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Vol. 25 No. 7 July 2021
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Mary Simon becomes Canada’s first indigenous Governor General
Mary Simon was officially sworn in last week as Canada’s 30th governor general — the first indigenous person ever to hold the position.
Queen in Canada. Her appointment follows a career that includes various positions as an advocate and ambassador.
“I’m so proud of [Simon],” says Shuswap Band Chief Barb Cote. “What she’s accomplished as an indigenous woman, she’s done a lot in her life. This is a step forward for Canada.”
She helped negotiate the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement in 1975 – a landmark deal between the Cree and Inuit in Quebec’s north, the provincial government and Hydro-Québec.
In the ceremony, Simon said Canadians need to learn the country’s real history in order to move forward with indigenous communities. “Our society must recognize together our moments of regret, alongside those that give us pride, because it creates space for healing, acceptance and the rebuilding of trust,” Simon said. “My view is that reconciliation is a way of life and requires work every day. Reconciliation is getting to know one another.”
Simon was also an Inuit representative during the negotiations that led to the patriation of the Constitution in 1982, which included an acknowledgement of indigenous treaty rights in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Simon, born Mary Jeannie May in Arctic Quebec, now known as Nunavik, brings an impressive resume to her new role as representative of Her Majesty The
Hon. Mary Simon
picture by thereminder.ca
In 1986, she led the Inuit Circumpolar Conference (ICC), a group created in 1977 to represent the Inuit in all the Arctic countries. At the ICC, she championed two priorities for northern indigenous peoples: protecting their way of life from environmental cont’d on pg. 6
Emancipation Day Now Official!!
By Rosemary Sadlier OOnt, Toronto, ON
August 1st as Emancipation Day was always celebrated within the Black community with immediate outpourings of rejoicing and praise, music, song, gratitude and dance. It was not something that other people fully understood nor participated in. By the 1960s in Canada, celebrations had waned out in part through the suppression that was a result of concerns related to international visitors and the potential for civil rights ‘protestors’. When these events were restarted, they still tended to remain within the Black community. I helped to restart those recent events in the 1990s and I was the keynote speaker at the first ‘renewed’ celebration of Emancipation Day in Windsor along with Consul General John Nay by 2008. The process of having an official emancipation commemoration began by 1995 and by 1996, my efforts resulted cont’d on pg. 29
Rosemary Sadlier 3rd right flanked by former Premier Kathleen Wynne left and some MPPs
