National business council honours Inuit leader Mary Simon

Mary Simon in the 2014 recipient of the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business’ Award of Excellence in Aboriginal Relations. (IMAGE COURTESY OF CCAB)

The Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business has honoured Inuit leader Mary Simon with its 2014 Award of Excellence in Aboriginal Relations.

The national non-profit council, which encourages Aboriginal participation in Canada’s economy, presents the award each year to a Canadian who has contributed to “building bridges between Aboriginal people and Canada’s business community,” as selected by a jury.

A Sept. 15 release from the council lauded Simon for advancing “critical social, economic and human rights issues for Canadian Inuit regionally, nationally and internationally.”

Simon, who grew up in Kuujjuaq, is the past-president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami and has just completed her term as chair of the national committee on Inuit education, with a mandate to implement a strategy to improve Inuit education standards across the country.

Over the last four decades, she has held a number of senior leadership positions, including president of Makivik Corp., president of the Inuit Circumpolar Council and Canadian Ambassador for Circumpolar Affairs.

Simon led Canada’s negotiations during the creation of the eight-nation Arctic Council in the 1990s.

Simon is also an Officer of the Order of Canada and a recipient of the National Order of Quebec.

“It is the leadership of forward thinkers such as Mary Simon that continues to build vital partnerships and personal relationships that open the doors of business through education and participation on the national stage,” the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business president and CEO, J.P. Gladu, said in a Sept.15 news release.

Currently, Simon is working with former Prime Minister Paul Martin and former Assembly of First Nations national chief Phil Fontaine as part of a group called Canadians for a New Partnership.

Martin and Fontaine are past recipients of the same award.

The council will present Simon with the 2014 Award of Excellence in Aboriginal Relations at a Sept. 25 gala in Vancouver.