In the political history of Canada, Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga is one of the names the record keeps returning to.
The record lists Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga as 6th President of Latvia.
Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga was born at Riga in 1937. Her recorded nationality is Canada. She was educated at Victoria University and McGill University.
Twentieth-century politics was conducted under the shadow of two world wars, decolonisation and the Cold War, and broadcast to electorates that could watch it happen.
The record of office reads: President of Latvia (1999–2007).
She is described as politician, psychologist and university teacher.
Her name is attached above all to work in psycholinguistics, semiotics and analysis of the oral literature of her native country. What survives of a political career is usually not the speeches but the institutions left behind.
Recognition followed: Grand Medal of the Latvian Academy of Sciences (1997), Collar of the Order of Isabella the Catholic (2004), Order of the White Eagle (2003) and Marcel Vincent Prize (1992).
That the career was made in Canada is not incidental: the institutions available, the franchise, and the constraints of the moment all shaped what could be attempted.
Achievements
- President of Latvia (1999–2007)
- Grand Medal of the Latvian Academy of Sciences — 1997
- Collar of the Order of Isabella the Catholic — 2004
- Order of the White Eagle — 2003
- Marcel Vincent Prize — 1992
- Educated at Victoria University and McGill University
