Her Excellency the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean
Speech on the Occasion of the Official Arrival in Victoria
Victoria, Tuesday, March 7, 2006
I am delighted to begin my first official trip to Canada’s westernmost province here in the garden city of Victoria. Indeed, I am pledging to take advantage of your balmy climate and the opportunity my position affords me to meet with you as often as possible.
Even if you have only witnessed news coverage of recent storms in other parts of our land on television, you will understand what a joyous experience it is to trade the icy grey and white canvas of Ottawa and Montreal for the vibrant palette of colour exploding from tulips, daffodils and the blossoms that paint your streets.
You must know that to the rest of Canada, this vibrancy continues to feed British Columbia’s unique status as a beacon of hope and possibility.
Today, your thriving, cosmopolitan cities seem a long way away from the frontier that attracted early pioneers and prospectors to this province more than a century ago.
But the powerful myth of traveling west—to escape from tradition, to pursue adventure, to seek one’s fortune—remains. In the eyes of many Canadians east of you, BC continues to embody opportunity: a sense of new beginnings, new horizons and new connections.
Being here on Vancouver Island has particular resonance for me. My daughter and I were both island-born. So I feel a special affinity here—a sense of connection that comes from the inexplicable, yet tangible, bond tying all islanders together the world over.
The waves that break off these coasts, the waters that flow into this harbour, are part of the same ocean that helps to sustain all of humankind.
I have taken as my own motto “Breaking down solitudes.” And I take as my inspiration the model provided by Canadians themselves. Together, we have already shown that it is possible for people from different linguistic, cultural, religious and ethnic backgrounds to live side by side in peace and respect.
We must continue expanding this capacity we have to embrace difference and celebrate inclusion. We must break down the remaining solitudes that unfortunately still relegate too many in our society to silence. We must continue to reach out, to connect the haves to the have‑nots, the established to the newly arrived, the old to the young, the west to the east.
Although original references to Canadian solitudes spoke of language and cultural barriers, geography can also serve to separate. And living here as you do on this side of the majestic Rocky Mountains, it is perhaps easy to feel cut off from the rest of Canada.
But British Columbia is integral to Canada’s past and to our present and our future, and the importance of your role and contribution is evident across this country.
Long before I visited the province, I was seduced by its majesty and spirit through the artistic vision of Emily Carr and Bill Reid.
The abundance of your landscape has inspired artists for centuries. The richness of your resources has yielded enviable prosperity for generations. And now the means you are developing to balance the two remind us all of the fragility of this small planet we share and the respect we owe it, and each other.
While here in BC, I will have the opportunity to meet with gardeners and politicians, with social activists and Aboriginal youth, as well as young immigrants and members of the armed forces and ordinary heroes. I will take the stories and ideas you share with me and in turn, share them with the rest of the country.
I am one citizen among equals, and I look forward to the role I can play in relaying your concerns, your dreams and your hopes to one another. There is so much for you to teach me, so much for us to discuss.
I would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart for your warm welcome. It is my hope that this visit will be the first of many, many more to come.
Thank you.
