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Prime Minister Paul Martin on Thursday will officially name journalist Michalle Jean as Canada's next governor general.
The official announcement is expected to come at 11 a.m. EDT in Ottawa.
Jean will be installed as Canada's 27th governor general Oct. 1.
At 48 years old, the award-winning journalist will become one of the youngest governors general ever, the third woman in the job and the first black person to call Rideau Hall home.
Jean's name surfaced after weeks of rumours about who would be replacing the current Gov. Gen. Adrienne Clarkson, who took up the post in 1999 and who is stepping down this fall.
Jean is probably best known to English-Canadians as the host of The Passionate Eye and Rough Cuts on CBC Newsworld.
She was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. She left in 1968, her family fleeing the oppressive regime of Franois "Papa Doc" Duvalier, settling in Quebec with her family.
She has a six-year-old daughter whom she adopted from Haiti, and she is married to filmmaker Jean-Daniel Lafond. As well, she is fluent in five languages: French, English, Spanish, Italian and Haitian Creole.
Her television career began in Quebec, where she has worked as a journalist, producer and host for the CBC's French language services, SRC and RDI, since 1988.
She has worked as a correspondent for Le Point, hosted Le Monde ce soir, L'Edition quebecoise, Horizons francophones, le Journal RDI and RDI à l'écoute. Currently she is host of the French-language documentary series Grands Reportages.
In an interview with CBC Radio in 2001, Jean spoke of how she sees her role in the public eye, especially as a role model for children.
"Being a black journalist on TV – for many black children and Asian children and, I say, even native children – it's a symbol because when they see me they say, 'OK, something is possible,'" she said.
Jean has received many awards for her own documentary work, including the Amnesty International Journalism Award, the Anik Prize and the Galaxi Award for best information program host.
"It's obviously a very exciting appointment. Here's someone who's quite young, very dynamic, has a rapport with a lot of younger audience," said Paul Benoit of the Monarchist League of Canada.
Historian David Mitchell says Jean will play an important role, at a critical time in Canada's history.
"She will be a voice for Canada in Quebec and she will represent the new Quebec to the rest of Canada very effectively. She has that potential and that sense, this is an inspired choice."
