Join CBC News for live coverage Monday of the installation of Mary Simon as┬аCanada’s first Indigenous governor general.
Mary Simon officially┬аbecomes┬аCanada’s first Indigenous governor general today in a ceremony at┬аthe Senate building┬аin Ottawa.
Simon┬атАФ┬аan Inuk from Kuujjuaq┬аin northeastern Quebec┬атАФ┬аwas tapped by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to fill the role earlier this month.
The swearing-in ceremony will, for the first time, be conducted in both English and Inuktitut┬аand broadcast in eight Indigenous languages on CBC Radio.
CBC’s┬аchief political correspondent Rosemary Barton will host┬аcoverage of Monday’s event┬аfrom Ottawa on┬аCBC┬аNews Network beginning at 10 a.m. ET, and starting┬аat┬а11 a.m.┬аET┬аon┬аCBC┬аTV and┬аCBC┬аGem.
Viewers can also follow the event┬аon CBCnews.ca┬аand on Facebook.┬аCBC Indigenous Facebook is hosting the English stream, CBC Nunavut Facebook is hosting the Inuktitut stream, and CBC North Facebook is sharing both.
Following the ceremony, Simon will┬аvisit the National War Memorial to inspect a guard of honour and lay flowers in honour of Canada’s war dead тАФ her first act as the Queen’s representative in Canada.
Simon took her first step┬аinto the official role┬аThursday┬аwhen┬аshe spoke with the Queen.
In a short clip of the online conversation that was posted on The Royal Family’s Instagram account, the Queen said it was good to speak with Simon and told her she was┬а“taking over a very important job.”
“Yes, I’m very privileged to be able to do this work over the next few years,” Simon said. “I think it’s vitally important for our country.”
Indigenous leaders тАФ particularly representatives of┬аthe Inuit community┬атАФ┬аhave praised the appointment.
“To see somebody like Mary Simon, who is an unquestioned Indigenous leader in this country and has been for decades, be recognized for her leadership and her service in taking on this new responsibility as governor general was something that was really powerful,” Natan┬аObed, the president of the national Inuit group Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami┬а(ITK), told CBC earlier this month.
But┬аconcerns have been raised about Simon’s ability to speak French.
While she is fully fluent in English and Inuktitut, Simon┬аis not fluent┬аin French. Typically, the governor general is expected to have a complete command of both┬аofficial languages.
Despite Simon’s promise to continue taking French lessons while┬аserving as governor general, hundreds of French speaking Canadians have written complaints to the┬аOffice of the Commissioner of Official Languages.
The complaints prompted Commissioner┬аRaymond Th├йberge┬аto launch an investigation into the process for nominating the┬аgovernor general.
Despite growing up in northern Quebec, Simon said she never had an opportunity to learn French at an early age because it was not taught at the federal day school she attended.
Day schools operated separately from residential schools but were run by many of the same groups that ran residential schools. They operated from the 1860s to the 1990s.
WATCH |┬аLanguages commissioner says he’s received almost┬а600 complaints about next governor general’s lack of fluency in French
Official Languages Commissioner Raymond Th├йberge joins Power & Politics to discuss his investigation of the process that chose Mary Simon as the next governor general. 3:49
The government has maintained that Simon is an exemplary candidate despite her lack of fluency in French.
Simon brings an extensive resume with her to Rideau Hall, following a career that included various positions as an advocate and ambassador.
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-Qu├йbec.
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.
Simon was also an Inuit representative during the negotiations that led to the patriation of the Constitution in 1982 тАФ which included an acknowledgement of Indigenous treaty rights in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.┬а
WATCH |┬аMary Simon challenges Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau in 1984
The First Ministers Constitutional Conference was held in March of 1984. This exchange happened during a discussion about gender equity. 3:29
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.
In 1994, former prime minister Jean Chr├йtien appointed Simon as Canada’s first ambassador for circumpolar affairs.
During her time in that role, she helped negotiate the creation of an eight-country group known today as the Arctic Council. She would later be appointed as Canada’s ambassador to Denmark.
Beginning in 2006, Simon served two terms as president of the ITK. In that role, she delivered a response on behalf of Inuit to the formal apology for residential schools presented in the House of Commons in 2008.
