"How much of that shitty deal did you sell to your clients?" - Sen. Carl Levin (1934-2021)

Inuk leader Mary Simon named first Indigenous Governor-General of Canada

Mary Simon, an Inuk woman and experienced leader, has been appointed the new Governor-General of Canada – the first Indigenous person to serve as the Queen’s representative.

Ms. Simon is assuming the role at a time when the country is particularly focused on the issue of reconciliation with Indigenous peoples, after multiple recent discoveries of hundreds of unmarked graves at former residential schools. For more than 120 years the institutions housed Indigenous children who had been being forcibly removed from their homes, subjecting them to religious instruction and harsh treatment in order to eradicate their languages and cultures, as documented by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

At the announcement of her appointment in Gatineau, Que., Tuesday, Ms. Simon said that, as an Indigenous person, she understands “that there is pain and suffering across our nation.

“We need to stop to fully recognize and memorialize and come to terms with the atrocities of our collective past that we are learning more about each day,” she said. “But 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.”