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Gov. Gen. sings song of hope for Haiti

CALGARY — Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean sang an emotional song of hope for Haiti on Sunday as she told a Calgary audience about the power of art to heal and rehabilitate.
Michaelle Jean
Governor General Michaelle Jean hosts the 44th Art Matters forum in Calgary

CALGARY — Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean sang an emotional song of hope for Haiti on Sunday as she told a Calgary audience about the power of art to heal and rehabilitate.

Jean spoke softly as she told the story of an old woman, heard on the radio, who wandered through the devastated streets of Port-au-Prince with nothing but a song.

“Other voices, shy at first, joined in the singing, growing louder and stronger,” she said.

Jean’s own voice grew strong and sure as she offered her own song for the earthquake-devastated region.

“It’s a song of hope, like this woman’s song rose from the wreckage. That song that travelled over the airwaves to reach us,” she said.

“So I thought even when we have nothing left, there’s always a song, there’s always music, words, and dance steps, to bring us back to life, to bring us together, and to provide hope.”

Jean said young people in her devastated Haitian hometown of Jacmel have recovered audio and video equipment from the rubble and recorded the suffering around them.

“Art has the power to inspire. The power to heal, the power to transform, to rehabilitate, to bear witness and to make us believe that there are better days ahead.”

Jean and her husband spoke at a forum in Calgary about using the arts as a social integration tool for homeless people.

She travelled to the city after making an impassioned speech on Friday in Montreal a vigil in support of the earthquake-ravaged Caribbean country.

At that event she sent a heartfelt message to Haitians assuring them the world community is with them and asking them not to lose hope.