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https://pm.gc.ca/en/news/news-releases/2021/07/06/prime-minister-announces-queens-approval-canadas-next-governor
Prime Minister announces The Queen’s approval of Canada’s next Governor General
The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, today announced that on his recommendation, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II has approved the appointment of Mary Simon as the next Governor General of Canada.
As Governor General, Ms. Simon will be the representative of Her Majesty The Queen in Canada. She will be Canada’s 30th Governor General since Confederation, and the 13th Governor General appointed by Her Majesty during her 69 years on the throne.
Throughout her distinguished career, Ms. Simon has been a tireless advocate for Inuit rights and culture, and the rights of all Indigenous peoples. Over four decades, she has held various senior leadership positions, including President of Makivik Corporation, where she helped to protect and promote Inuit rights through the implementation of the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement. She also served two terms as President of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference, now known as the Inuit Circumpolar Council, and as President of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami.
As the first Canadian Ambassador for Circumpolar Affairs, Ms. Simon played a leading role in strengthening the ties between the people of the Arctic regions nationally and internationally, including through the creation of the Arctic Council. She is also the founder of the Arctic Children and Youth Foundation, and has served as the Ambassador of Canada to Denmark.
The selection was informed through the advice of the Advisory Group on the Selection of the Next Governor General. The group was mandated to deliberate and submit a shortlist of outstanding Canadians for the Prime Minister’s consideration to fill the office.
>Prime Minister announces The Queen’s approval of Canada’s next Governor General
“I am very pleased to announce that Her Majesty The Queen has graciously approved the appointment of Mary Simon as the next Governor General of Canada. Ms. Simon has dedicated her life to advancing social, economic, and human rights issues for Canadian Inuit and Indigenous peoples, and I am confident that she will serve Canadians and promote our shared values with dedication and integrity. Through this appointment, we are ensuring that Canada is represented by someone who exemplifies the very best of our country. I also join Canadians in thanking His Excellency the Rt. Hon. Richard Wagner, for serving as the Administrator of the Government of Canada the past few months.”
The Right Honourable Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trudeau-gg-mary-simon-1.6091376
Inuk leader Mary Simon named Canada's 1st Indigenous governor general
Simon appointed after Julie Payette resigned amid controversy in January
Inuk leader Mary Simon has been chosen as the next governor general — the first Indigenous person ever to be appointed as the Queen's representative in Canada.
During a news conference at the Canadian Museum of History this morning, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that the Queen has accepted his recommendation to appoint Simon — a past president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, the national Inuit organization — as the 30th governor general.
"I can confidently say that my appointment is a historic and inspirational moment for Canada and an important step forward on the long path towards reconciliation," said Simon.
"Indeed, my appointment comes at an especially reflective and dynamic time in our shared history."
Simon is an Inuk from Kuujjuaq, a small hamlet on the coast of Ungava Bay in northeastern Quebec. She was born to a local Inuk woman and a fur trader father who worked at a Hudson's Bay Company outpost.
Simon, who is bilingual in English and Inuktitut, attended the federal Fort Chemo day school in the Nunavik region.
Asked about her lack of fluency in French, Simon said she never had the opportunity to learn Canada's other official language while at this institution — a school that has been the subject of lawsuits over the mistreatment of students by administrators.
"I was denied the chance to learn French during my stay in the federal government day schools," she told reporters. She promised to learn the language while on the job.
Simon said that she lived a "very traditional lifestyle" growing up in a subarctic region, but she also learned from her father, a white man originally from Manitoba, about the "non-native world."
"Combined, these experiences allow me to be a bridge between the different lived realities that together make up the tapestry of Canada," Simon said. "I can relate to all people no matter where they live, what they hope for or what they need to overcome."
After her schooling, Simon worked as an announcer and producer with CBC North before starting a decades-long career advocating for Indigenous rights.
She helped negotiate the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement in 1975, a landmark deal between the Cree and Inuit in Quebec's north, the provincial government and Hydro-Québec.
Widely seen as the country's "first modern treaty," the agreement saw the province acknowledge Cree and Inuit rights in the James Bay region for the first time — such as exclusive hunting, fishing and trapping rights and self-governance in some areas. It also offered financial compensation in exchange for the construction of massive new hydroelectric dams to fuel the growing province's demand for new energy sources.
Canada's 1st Arctic ambassador
Simon was subsequently elected president of Makivik Corp. in 1982, the organization created to administer the funds the Inuit received from the development on their lands. The organization now manages tens of millions of dollars worth of investments, including an ownership stake in Canadian North, a major air carrier in the Arctic.
In 1986, Simon was tapped to lead the Inuit Circumpolar Conference (ICC), a group created in 1977 to represent the Inuit in all the Arctic countries. At the ICC, she championed two priorities for Indigenous Peoples of the north: protecting their way of life from environmental damage and pushing for responsible economic development on their traditional territory.
As governor general, she will serve a vital constitutional role; past governors general, most recently Michaëlle Jean, have had to adjudicate constitutional disputes. She's also no stranger to Canada's Constitution.
As an Inuit leader, she was on hand when the Constitution was repatriated in the 1980s. She was part of former prime minister Brian Mulroney's attempts to amend the Constitution as part of the Charlottetown Accord process in the early 1990s.
In 2002, former prime minister Jean Chrétien named her Canada's first Arctic ambassador, a position where Simon worked closely with the eight other circumpolar countries to bolster co-operation in the region. She also served as Canada's ambassador to Denmark.
She served two terms as the president of the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK), the national Indigenous organization that works to advance Inuit rights. Her focus at the ITK was on advocating for more resources for young people in the North, and she accepted former prime minister Stephen Harper's apology for the past treatment of Indigenous peoples in the residential school system.
"As Canada's former ambassador to the Arctic, and ambassador to Denmark, our new governor general has experience acting on behalf of the Crown and understands the challenges faced by Inuit and other Indigenous Peoples in Canada," said Monica Ell-Kanayuk, the president of the ICC.
"Canada has appointed a skilled diplomat to a position that can contribute to the reconciliation process Canada is engaged in."
When asked about her unique position as the first Indigenous person representing the Crown in Canada, Simon said she doesn't see any conflict between her identity and her new role.
"Because as the Queen's representative in Canada, I am very concerned about the circumstances that lead to some of the events that we are seeing today. I do understand as an Indigenous person that there is pain and suffering across our nation," she said.
"When I was asked whether I would take on this important role, I was very excited and I felt that this was a position that would help Canadians together with Indigenous Peoples."
Trudeau criticized for his vetting of Payette
The appointment comes more than five months after Julie Payette resigned from the post after a scathing external review found she had presided over a "toxic" and "poisoned" workplace at Rideau Hall, with episodes of "yelling, screaming, aggressive conduct, demeaning comments and public humiliations."
The third-party review gathered testimony from more than 90 people and was triggered by a CBC News story about alleged mistreatment of staff by Payette and her second-in-command, who also later resigned. Payette has said she takes workplace harassment seriously.
While largely a ceremonial role, the governor general also serves as commander-in-chief of the Canadian Armed Forces and represents Canada at events, ceremonies and official visits at home and abroad.
One of the governor general's most important responsibilities is to ensure that Canada always has a prime minister and a stable government in place that has the confidence of a functioning Parliament.
Simon said she has not talked to the prime minister about a looming election.
The governor general's other duties include:
Presiding over the swearing-in of the prime minister, the chief justice of Canada and cabinet ministers.
Summoning, proroguing and dissolving Parliament.
Delivering the speech from the throne and giving royal assent to acts of Parliament.
Signing official documents and meeting regularly with the prime minister.
After critics accused him of failing to properly vet Payette, the prime minister launched a new advisory board — chaired by Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc and the country's top bureaucrat, interim Clerk of the Privy Council Janice Charette — to find a new governor general.
The board drafted a short list of candidates for Trudeau to consider.
Opposition parties had questioned Trudeau's decision to not use former prime minister Stephen Harper's advisory committee process to suggest suitable candidates and suggested Trudeau got swept up in the celebrity status of Payette, a former astronaut.
Since Payette's resignation, Supreme Court Justice Richard Wagner has been juggling his top court duties with serving as acting governor general.
It's not clear yet when Simon will officially take over the role.