Jeanne Sauvé

Who was Jeanne Sauvé?

Jeanne Mathilde Sauvé PC CC CMM CD was a Canadian journalist, politician, and stateswoman who served as Governor General of Canada, the 23rd since Canadian Confederation.

Sauvé was born in Saskatchewan and educated in Ottawa and Paris, prior to working as a journalist for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. She was then elected to the House of Commons in 1972, whereafter she served as a minister of the Crown until 1980, when she became the Speaker of the House of Commons. She was in 1984 appointed as governor general by Queen Elizabeth II, on the recommendation of Prime Minister of Canada Pierre Trudeau, to replace Edward Richard Schreyer as vicereine, and she occupied the post until succeeded by Ray Hnatyshyn in 1990. She was the first woman to serve as Canada's governor general and, while her appointment as the Queen's representative was initially and generally welcomed, Sauvé caused some controversy during her time as vicereine, mostly due to increased security around the office, as well as an anti-monarchist attitude towards the position.