How Governor General Mary Simon is remaking her role [Video]

Gov.-Gen. Mary Simon during an interview at Rideau Hall in Ottawa. She said there were some things she wasn’t prepared for, including racist and misogynistic online vitriol.

Patrick Doyle for the Toronto Star

OTTAWA—It’s not every day an Inuk leader and former advocate is seated next to the head of the Catholic Church.

But on a hot July afternoon in 2022, wearing a black dress and red overcoat embroidered with Inuk designs, with her signature purple hair peeking out beneath the grey, is exactly where Mary Simon — Canada’s 30th governor general — found herself.

Joy SpearChief-Morris is an Ottawa-based reporter coveringfederal politics and Indigenous issues for the Star. Reach her viaemail: [email protected]