OTTAWA, Canada - Canada's Haitian-born governor general, Michaelle Jean, will travel to the quake-stricken Caribbean nation and neighboring Dominican Republic on March 8-10, the government announced Tuesday.

The visit "will reinforce the partnership between Canada and Haiti in the recovery and reconstruction of that country," said a statement.

Accompanied during the working visit by her husband, Jean-Daniel, Jean is to "engage the Haitian authorities and civil society groups as central players in a long-term, sustainable strategy for reconstruction and development of Haiti."

During the second part of their trip, Jean will encourage the Dominican Republic "to remain engaged in the long-term reconstruction of Haiti as well as in the development strategy for the Island of Hispaniola."

Days after the catastrophic 7.0 magnitude earthquake on January 12, a visibly distraught Jean said in a televised message to her former compatriots in Creole to "stand firm."

"Like me, Haitian communities across Canada are heartbroken and overwhelmed by the magnitude of this catastrophe," said Jean, who was born in Port-au-Prince in 1957, but fled the barbarous regime of Papa Doc Duvalier with her family when she was 11 years old.

"The images and news reports are unbearable to watch," she said. "So much distress, suffering and loss. We are also, of course, imagining the worst, situations no image can capture that only increase our feeling of helplessness."

But "we are a courageous people, stand firm," she added in a nod to Haitians in Canada and back home, unable to hold back tears.

Since moving to Canada with her family, Jean has visited Haiti as a journalist and collaborated on documentaries about Haiti and the expatriate community in Canada.

As Canada's first black governor general, she returned to her country of birth in 2006 to attend the inauguration of Haiti's president, Rene Preval, and again last year when Haiti was still recovering from powerful storms.