Mary Simon to be installed as Governor General on July 26
Rideau Hall has yet to share details of the ceremony
Mary Simon talks with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau July 6 in Gatineau ahead of the announcement of her appointment as the country’s new Governor General. (Photo by Sgt Johanie Maheu/Rideau Hall)
Mary Simon will be sworn in as Canada’s next Governor General on July 26, the federal government announced Tuesday.
The Nunavik leader was named as the country’s 30th Governor General on July 6. She will be the first Indigenous person to serve in the role.
“Ms. Mary Simon will assume her new duties as Governor General after the installation ceremony, which will take place on July 26, 2021,” the federal Department of Canadian Heritage said in statement.
“Other details on the ceremony will be released soon.”
Simon’s appointment has been approved by Queen Elizabeth, on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s recommendation.
The Governor General is the Queen’s representative in Canada and acts as head of state.
Rideau Hall has not indicated when Simon will have her first audience with Queen Elizabeth but said this week that the first meeting will happen virtually.
Trudeau announced Simon’s appointment at the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, Que., on July 6. Trudeau said she was selected and vetted from a list of nearly 100 potential candidates.
Simon, 73, is originally from Kangiqsualujjuaq in Nunavik, and has called Kuujjuaq home for much of her life.
“When I was asked to take on this very important role, I was very excited,” Simon said last week.
“I felt that this position would help Canadians together with Indigenous people, working together … bringing people together to understand our unique history, our unique cultures and way of life.”
Exciting yes but we will now have an Inuk person to legitimize colonialism, along with the assimilative practices the Feds push for.
Are you ever going to give this constant complaining a rest?
I’m curious what you consider an “assimilative practice”? Things like going to school, getting an education, participating in the wage economy?
As a first example: as a unilingual anglophone, you can get a good job, have a decent lifestyle in Nunavut. As a unilingual Inuktitut speaker? Not so much. School being in English, Inuktitut could well be a few generations away from disappearing. Just in Iqaluit/Apex, there are 4 schools in English and 1 in French. The ratio should rather be 2-3 schools in Inuktitut, 1-2 in English and 1 in French.
I think the issue is the lack of Inuktitut speaking teachers. I genuinely think that if we had the stafff, we would have more Inuktitut classrooms.
You live in a bit of a fantasy world it seems. Nunavut is not an island, it is connected to the greater Canadian economy and societies, and they function in English or French. That is not going to change.
You want to play ball, you’ll need competence in one of those languages. You choose to be a unilingual Inuktitut speaker, then you are consciously choosing to disadvantage yourself.
Learn 8 languages if you wish, but if one of them isn’t English or French, you are jeopardizing your future.
And not to fret Quebec, the GG designate will be communicating in the Ouiouituut in the coming year. Top notch tutors come with the position.
This the good news for the circumpolar world, but QB and the French speaking NB are outraged, why? We were here long before french was spoken…
Good question on assimilative practice. It is a good practice? Do all player assimilate into the culture they come into? Like white people accepting Inuit language and cultural practices. Assume both or any language or any culture is as worthy as any other. Or are there lesser languages and cultures? Do people act like some languages and cultures are not worthy to bother with?
It is part of history that Quebec did not come to the Inuit Nunangat part of Quebec until 1970s. Primary schools in Northern Quebec were all Federal until 1970s.