ABSTRACT
Days before her appointment to Governor General of Canada on September 27, 2005, Michaëlle Jean renounced her French citizenship, which she had acquired just one year previously through her marriage to her French-born husband. The Liberal Government of Canada was reported not to have pressured Mme. Jean to effect the renunciation, possibly to cover its own embarrassment at having insufficiently screened Mme. Jean for the appointment.1 Nonetheless, Sheila Copps, former Deputy Prime Minister under the Chrétien Liberal administration, showed no compunction in lauding Ms. Jean for giving up her French citizenship. “It is not rocket science,” bluntly stated Ms. Copps, in the Toronto Sun:
The Governor General of Canada, the chief of the armed force, the representative of our Queen and head of state, should be a Canadian. A Canadian with no allegiance to any foreign government and a Canadian who, in times of constitutional crisis, will speak only for Canada.
