OTTAWA —
As a girl in Nunavik in the 1950s, Mary Simon and her friends chattered cheerfully on their way to elementary school, just like other children. But, unlike most other kids, they grew silent as they reached the schoolyard.
Inuit languages were banned at Kuujjuaq federal day school in northern Quebec and Simon recalls being punished “many times” for speaking Inuktitut rather than English in the classroom.
“From grade one to grade six we were not allowed to speak our language on school property or in the classroom or in school at all,” she said in an interview.
More than six decades later, as Governor General of Canada, Simon delivered the throne speech not just in the country’s official languages, English and French, but in Inuktitut, a groundbreaking moment in Canadian history.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appointed her to the role last year and she moved into Rideau Hall, the grand official residence in Ottawa. As the Queen’s representative in Canada, she plays not only a key ceremonial role, but serves as an apolitical figurehead for the country.
The 95-year-old Queen recently tested positive for COVID-19 and Simon said Canadians all “wish her well.”
“I know that all Canadians join me in wishing Her Majesty good health and a swift recovery from her recent illness,” she said.
Simon also contracted COVID-19 earlier this month, which she said she only had for a week with mild symptoms, thanks to having been vaccinated.
“I am fully vaccinated and encourage everyone to get vaccinated. I think getting vaccinated is the best way to fight COVID so we can return to a more normal life,” she said.
Though she rises above party politics, the politics of vaccinations came to her front door this month after the so-called Freedom Convoy rolled into Ottawa and stayed.
One of the protest’s organizing groups called Canada Unity published a “memorandum of understanding” calling for the Senate and Governor General to overrule all levels of government and revoke COVID-19 restrictions.
Her office was also inundated with emails from people trying to register a no-confidence vote in the government with her, after mistakenly believing that her office had the power to unilaterally dissolve Parliament.
Rideau Hall was forced to post a message on Twitter to counter the “misinformation” on social media encouraging Canadians to cast a non-confidence vote.
The statement pointed out that “no such registry or process exists.”
Simon said she did not get involved in the politics of the protests, or meet any of the protesters, although she was kept closely informed of the tumultuous events on her doorstep.
The Governor General said Canada “has been changed by this major event.”
She said she is “very saddened by some of the events that have taken place especially some of the things that happened at the National War Memorial,” in an apparent reference to a video showing someone dancing on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
She said Canadians are “frustrated and upset because we have had to live a very different life for over two years.”
Although the protest started out about vaccinations, it “became much bigger than that,” she said.
The protesters were not a homogeneous mass, she said, but included many groupings, including people “opposed to vaccines and … other people that want to overthrow the government.”
“Overthrowing the government in this way is not something Canada does,” she declared.
Her focus now is on healing fault lines and divisions that have emerged in Canada, which includes speaking to the broad range of people involved in the protests.
During her career, including as lead negotiator for the creation of the Arctic Council, Simon developed a reputation as a bridge-builder between people with sharply opposing views.
Though she says she is personally in favour of “following the science” and getting vaccinated, she stops short of judging the protesters.
“I don’t feel is anyone is wrong particularly, but there is a very strong difference of opinion about what is going on,” the former diplomat remarked.
She said the country needs to take a look at “bringing Canadians together to discuss how we can work and come together as a nation and look forward.”
“I am a bridge between Canadians from different experiences,” she said. “Encouraging different points of view has been central to my work, not just here at Rideau Hall but throughout my life’s work,” she said.
She said the fact that Canadians have a diversity of experience and opinions makes the country stronger “when we are respectful of each other.”
But respect “is something we really have to work on in the next months and probably years,” she believes.
Recently the Governor General surprised members of the public by phoning them directly with a “kindness call,” a CBC Ottawa initiative she liked so much she decided to continue herself.
With the calls she hopes to inspire Canadians to “ajuinnata,” an Inuktitut concept that means a promise, a vow to never give up.
“I think kindness should be a way of life. I think it is really important — even when you disagree with somebody — you should always be kind,” she said.
The Governor General is optimistic that fractures that have emerged in Canadian society in recent weeks can be healed.
For all those at loggerheads, she offers some advice, honed from decades of diplomacy.
“You don’t have to be obnoxious about a disagreement,” she said. “If you walk away from it, you can wait until a later date to have another discussion and maybe that one will be more fruitful.”
An essential part of building a more inclusive society, she said, is allowing people to speak in their mother tongue and “fostering respect” for them.
Simon, the first Indigenous Governor General, recalled a time when, because Inuit names were considered difficult to pronounce, Inuit people were also assigned a number.
“That was how to identify Inuit across the Arctic,” she said.
Only now are Canadians learning about deliberate attempts to erase Indigenous languages at residential schools, she said.
They are also “learning the truth about these children who were torn from their homes and thrust into very unfamiliar worlds where threats of violence were used to erase their identity.”
She said Canadians everywhere “share in the heartbreak and sorrow of the First Nations” following the discoveries of unmarked graves of children attending residential schools.
“It seems like the country has woken up to a reality that may have not been known by Canadians,” she said.
Ensuring Indigenous people today do not have to revert to French or English to access basic services in their communities is “really important,” she said.
Simon is fluently bilingual in Inuktitut and English but has had to learn French so she can deliver addresses as Governor General in both official languages, and speak to francophone Canadians in their native tongue.
To do this, the 74-year-old grandmother has been taking French lessons, where she practises reading and conversation and studies the structure of the language every week.
“I have a tutor and I take lessons three times a week … for about an hour and a half,” she said. “My tutor says I’m doing well.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 26, 2022.
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
