Former Supreme Court justice Louise Arbour will be Canada’s next governor general, replacing Mary Simon in the role, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Tuesday.
Simon, who made history in 2021 by becoming the first Indigenous person to be named as the representative for Canada’s head of state, will see her five-year term end this July.
“Canada is a wonderful country, shaped by its diversity of people, of perspectives and experiences, but I think shaped, also, mostly by a common respect for strong public institutions and for the rule of law,” Arbour said.
“I will strive to serve with honour, dedication and integrity,” she said.
Arbour, who was born in Montreal, served as a Supreme Court justice from 1999 to 2004. Prior to serving in Canada’s highest court, she was appointed to the Supreme Court of Ontario in 1987 and the Court of Appeal for Ontario in 1990.
In 1995, she led a public inquiry into the conditions of prisons for women in Ontario.
“Her work matters in and of itself. It also tells us something about what Louise Arbour will bring to Rideau Hall — the conviction that institutions are the load-bearing walls of a civil society, and that they remain trustworthy only as long as someone is willing to hold them accountable,” Carney said.
Carney thanked Simon for her “extraordinary service to Canada.”
“Her Excellency, the Right Honourable Mary Simon, has been a steadfast representative of Canada and our institutions at home and around the world,” he said.
“As the first Indigenous person to serve in this role, she’s carried forward a lifetime of advocacy for Inuit rights, for Indigenous self-determination, and for the preservation of our Indigenous languages, cultures and identities,” he added.
As UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Arbour “gave voice to those whose dignity was denied in places where the powerful preferred silence,” he said.
“She did not flinch and she never confused being heard with being safe,” he added.
Arbour also served as the United Nations’ chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, prosecuting crimes against humanity and genocide.
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Carney praised Arbour’s record spearheading “the first international criminal tribunals since Nuremberg.”
“She inherited two institutions that many believed could not succeed. She made them succeed. Under her leadership, the tribunals secured the first conviction for genocide since the adoption of the Genocide Convention in 1948,” Carney said.
When asked how she could foster national unity amid separatism questions in Alberta and Quebec, Arbour said, “I think there is a space for the governor general to be conducive of Canadian dialogue with respect to the diversity of our people, diversity of views, of opinions, of experiences, but all that, I think in a spirit of respect and moving the country forward in an ambitious, united way.”
Arbour led the public inquiry into sexual misconduct in Canada’s military in 2021 and submitted her report in 2022.
Prime Minister Mark Carney walks with Louise Arbour to announce the new governor general during an event in Ottawa, Tuesday, May 5 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld.
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After receiving her law degree from Université de Montreal in 1970, she started out as a law clerk in the Supreme Court of Canada. She then taught at York University’s Osgoode Hall Law School from 1974 to 1987.
In a 2014 interview with the Globe and Mail, she said the “biggest hurdle” in her career was moving from Quebec to Ontario, since her entire formal education had been in French.
After she resigned from the Supreme Court in 2004, Arbour became the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
In 2017, UN Secretary-General António Guterres appointed her to be the UN Special Representative for International Migration.
Arbour, 79, is one of Canada’s most decorated jurists. In 2007, former governor general Michaëlle Jean named her as a companion to the Order of Canada “for her contributions to the Canadian justice system and for her dedication to the advancement of human rights throughout the world.”
Governor General Mary Simon faced questions during her term over her lack of ability to speak French, with Canada’s past governors general typically expected to be bilingual in the country’s two official languages. She is bilingual in English and Inuktituk.
Carney’s appointment of Arbour again puts a bilingual speaker of both English and French into the role.
Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks next to Louise Arbour to announce the new governor general during an event in Ottawa, Tuesday, May 5 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld.
What does the governor general do?
Canada is a constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy, with King Charles III as Canada’s head of state. The governor general is the Crown’s representative in Canada.
The Constitution Act of 1867 vests the executive power of the monarch to be exercised by the governor general, who acts on the advice of the prime minister.
The governor general is responsible for swearing into office the prime minister, cabinet ministers and the chief justice of Canada. They also summon, prorogue and dissolve Parliament on the advice of the prime minister.
Generally, the governor general also delivers the speech from the throne on behalf of the monarch, however, last year it was delivered by King Charles III in person.
The governor general also grants royal assent to acts of Parliament, thereby turning them into law.
They also appoint members of the Privy Council, lieutenant governors and certain judges, on the advice of the prime minister.
The governor general is also the commander-in-chief of the Canadian Armed Forces.
