Former Supreme Court justice Louise Arbour will be Canada’s next governor general, replacing Mary Simon in the role, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Tuesday.
Simon, who made history in 2021 by becoming the first Indigenous person to be named as the representative for Canada’s head of state, will see her five-year term end this July.
“Canada is a wonderful country, shaped by its diversity of people, of perspectives and experiences, but I think shaped, also, mostly by a common respect for strong public institutions and for the rule of law,” Arbour said.
“I will strive to serve with honour, dedication and integrity,” she said.
Arbour, who was born in Montreal, served as a Supreme Court justice from 1999 to 2004. Prior to serving in Canada’s highest court, she was appointed to the Supreme Court of Ontario in 1987 and the Court of Appeal for Ontario in 1990.
In 1995, she led a public inquiry into the conditions of prisons for women in Ontario.
“Her work matters in and of itself. It also tells us something about what Louise Arbour will bring to Rideau Hall — the conviction that institutions are the load-bearing walls of a civil society, and that they remain trustworthy only as long as someone is willing to hold them accountable,” Carney said.
Carney thanked Simon for her “extraordinary service to Canada.”
“Her Excellency, the Right Honourable Mary Simon, has been a steadfast representative of Canada and our institutions at home and around the world,” he said.
“As the first Indigenous person to serve in this role, she’s carried forward a lifetime of advocacy for Inuit rights, for Indigenous self-determination, and for the preservation of our Indigenous languages, cultures and identities,” he added.
Simon welcomed Arbour’s appointment as her successor.
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“Whit and I offer our heartfelt congratulations to the Honourable Louise Arbour. I had the pleasure of speaking with her, and we look forward to all that she will bring to Canada in her new role as the 31st governor general,” she said in a statement.
As UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Arbour “gave voice to those whose dignity was denied in places where the powerful preferred silence,” he said.
“She did not flinch and she never confused being heard with being safe,” he added.
Arbour also served as the United Nations’ chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, prosecuting crimes against humanity and genocide.
Carney praised Arbour’s record spearheading “the first international criminal tribunals since Nuremberg.”
“She inherited two institutions that many believed could not succeed. She made them succeed. Under her leadership, the tribunals secured the first conviction for genocide since the adoption of the Genocide Convention in 1948,” Carney said.
When asked how she could foster national unity amid separatism questions in Alberta and Quebec, Arbour said, “I think there is a space for the governor general to be conducive of Canadian dialogue with respect to the diversity of our people, diversity of views, of opinions, of experiences, but all that, I think in a spirit of respect and moving the country forward in an ambitious, united way.”
Arbour led the public inquiry into sexual misconduct in Canada’s military in 2021 and submitted her report in 2022.
After receiving her law degree from Université de Montreal in 1970, she started out as a law clerk in the Supreme Court of Canada. She then taught at York University’s Osgoode Hall Law School from 1974 to 1987.
In a 2014 interview with the Globe and Mail, she said the “biggest hurdle” in her career was moving from Quebec to Ontario, since her entire formal education had been in French.
After she resigned from the Supreme Court in 2004, Arbour became the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
In 2017, UN Secretary-General António Guterres appointed her to be the UN Special Representative for International Migration.
Arbour, 79, is one of Canada’s most decorated jurists. In 2007, former governor general Michaëlle Jean named her as a companion to the Order of Canada “for her contributions to the Canadian justice system and for her dedication to the advancement of human rights throughout the world.”
Governor General Mary Simon faced questions during her term over her lack of ability to speak French, with Canada’s past governors general typically expected to be bilingual in the country’s two official languages. She is bilingual in English and Inuktituk.
Carney’s appointment of Arbour again puts a bilingual speaker of both English and French into the role.
What does the governor general do?
Canada is a constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy, with King Charles III as Canada’s head of state. The governor general is the Crown’s representative in Canada.
The Constitution Act of 1867 vests the executive power of the monarch to be exercised by the governor general, who acts on the advice of the prime minister.
The governor general is responsible for swearing into office the prime minister, cabinet ministers and the chief justice of Canada. They also summon, prorogue and dissolve Parliament on the advice of the prime minister.
Generally, the governor general also delivers the speech from the throne on behalf of the monarch, however, last year it was delivered by King Charles III in person.
The governor general also grants royal assent to acts of Parliament, thereby turning them into law.
They also appoint members of the Privy Council, lieutenant governors and certain judges, on the advice of the prime minister.
The governor general is also the commander-in-chief of the Canadian Armed Forces.
Arbour was the UN’s chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribuna. This will be an uacceptable provocation to Pedopresident Trump and to Pee Pee Poilievre.
Such a waste of tax payers money. Official wine and dine rep. Why do we still have this position!!!
At 79, when most are retired, Lou is gonna keep rocking the federal pay cheque that she has used for many decades.
“If you just recruit white boys who like guns but don’t like women or anybody who doesn’t look like them, you’ll perpetuate that culture.” Louise Arbor in an interview July 2022.
Will she also blow through our tax dollars like Queen Mary?
This position should be gone.
Although I don’t think Canada needs the expense of a Governor General, Louise Arbour will probably do an excellent job in the role.
There is always abuse of taxpayers money with each new Governor General. The position should be eliminated and save us billions of dollars.
She’s waaaay overqualified, a workaholic, and already is bored by money, so there’s only one reason she would take this boring as hell job.
She will be the liasson between our official head of state and the Don down south. Otherwise….zzzz….zzzz….zzzz
NF BSer saying gas prices aren’t trump’s fault. I guess it’s me that has the Starit of Hormuz blockaded then eh?
Phuck off ya pirate.
All the liberal’s just blindly listening to the media to then blame Pierre for the situation we are in. I thought Carney was the man to deal with Trump? Then it changed…. I thought we already had the best trade deal? Now its changed again…. but yeah, it’s Trump’s fault that we are paying $2.10 per litre in Vancouver. Not the additional taxes we put on the fuel.
Everything the Governer General does for Canada is basically symbolic. I guess thats worth 500K a year, though.
Me want a g-g bigly too! Why Carney get one? Would look great in my ball room.
Millions more wasted on a useless meaningless appointment while average Canadians go hungry.
Don’t worry comrades, she’ll make sure Chinadians are well looked after, said no one ever.
Overqualified but PPers whine anyway.
Entertaining.
Canadian tax payer pay way to much money for that position. WE should abolish this position. Why do we need one at almost 500K a year that not count trips and so on.
Justin Trudeau always wanted to be a monarch as he added no value anyways
I wanted that gig.
You don’t need to have even been a paper boy.
I once had a hamster, so I can talk to trump.
more waste of tax payers $$$$
PP fans here with less than half of Arbour’s IQ doing PP’s whining. LOL.
Maybe with these trump gas prices you should all start another clownvoy to Ottawa. Loving it.
@ Peter: I lost count of how many grammar mistakes you made in attempting to communicate with Canadians. You Swahili?
why do we need a governor. and why are canadians upset by this considering they changed they’re vote last election because trump called carney a governor. what this sovereignty? how is a country sovereign when it needs a King’s rep to approve the will of the people. gooo carney
Another Carney lapdog.
I just hope she will be a bit more frugal than Simon. Canada spends way too much on the Governor General who through the years have made it their mission to take as much as they can get from the taxpayers.
Another at the pig trough
Why it should be gone not needed
A good choice, especially in these days when human rights are under attack even in Canada.
Louise I hope you have the power to control Carney before we are ruined.
Hire a person who traded her political side for money. We are fucked in Canada 🇨🇦
Really a trader to her side has got a formal position. This country is fucked