Governor General | Micheline's Blog

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Governor General, Inuit, Mary Simon, Reconciliation

Mary Simon, 74, is Canada’s New Governor General.

‘She knows where she comes from’: Mary Simon seen as humble, professional leader (msn.com)

Allow me to quote MSN (Microsoft News):

Mary has been a leader in the North for the last four decades. She served as president of Makivik Corp., the Nunavik land-claim body, and Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, the national Inuit organization. She was Canada’s first ambassador for Circumpolar Affairs and also served as the country’s ambassador to Denmark.
MSN

Madame Simon is an Anglophone Inuit, and she has promised to learn French during her tenure as Governor General. But the truth is that Madame Simon has a mother tongue of her own, which she must keep. The era and mindset that led to the creation of Residential schools is a by-gone era, never to return.

I hope Madame Simon’s appointment will help consolidate the position of Amerindians in Canada. Europeans intruded on their land but if anyone belongs to a country, it is its indigenous population. Canadians must realize fully that Amerindians were its first inhabitants.

Simon is well known for her role in negotiating the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement between the Cree and Inuit of northern Quebec, the provincial government and Hydro-Quebec in 1975. The deal affirmed Inuit and Cree hunting and trapping rights in the area and established $225 million in compensation over 20 years in exchange for construction of hydroelectric dams.
MSN

© Sean Kilpatrick/Radio-Canada Mary Simon se tourne vers le premier ministre Justin Trudeau lors d’une annonce au Musée canadien de l’histoire à Gatineau, au Québec, le mardi 6 juillet 2021. Mme Simon été nommée gouverneure générale du Canada, la première personne autochtone à assumer ce rôle.

Canada’s new Governor General is married to Whit Fraser, a former CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) producer. They have three children.

Canadians are removing or vandalizing statues, including a statue of Queen Victoria and one of Elizabeth II. That is destruction and it will not help. Nor will it help to burn churches. Let us go forward together and make Canada a better country.

I wish Mary Simon a happy tenure as Governor General. Her appointment as Governor General is genuine progress. Mary Simon is a very accomplished person whose achievements have been recognized.

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/mandryk-imperfect-residential-school-reparation-will-still-be-costly/ar-AALPENf?ocid=msedgntp

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