Louise Arbour becomes Canada’s 31st Governor General

Former Supreme Court justice Louise Arbour added the title of Governor General to her distinguished resume Monday in one of the most important ceremonies in Canadian democracy — the act of naming a new representative for the King in Canada.

Arbour will replace Mary Simon, who became Canada’s first Indigenous viceregal in 2021.

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The official duties of a governor general include serving as commander-in-chief of Canada — which includes awarding military honours — swearing cabinet ministers into office, proroguing and dissolving Parliament, making appointments on the prime minister’s advice and granting Royal Assent to turn bills into law.

Arbour was welcomed at the Senate of Canada building on a sunny Monday morning by Simon, Prime Minister Mark Carney, his wife Diana Fox, Usher of the Black Rod Greg Peters and other dignitaries.

An Algonquin elder read a territorial welcome for Arbour and the assembled dignitaries before they entered the Senate building.

Canada’s treaties are agreements signed between First Nations and the Crown, making the relationship between Indigenous peoples and the monarch an important part of the installation ceremony.

Chief Justice Richard Wagner read out the oaths that Arbour had to take to become governor general just before 10: 30 a.m. EDT.

The event included a performance by francophone artist Sara Dufour, who sang “La Reine” by Les Cowboys Fringants. The song is about a woman who puts her service to others ahead of her own personal challenges. Anglophone artist Tyler Shaw is also set to perform “Like Me and You” by Raffi at the ceremony.

Chimwemwe Undi, Parliament’s poet laureate, read her poem “Reasons,” which she wrote for the ceremony. A French translation of the poem was read aloud by a student from the Louise Arbour Elementary School in Ottawa.

A 21-gun salute was fired from canons set up nearby on Parliament Hill as Arbour ascended the throne of the Senate to become the King’s representative.

The Central Band of the Canadian Armed Forces played “God Save the King” and the Governor General’s Flag was raised on the Peace Tower to mark the moment Canada received its new viceregal.

Arbour had a distinguished legal career and served as chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunals of the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. She made history when she became the first to indict a sitting head of state — Serbia’s president Slobodan Milosevic — for crimes against humanity.

The Montreal native also secured the first conviction for genocide since the establishment of the 1948 Genocide Convention in the case of a former Rwandan mayor.

King Charles approved Arbour’s appointment, the first since he took the throne in 2022.

Arbour met with King Charles at Buckingham Palace last week.

— With files from Dylan Robertson

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 8, 2026.