Adrienne Clarkson
The Right Honourable
Adrienne Clarkson, nee: Poy, (born
February 10,
1939 in
Hong Kong), is the current
Governor General of Canada (since
1999). She is the first
Chinese Canadian and second
woman to hold this position, the first being Jeanne Sauvé.
A
Hakka raised in
Ontario, Clarkson's ancestry is from
Taishan,
Guangdong,
China. Since her father was a British subject, he was a part of a prisoner-of-war exchange with the Japanese Imperial Forces. Her family subsequently came to
Canada, using the "special circumstances" status that allowed Chinese into Canada during the
Second World War in
1942. Clarkson is the daughter of William and Ethel Poy (伍英才).
Clarkson studied at
Ottawa public schools, until
1956, when she studied in the
University of Toronto's
Trinity College. It is during this time that she won a governor-general's medal in English. She graduated with a
Bachelor of Arts in
1960, after which she travelled with her parents to
East and
Southeast Asia.
She began working on her Master's degree in
1962, with a thesis on
George Meredith's poems. She married next year to Stephen Clarkson, a University of Toronto
political science professor, until their divorce in
1975. The couple had two children, Blaise and Kyra. After the divorce, the children became estranged from their mother and now rarely speak to her.
Her post-graduate studies were done at the
Sorbonne.
She is well-known from her work in broadcasting, having hosted and produced several shows for the
CBC; these include
Take Thirty,
Adrienne at Large,
the 5th estate,
Adrienne Clarkson's Summer Festival, and
Adrienne Clarkson Presents. She was the president and publisher of
McClelland and Stewart from
1987 to
1988 and has written several books.
In the early 1980s she served a term as the province of
Ontario's representative in
Paris.
On
October 7,
1999 she was sworn in as the twenty-sixth Governor General of Canada, after being appointed by Queen
Elizabeth II, Canada’s head of state, on the advice of Prime Minister
Jean Chrétien. Clarkson is the first non-white Canadian Governor General, the second female, and the first without a military or political background.
As Governor General she is
Commander-in-Chief of the
Canadian Armed Forces. In this capacity she visited the battle group aiding the
Invasion of Afghanistan in 2002.
Throughout the first few years of her term in office, Clarkson was praised as being a more modern Governor General and bringing more public attention to the office then in recent decades. Criticism soon ensued, however, regarding the way she and her office spend money. Under her tenure, the office's spending has increased almost 200%. Part of this increase was due to accounting reasons: several costs associated with the governor general that were formerly paid by various government ministries were transferred to the governor general's office, such as bodyguard services.
As well, in late
2003 a 19-day circumpolar "northern identity" tour to
Russia,
Finland, and
Iceland, along with 50 other prominent Canadians was seen as a waste of money by some of the Canadian public, particularly after a scandal involving George Radwanski; but her office defended the trip as successful, particularly with regard to her warm reception in Russia and her meeting with
Vladimir Putin. The trip was commissioned and paid for by the
Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. A scheduled continuation of the circumpolar "northern identity" tour, that would have included visits to
Sweden,
Denmark,
Norway, and
Greenland, was scrapped by the Federal Government in early
2004. The increase in spending resulted in some politicians calling for the role of the Governor General to be reduced or even for the position to be eliminated. A poll taken late in
2003 found a majority of Canadians thought Clarkson was "too grand" for the office.
In
2004, Clarkson and her office were once again in hot water; this time with Canadian monarchists. During a ceremony to recognize Canada's involvement at
Juno Beach in the
D-Day landings of
1944, Clarkson's office claimed that she was attending as Canada's Head of State, when in fact the Queen, who was in attendace at the ceremony, is Canada's Head of State and should have been treated as the senior official in attendance.
Rideau Hall later retracted the statement saying that it was an error of a junior official.
Despite the criticism, Ms. Clarkson and her husband have travelled across Canada to meet the people more than any other Governor General in Canadian history. She has been to
Kosovo to meet the troops, spent Christmas with the troops in the
Persian Gulf on a Canadian destroyer and, most recently, announced that she would be spending New Year's with Canadian troops in Afghanistan. Ms. Clarkson also writes her own speeches. Clarkson's tenure has been notable for her patronage of the arts.
She is married to Canadian author and philosopher
John Ralston Saul, with whom she has lived since
1984 and married in 1999. Adrienne Clarkson is also the sister-in-law of
Vivienne Poy.
While some
Chinese Canadians feel pride in Clarkson's literary and political achievement, other Chinese Canadians point out that Clarkson has never made much of an effort to embrace her Chinese heritage. For example, although her parents are fluent in Chinese, Clarkson is not. Some thus find Clarkson to be without regard for her Chinese ancestry, and believe she has not been very representative of her minority group while in office.
By tradition, Governors General generally serve a five year term, however, the length of time in office can be extended by the Queen (on the advice on of the Prime Minister) as has happened several times in the past. Clarkson will reach five years in office on October 7, 2004, but it is not yet known if her term will be extended or if a new Governor General will be appointed.
External links
\n*Adrienne Clarkson biography - Government of Canada\n*
The Story Behind the Surname Poy
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