Gov.-General Michaelle Jean on Juno Beach in Courseullies-sur-Mer, France on Saturday. (CP/Andrew Vaughan)

Jean spent close to an hour inside the Juno Beach Centre with the 14 youths from across Canada, discussing the horrific D-Day battle June 6, 1944 that resulted in almost 1,000 Canadian casualties.

The group then spent several minutes on the sandy shore with two interpreters who painted a vivid picture of that turning point in the Second World War - from the fact it was drizzling rain, to how many men were nauseous from the Force 4 winds rocking their landing barges.

Jean listened intently, asking several questions while also including the youths in the discussion.

"I'm really moved," Jean told The Canadian Press before departing to meet with the 20 aboriginal veterans taking part in the trip.

"I think there's a presence here of what happened here and it is very powerful."

Jean accepted an eagle feather from one of the youths, symbolizing majesty, protection and power.

Her two-day trip falls near the midway point of the 300-member delegation's eight-day trip to France and Belgium to honour the aboriginal contribution to the First and Second World Wars.

The trip - called an aboriginal spiritual journey - has included visits to key battlegrounds and cemeteries, as well as performances to showcase Metis, Inuit and First Nations culture and a calling home ceremony to bring the spirits of fallen soldiers back to Canada.

Jean said the trip is not an official state visit, although she has received an invitation from French officials and hopes to return soon. Instead, she wanted to join the group to "bring as much visibility as possible" to the delegation.

"To me, it's very important to stand by them," said Jean, adding the trip's mandate fits with her goal of breaking down solitudes because aboriginal veterans have not received the recognition they deserve.

Jean's visit clearly meant a lot to the youths, who were selected through an essay contest. One girl gave her a long, tight hug while another asked her to pose for a photo.

"It felt good," said Delilah Misheralak, a 17-year-old Inuit from Coral Harbour, Nunavut.

Misheralak, who invited Jean to visit Canada's North, said her visit to Europe has helped explain the stories she heard her grandmother and the elders tell about the war when she was a child.

"My grandmother would call her old friends on Remembrance Day and she'd be all emotional," said Misheralak.

"I used to wonder why because she'd never been to war but I've started understanding more and now that I'm here it means a lot."

Susie Tulugak, an Inuit from Puvirnitug, Que., said the day was an emotional one.

"It was kind of unreal, like thinking 60 years ago they were here," said Tulugak, 17.

"I couldn't really imagine it."

Jean will participate in a remembrance service at a Canadian war cemetery Sunday and take part in a ceremony to dedicate an Inuit Inuksuk in front of the Juno Beach Centre before heading back to Canada.

The one political element to Jean's first international visit was a story in the French conservative newspaper Le Figaro under the headline: Canada's Black 'Little Queen' is in France.

Jean said she was not offended by the headline, although she noted she is not a queen but rather the monarch's representative.

"To see myself described as a little queen, it doesn't matter that they add the word black after," said Jean.

"It's banal; it's true I'm a black woman and it's rare that you find a black woman in this job."

She said she is using her status as a visible minority to teach aboriginal youth and those from other cultures that they can aspire to be whatever they want and have confidence they can reach their goal.