Michaelle Jean, a woman born in poverty-stricken Haiti who has gone on to become an accomplished journalist, will become the next Governor General of Canada.

"Today, it is my great pleasure to announce that Her Majesty the Queen has graciously approved the appointment of Madame Michaelle Jean as the next Governor General of Canada," Prime Minister Paul Martin said.

Jean, 48, will officially be installed on Sept. 27. She will replace Adrienne Clarkson, who is stepping down in September after six years at Rideau Hall.

"It is with great joy that I accept this nomination," Jean said, speaking after the official announcement.

An accomplished broadcaster who speaks five languages fluently, Jean is a descendant of slaves. She fled the dictatorship in Haiti with her family and went on to study at universities around the world.

"I have come a long way,'' Jean said in her first news conference. "My ancestors were slaves, they fought for freedom.

"I was born in Haiti, the poorest country in our hemisphere.

"I am a daughter of exiles driven from their home by a dictatorial regime.''

Jean's predecessor, Adrienne Clarkson, used her time as the Governor General to open up Rideau Hall to the public. She also took an interest in aboriginal Canada and the military.

Jean said that she will have a better idea by September of what she plans to focus on during her term, but she added that she is very concerned about youth.

"Having a person like me as the Governor General of Canada will mean a lot, not only to Canadians, but all abroad," she said.

"I want every child everywhere to know that it is possible to be and to have a dream and to pursue that dream."

CTV's Ottawa bureau chief Robert Fife said he believes Jean will be a "people's Governor General."

"Although this woman is obviously well-educated and speaks very well, she really does want to talk to people who are disadvantaged in our society," Fife said.

"And I think that's going to add a real new dimension to the Governor General and I think it's going to be somebody who is going to be very relevant, and somebody who I think is going to end up being very popular."

Jean, who enjoys a high profile in Quebec, has worked for CBC and Radio-Canada since 1988.

Much of English Canada will probably recognize Jean as the host of the Newsworld documentary series, The Passionate Eye. She presents a similar series on the French-language news channel, RDI.

The appointment of a Quebecer seemed inevitable – it was Quebec's turn. As well, the minority Liberal government isn't polling well in the province, and there is a federal election expected next year.

"Ms. Jean is somebody who can appeal to a lot of Quebecers, particularly that immigrant community, which were the deciding factor in the last referendum," Fife said.

"This is somebody who might be able to say: 'You know what, we don't have to go on our own and have a little country.

'Let's be part of a big country that brings people from all over the world and in fact, makes Canada the envy of the world'."

Jean's family fled Haiti when she was 11, during the reign of Francois ("Papa Doc") Duvalier. She is the niece of a well-known Haitian writer, Rene Depestre, who chronicled his country's social and political problems.

She speaks five languages fluently -- French, English, Spanish, Italian and Haitian Creole -- and has studied at the University of Montreal, plus universities in Florence, Milan and Perugia, Italy.

Before becoming a journalist, Jean helped create shelters for battered women.

She is married to Quebec documentary filmmaker Jean-Daniel Lafond, and they have a six-year-old daughter, Marie-Eden, adopted from Haiti.