A one-time Colombian presidential candidate best known for her lengthy hostage ordeal paid tribute to Canada as she received an honour from the Quebec legislature Wednesday.

Ingrid Betancourt, who was freed after more than six years as a hostage held by Colombian guerrillas, received the Quebec national assembly's medal of honour and glowing praise from politicians including Premier Jean Charest.

She returned the adulation.

Betancourt thanked that same Quebec legislature for raising international awareness of her plight by tabling a 2002 motion in support of her.

Ingrid Betancourt was held by FARC rebels for more than six years. (CBC)She said the motion began an international chain-reaction that concluded with the daring rescue operation of her and 14 other hostages last year.

"If I'm here today, it's thanks to you," she told the national assembly.

"You were the first — the forerunners in the fight for the hostages' liberation. There was Quebec, then Belgium, then France, then Europe, then the world — and then finally Colombia."

After the event, she gave a speech at the famed Chateau-Frontenac. The choice of venue was not without irony; she recalled fond memories of visiting the ornate hotel with her first husband, French diplomat Fabrice Delloye.

"I'm a Canadian at heart. I travelled around your country. I camped here. I fell in love here, with the father of my children."

The premier paid tribute to the human-rights activist, saluting her courage and saying the world needs more people like her. One opposition Action democratique du Quebec politician was even more glowing, heaping quasi-religious praise on Betancourt as "a being of flesh and light."

The Colombian-French politician herself, however, pointed to her own all-too-human flaws.

In a recent book, three Americans who were fellow hostages painted a less-than-flattering portrait of Betancourt, casting her as a spoiled, self-serving politician who used her celebrity status to get special treatment in captivity.

Betancourt admitted that during her confinement she occasionally saw things that were "ugly," like "egotism" and "cowardice."

"And I didn't see this in others — I saw it in myself," she said.

She urged politicians to keep up the fight in Colombia and noted that 24 of her fellow hostages remained captive in the jungle at the hands of FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) guerrillas.

Betancourt will also receive an award this week from Gov. Gen. Michaëlle Jean on behalf of Reporters Without Borders Canada.

Betancourt is scheduled to appear on Radio-Canada's popular talk show Tout le monde en parle on Sunday.