The role of Governor General of Canada is one that has been met with a long line of criticism. The recent controversy for Mary Simon, the first Indigenous Governor General of Canada, is over her supposed “inability to speak French.”
In a wide ranging interview on Face to Face, Simon, who is Inuk and fluent in Inuktitut, says she has thought a lot about language since the criticism over her French was first leveled in the Quebec media.
Simon says she was very upfront during the extensive interview process for the role of governor general that she was bilingual but not in French.
“But I was committed to learning and I have been learning. In fact, I had just spent the weekend with a French family in Quebec with three children that didn’t speak any English so that I could further my own ability to speak French,” says Simon.
“Learning a language at my age is not easy either but I do it every week. I take lessons every week at the end of a work day. I work full days so I’m not at school all the time. It was not accurate the way they reflected how well I did French,” says the Simon.
“I can represent Canada, as who I am, with maybe speaking ten languages, so to me, it’s not really relevant, I am learning.”
Increase in ‘abusive, misogynistic and racist engagment’ online against her
For roughly half a century, Simon has lived a public life. She says she tries to use difficult situations as a way to grow.
“I have had to build a thick skin. I’ve been through different scenarios in my own career. A lot of adversity. You have to use adversity as a way to grow, not as becoming a victim. That’s what I did, I looked at every adverse situation that I went through, including this time and to see how to continue building my own character as a person,” says Simon.
“Every time I get criticized, just like all humans do probably, you feel something. That you’re being attacked. So, you respond as a human being but it’s how you use that response that’s important,” she adds.
Simon does however believe that things have become more toxic for people in public life.
On #IWD, the OSGG shared abusive comments directed at #GGSimon that were posted on our social media platforms.
Yet the online abuse has persisted via different avenues. #16Days pic.twitter.com/7oygfyUpWM
— Governor General of Canada (@GGCanada) November 26, 2023
In February 2023, the comment sections on the Governor General’s social media platforms was turned off.
“In recent months we have witnessed an increase in abusive, misogynistic and racist engagement on social media and online platforms, including a greater number of violent threats,” read a statement on official Governor General of Canada social media accounts at the time.
On International Women’s Day, the Office of the Secretary to the Governor General shared some of the abusive comments directed at Simon that were posted on their social media platforms.
“Mary Simon is a fat overpriced useless Sq***” was just one of the posts.
“There’s been a lot more social media attacks, like on myself when I was first installed,” says Simon. “A lot of women leave their positions because of the horrific comments people make against them. I think its more challenging. It’s a lot more in regards to women and girls and also Indigenous women and Indigenous girls.
“It also happens to men but not to the same degree. So, it is more challenging. People are looking to see if they in fact want to be in public life. So, we have to counter that and I’m working hard to work with others to see how we can do that.”
Four decades of public service
Simon has had a storied career during 40 plus years of public service.
Over the years, she has been involved in intense constitutional negotiations, served as an Ambassador on Circumpolar Affairs and as Ambassador of Canada to Denmark.
She was president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami for two terms, and delivered the response on behalf of Inuit to the formal apology on residential schools by then Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
Reflecting on her life as a public servant, Simon acknowledges, she’s been involved in some “big things in her life.”
“The creation of the Inuit Circumpolar Council where I was involved right from the beginning, that would stick out in my mind because it brought Inuit from four countries together that had not been together for thousands of years, so to speak,” says Simon.
“I was ambassador for circumpolar affairs, I was the Canadian lead to create a Artic council and I worked on that for ten years. So, things like that. The constitutional negotiations was another one when were we eventually got Section 35 but that took from the mid 80’s to the end of the 80’s. Very intense discussions about the development of our confederation with the provinces, the territories and our Indigenous leaders and I happened to be one of those people,” says Simon on the latest episode of Face to Face.
On July 26, 2021, Simon was sworn in as the first, Indigenous Governor General of Canada and the 30th person to hold the title since confederation.
Many events, some world changing, have occurred in her three years in the role.
A papal visit and formal apology by Pope Francis on Canadian soil to residential school survivors, the death of Queen Elizabeth II and the transition of the Crown to King Charles III.
Simon says she doesn’t pin point a finish line in her career but hopes when she leaves the role of Governor General that she can “feel the hope in the country.”
“That we will have a new relationship in Canada between Indigenous peoples and Canadians and that would be a blessing to me,” says Simon.
