Louise Arbour, a former Supreme Court justice and international human rights official, is set to become Canada’s 31st governor general today.
Louise Arbour is set to be sworn in as Canada’s 31st governor general today, taking on the constitutional role as the King’s representative in Canada.
The ceremony is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. ET at the Senate building in Ottawa. It will include remarks from Prime Minister Mark Carney and Arbour’s first speech as governor general, according to CBC News.
Arbour, 79, succeeds Mary Simon, who has served since July 2021 and was Canada’s first Indigenous governor general. At a farewell reception last week, Simon described the role as the “honour of a lifetime” and said she had sought to build connections between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people.
Carney announced Arbour’s appointment last month. He has described the former Supreme Court justice as a “guardian of our constitutional order.” King Charles approved the appointment, the first Canadian governor general he has approved since becoming monarch in 2022, and met Arbour at Buckingham Palace last week.
The governor general’s duties are largely ceremonial and non-partisan, but the office plays a formal role in Canada’s parliamentary system. The governor general grants royal assent to turn bills into law, swears cabinet ministers into office, prorogues and dissolves Parliament, makes appointments on the prime minister’s advice and reads the speech from the throne.
Arbour arrives at Rideau Hall after a long legal and international career. She served on the Supreme Court of Canada, was chief prosecutor for the international criminal tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, worked as UN high commissioner for human rights and led the International Crisis Group. Earlier in her career, she taught at Osgoode Hall Law School and served on Ontario courts.
After today’s ceremony, Arbour is expected to inspect the Guard of Honour at the National War Memorial and lay flowers for Canadians who died in combat.
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