Her Excellency the Right Honourable Mary Simon

Her Excellency the Right Honourable Mary Simon, Governor General of Canada, was sworn in as Canada’s first Inuk Governor General on July 26, 2021. A political advocate, diplomat, and former broadcaster, Her Excellency has gained national and international acknowledgements for her work on Arctic and Indigenous issues, and for being a voice for Inuit rights, education, culture, and youth. Throughout her career, Her Excellency has held many executive positions at organizations working to push the needle forward as it pertains to the protection and promotion of Inuit rights and for persistently taking steps towards and reconciliation.

Prior to being sworn in as Governor General, some of Her Excellency’s notable achievements include founding the Arctic Children and Youth Foundation, delivering a response on behalf of Inuit to the formal apology on residential schools, and for negotiating the 1982 patriation of the Canadian Constitution, which formally established Aboriginal and treaty rights in the supreme law of Canada. Today, as Governor General, she  is passionate about enhancing mental health programs, resources for Indigenous youth, climate issues, reconciliation, and true diversity and inclusion.