossed the Atlantic to reach our shores. Canadians, many of whom are of Hungarian descent, saw this transformation as an opportunit...

Budapest, Wednesday, November 26, 2008 I am deeply moved to be standing before you, not far from the monument commemorating the events of 1956—when so many hopes and lives were brutally wiped out—so that I may unveil this plaque honouring the thousands of Hungarians who found refuge in Canada. The t...

Bratislava, Thursday, November 27, 2008 It is a privilege and an honour for me to be here today, in an institution named for the great educationalist Comenius. Whom historian Michelet referred to as the “Copernicus of education”; whom psychologist Piaget regarded as an illustrious pioneer; and who w...

Banskà Bystrica, Friday, November 28, 2008 It gives us great pleasure to open an exhibition of contemporary Canadian works of art here in Slovakia, a country we are delighted to be travelling in and discovering as part of this State visit. We are here in the heart of Europe, at the crossroads of anc...

Bratislava, Wednesday, November 26, 2008 I am delighted, Excellency, by your commitment to supporting dialogue as the surest road to “truth, tolerance and respect,” as expressed in your inaugural address. I, too, made a commitment to ensure that the institution I represent as governor general of Can...

Prejav Jej Excelencie,generálnej guvernérky Kanady,Michaëlle Jeanovej,na slávnostnej večeri usporiadanej na jej počesť Jeho Excelenciou, Ivanom Gašparovičom,prezidentom Slovenskej republiky,a pani Silviou GašparovičovouBratislava, Slovenská republika Streda, 26. novembra 2008 Text sa môže líšiť od ú...

Bratislava, Friday, November 28, 2008 The cultures of the world are all interwoven. Anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss, celebrating his 100th birthday today, wrote that all cultures are the result “of brewing, of borrowing, of mixing; a process that has not ceased, though always with differing rhyth...

Brno, Saturday, November 29, 2008 I am delighted to be here with you today in this institution born of the desire of a society and of a man, Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, to establish in Moravia another centre of education and culture, alongside Charles University in Prague. As someone who was once a pass...

Brno, Saturday, November 29, 2008 Thank you very much for your warm welcome and for giving us the opportunity to learn more about the contributions that the Romani culture has made to Europe and to humanity itself. We are delighted to be here to work with you on bringing peoples together. One of my ...