Viceregal eagle
Viceregal eagle
Governor General is a lofty title, but for decades the job mostly involved rubber-stamping legislation. That changed when Adrienne Clarkson held the post from 1999 to 2005. Born in Hong Kong, Clarkson, 70, was a journalist with no political experience, but she brought a vitality to the role, paving the way for the even more dynamic Michaëlle Jean. Photo by Russian Presidential Press and Information Office
Rights minded
During a period when Canada is becoming increasingly irrelevant in global affairs, we need Louise Arbour more than ever. After shocking Canadians with her 1995 inquiry into conditions at the Prison for Women in Kingston, Ont., Arbour gained the world's attention the next year when she prosecuted war criminals from Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia. Then, when the UN's High Commissioner for Human Rights was killed in a 2003 Baghdad bombing, Arbour left the Supreme Court of Canada to take the job. Last July, the 62-year-old became president of the International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based think tank. Photo by Presidencia. N. Argentina
Cool customer
Anne Cools didn't become Canada's first black senator in 1984 by kissing the right butts. On the contrary, she's alienated just about everyone: Cools defected from the Liberals in 2004, only to get booted out of the Conservative caucus three years later. Her opposition to same-sex marriage is at the very least controversial, but there's no denying that the 66-year-old has more pluck than most of the old guard in the Red Chamber. Photo by Neil Valois
Soul survivor
"I'm all about new challenges," says Margaret Trudeau. The woman who became Canada's youngest prime ministerial wife when she married Pierre Trudeau in 1971 is now 61, and proud of it. She still turns heads, radiating health and moving with confident grace. "I have no fear of aging, none whatsoever. I feel better now than I ever have."
Trudeau's new psychological strength has come only after her spirit sank to rock bottom when the death of her son Michel in an avalanche in 1998 was followed by Pierre's death less than two years later. Swallowed up by grief, she was hospitalized, diagnosed with bipolar disorder, then found a caring psychiatrist who helped heal her wounded spirit.
Trudeau now crosses the country doing speaking engagements as an advocate for mental health. "My job is to tell my story, to tell people to reach out and ask for help, to assure them you can be happy again. You will be knocked down in life by all kinds of things, but it's how you get up that matters." - With files from Ann Chandler. Photo by Heidi Hollinger
