Canadians will "fall in love" with New Gov. General

[Sistermadly]

Michaelle Jean will be Canada's next governor general. The official announcement will be made by Prime Minister Paul Martin at 11 a.m. ET on Thursday.

"It's obviously a very exciting appointment. Here's someone who's quite young, very dynamic, has a rapport with a lot of younger audience," said Paul Benoit, an expert on the Canadian monarchy.

At just 48 years old, the award winning journalist will become one of the youngest governors general ever, the third woman in the job and the first black person to call Rideau Hall home.

Jean, a journalist, is probably best known to English Canadians as the host of The Passionate Eye on CBC TV and Rough Cuts on CBC Newsworld.

But her television career was launched in Quebec where she has worked as a journalist, producer and host for the CBC's French language services, SRC and RDI, since 1988.

She has worked as a correspondent for Le Point, hosted Le Monde ce soir, L'Edition quebecoise, Horizons francophones, le Journal RDI and RDI à l'écoute. Currently she is host of the French-language documentary series Grands Reportages.

Jean has received many awards for her own documentary work including the Amnesty International Journalism Award, the Anik Prize and the Galaxi Award for best information program host.

Historian David Mitchell says Jean will play an important role, at a critical time in Canada's history. "She will be a voice for Canada in Quebec and she will represent the new Quebec to the rest of Canada very effectively. She has that potential and that sense, this is an inspired choice."

Jean was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. She left in 1968, her family fleeing the oppressive regime of Francois 'Papa Doc' Duvalier, settling in Quebec with her family. She is fluent in five languages: French, English, Spanish, Italian and Haitian Creole.

A source close to the governor general selection process told CBC News "Canadians will fall in love with this woman. Her story, her nature and her character are nothing short of inspirational."

The prime minister will officially announce Jean's appointment on Thursday morning. She'll be installed as Canada's 27th governor general Oct. 1.

(for the Americans: The Governor General is the appointed representative of the Queen in Canada. Read more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Governor_General)