From the CBC:
“Inuit leader Mary Simon named
as Canada's 1st Indigenous governor general”
(Mary Simon speaks during an
announcement at the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, Que., on Tuesday,
July 6, 2021. Simon, an Inuk leader and former Canadian diplomat, has been
named as Canada's next governor general — the first Indigenous person to serve
in the role.)
Inuit leader Mary Simon will
serve as the Queen's new representative in Canada, marking the first time an
Indigenous person has held the role. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced
that the Queen has accepted his recommendation of Simon, a past president of
Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, the national Inuit organization, to be the 30th
governor general during a news conference at the Canadian Museum of History
Tuesday morning. "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.
Simon, an Inuk from Kuujjuaq, a
small hamlet on the coast of Ungava Bay in northeastern Quebec, 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 province acknowledged 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 — and
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 that 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. 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.
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 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.
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 facing heavy criticism he
didn't 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 the next viceregal this
time around. 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.
^ I haven’t heard of Mary Simon
before and plan to do a lot of research to learn about her. I hope that Trudeau
learned his lesson after he chose Payette and did a much better job this time.
^
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