Mary Simon installed as 30th governor-general, first Indigenous person to serve as Queen’s representative in Canada

Mary Simon has been installed as governor-general and makes history as the first Indigenous person to serve as the Queen’s representative in Canada.

In a speech in the Senate that included Inuktitut, English and French, Ms. Simon said she was honoured, humbled and ready to assume the position.

She also said that she’s been deeply touched by the responses from Canadians who have reached out since the announcement of her appointment.

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The official installation in the upper chamber took place Monday, after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Ms. Simon’s appointment on July 6. Due to the pandemic, the ceremony included a limited number of participants while following local public health guidelines.

“I have heard from Canadians who describe a renewed sense of possibility for our country and hope that I can bring people together,” Ms. Simon said. “I have heard from Canadians who have challenged me to bring a new and renewed purpose to the office of the governor-general to help Canadians deal with the issues we are facing.”

Ms. Simon said the discoveries of unmarked graves on the grounds of former residential schools has horrified her, along with all Canadians. She said her view is that reconciliation is a “way of life” and requires work every day.

“Reconciliation is getting to know one another,” she said.

Ms. Simon also referred to the destruction of nature and climate change as the challenges of our time. She pointed to the Arctic, and what has happened across the country in the past month with forest fires, prolonged droughts and record heat waves, as evidence of this.

She promised to meet Canadians in all provinces and territories to learn what people are facing.

“On the strength of those governors general who served before me, I commit to Canadians that I will move forward with humility and purpose to meet this moment in our shared history,” she said.

Governors-general represent the Queen, Canada’s head of state, and carry out some key ceremonial functions to keep the constitutional monarchy running. These duties include dissolving and opening Parliament. The prime minister traditionally visits the governor-general at Rideau Hall and submits what is called an instrument of advice recommending the dissolution of Parliament, which paves the way for a general election.

The governor-general has many important responsibilities, including carrying out constitutional duties, serving as the commander-in-chief of the military, representing Canada at home and abroad and, according to the department of Canadian heritage, bringing Canadians together.

Ms. Simon’s role as governor-general comes after a long career in Indigenous policy making. In the early 1980s, she worked on the patriation of the Canadian Constitution. She also had a senior role in the 1996 Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples and represented the Inuit in the government’s 2008 residential schools apology. She was also president of the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK), a non-profit group representing more than 65,000 Inuit in Canada, beginning in 2006.

Ms. Simon grew up in the Nunavik region of northern Quebec, where she was raised according to Inuit traditions, including living off the land with sled dogs. After the sixth grade, Ms. Simon split her time between being home-schooled in the town of Kuujjuaq and going to school in Colorado, where her paternal grandparents lived.

Ms. Simon is married to former CBC journalist Whit Fraser and is the mother of three children.

She speaks both English and Inuktitut and has said she is working to learn French. She said she grew up in Quebec but was denied the chance to learn French during her time in the federal government day schools, institutions attended by Indigenous children.

“I am deeply committed to continuing my French-language studies and plan to conduct the business of the governor-general in both of Canada’s official languages as well as Inuktitut, one of many Indigenous languages spoken across the country,” Ms. Simon said.

Some, including Quebec Senator Claude Carignan, have expressed concern about the fact that Ms. Simon can’t speak French. Mr. Carignan questioned how the Prime Minister considers it appropriate to appoint a governor-general who will not be able to speak “to more than eight million French-speaking citizens of Canada.”

As of Monday, a spokesperson for the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages said it has received 1,051 complaints related to the fact that Ms. Simon does not speak French. The office confirmed that Commissioner Raymond Théberge has launched an investigation after receiving the complaints.

Ms. Simon said Monday that she has heard from Canadians who have expressed their support in her commitment to learn French, and have even offered to assist her in her training.

The governor-general’s role has been vacant since the resignation in January of Julie Payette, who stepped down after allegations of aggressive conduct and public humiliations of staff, which were documented in an independent workplace review.

The departure was viewed as a major disruption at Rideau Hall.

Ms. Simon said that as governor-general she is fully committed to setting and maintaining the highest possible standard of work and ethics in all aspects of her duties.

In March, Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc announced the establishment of an advisory group on the selection of the next governor-general. It included Daniel Jutras, the rector of the University of Montreal; Judith LaRocque, a former secretary to the governor-general; Suromitra Sanatani, the interim chair of the board at Canada Post Corp.; and Natan Obed, the current ITK president.

Mr. Trudeau said almost a hundred names were vetted before the advisory group came up with a “small number of incredible Canadians” who could serve.