Her Excellency the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean
Speech on the Occasion of the Official Welcome Ceremony at the Legislative Assembly
Victoria, Tuesday, March 7, 2006
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
It is a great pleasure to start my first official visit to British Columbia here in Victoria, and I so appreciate the warmth—in every sense of the word!—of your welcome.
It is easy to understand why, despite your distance from what is considered the business, financial and political centre of this country, British Columbia remains the destination of choice for many Canadians—particularly for those who seek greater balance in their lives and a deeper connection with the physical environment.
Indeed, Victoria’s long-standing tradition of counting blossoms helps to remind the rest of the country of how important it is to “stop and smell the roses.” And I confess that since my first visit to Vancouver, I have imagined that if I were to choose to live anywhere outside of my home province of Quebec, it would be here in BC.
Not just because of the glorious physical surroundings. The dynamism and energy of your province and its people are equally arresting. On this trip, my travels are confined to your two southernmost metropolitan centres. But I know that Vancouver and Victoria are not reflective of the entire province, as I am sure many of you in this chamber would be quick to point out!
So let me assure you that I am equally eager to visit the other corners of your great province—to bear witness to the quiet grandeur of Haida Gwaii and the ancient traditions of its people; to bask in the bright Okanagan sunshine and sample its world famous produce and wines; to explore and experience BC’s north, its coast, and its interior.
Serious students of history know that Canada would not be Canada were it not for British Columbia. By becoming the sixth province to join confederation in 1871, BC played a transformative role, complementing our Atlantic heritage with a Pacific orientation that has helped to redefine us in significant ways.
And the manner in which your entry was negotiated exemplifies the bold, pioneer spirit that continues to thrive here.
As challenging as it is to represent a Northern BC riding in Ottawa, or even Victoria, today, consider the task more than a century ago. To get from here to our national capital in 1871, the BC delegation had to travel by steamboat to San Francisco, across land by train to Chicago, and then by wagon to Ottawa. It took them two weeks.
Once in Ottawa, the delegation planned to ask Sir John A. McDonald to build a wagon road to BC as a means of connecting it to the rest of the country. But George Etienne Cartier, the Prime Minister’s wily Quebec lieutenant, took the weary BC politicians aside and insisted, “Non, non! You must be more ambitious. You must ask for a railway!”
In delivering this advice, Cartier established a special bond between BC and Quebec politicians that has persisted in surprising ways ever since.
The delegation, of course, acted on his words, and the rest of the story constitutes our shared history: the daring, expensive promise extracted from Sir John A. MacDonald by British Columbia became an essential part of our national dream.
Successive generations of British Columbians have never stopped building on that dream. As a result, one hundred and thirty-five years later, Canadians across the country continue to benefit from your presence in confederation.
The abundance of your spectacular landscape has inspired artists for centuries, and it attracts tourists from around the world. The attention paid to developing your rich 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.
Respect manifests itself in many ways. Let me speak to one of these.
As an immigrant to Canada who has been honoured with the opportunity to serve its citizens, I am particularly moved to be here in your parliament buildings.
British Columbia has a long tradition of electing members from immigrant and minority communities who have ensured that this legislature has led the way in reflecting the rich diversity of your province’s, and Canada’s, population.
In this chamber, Frank Calder gave voice and dignity to the concerns of Aboriginal British Columbians. As Speaker, Emery Barnes ably served not just his community, but the entire province. And since then, members of this house of Chinese and Southeast Asian heritage have continued to make visible the multi‑faceted inheritance of your citizens. In 2000, BC made Ujjal Dosanjh Canada’s first non‑Caucasian and first Indo‑Canadian provincial premier.
In the process, your legislature has demonstrated in a tangible and high‑profile way the warm welcome that BC embodies, the symbol of hope and opportunity that your province continues to represent—not just to the rest of this country, but to the rest of the world.
Your multicultural cities—where “English as a second language” students often outnumber the Canadian-born—are a beacon of what is possible, a model of how diverse communities can live and prosper together.
We may not be able to package this, or put a price tag on it, but it nevertheless remains one of our most marketable commodities. Surely, in the context of a new global environment still rife with misunderstanding and violence, the capacity to create communities that thrive on trust and consensus is among our most important collective responsibilities.
I have pledged to use my office to focus attention on breaking down solitudes—the differences of all kinds that continue to separate us: those imposed by geography and age, by gender and ethnicity, by language and religion, by poverty and ignorance.
Only by working together can we eliminate the barriers that prevent skilled immigrants from fully contributing to their new country. Only through collaboration can we find meaningful solutions to the social alienation that drives some young people to isolation and despair.
The marginalization of any human being is a loss to us all. And nothing in our affluent society is more disgraceful than our failure to nurture and support those who are most vulnerable. Children and youth represent not only our future, but also our present. We have a profound duty to them, not only to pass on a better world, but also to ensure they have the capacity to embrace it and each other with respect and responsibility.
This, too, is part of our collective dream and an achievement that has eluded many societies. Close to realizing it in so many ways, we cannot afford to take it for granted, or to assume that it is someone else’s task.
Every one of us, with every action we take and every attitude we express, has an opportunity to foster respect, to promote dialogue, to nurture co‑operation.
During this first official visit to British Columbia, I look forward to speaking with you and your fellow citizens about this and many other issues.
The conversation we start this week will be but the first chapter in our ongoing dialogue. I know that you and the people you represent have important matters to discuss, inspiring stories to share, and valuable lessons to teach me.
I am here to listen. Thank you.
