Michaelle Jean

Michaelle Jean has had a variety of interesting roles in her life.

Compassionate and caring, she has always used them to support her

advocacy for freedom, equality, and justice.

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The year 1968 was a dangerous and frightening time to live in Haiti. Dictator François
Duvalier was jailing and torturing anyone who spoke out against his brutal government.
Many victims and their families tried to escape, and a lucky few made it to Canada.
That’s how a little girl named Michaelle Jean wound up in the small Quebec town of
Thetford Mines.
She grew into a beautiful, well-educated woman who could speak half a dozen languages.
Although Jean now enjoyed a peaceful, prosperous life, she never forgot the suffering she
had seen - her father tortured, poor people oppressed, women and children brutalized.
So Michaelle Jean worked at a women’s shelter and with new immigrants to Canada,
helping others improve their lives. She began a successful career as a radio/TV
broadcaster and filmmaker, and used her position there to shine a light on injustice and
suffering around the world.
As she worked to build a network of women’s shelters across Canada and write about the
hardships of immigrant women, Jean used her remarkable brain, but led with her heart.
She became known for her sympathy for anyone fighting on the side of freedom and
equality.
Then, in 2005, her reputation for caring and compassion led to an amazing opportunity; a