Louise Arbour becomes Canada's new governor general

Louise Arbour will be installed as Canada's Governor General in a ceremony steeped in traditional pomp and ceremony. Political analyst Lori Turnbull explains.

OTTAWA — Former Supreme Court justice Louise Arbour’s installation ceremony to become Canada’s 31st governor general is set to include a 21-gun salute, a poetry reading and two musical performances by Canadian artists.

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

The ceremony, taking place at the Senate of Canada building, is expected to begin at about 10 a.m. Attendees will include Simon, Prime Minister Mark Carney, Chief Justice Richard Wagner, House of Commons Speaker Francis Scarpaleggia and National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak.

Before the ceremony begins, a qulliq — a traditional Inuit oil lamp — will be lit by an Inuk elder and will remain lit throughout the ceremony.

The event will include a musical performance by francophone artist Sara Dufour, who will sing “La Reine” by Les Cowboys Fringants. Anglophone artist Tyler Shaw will perform “Like Me and You” by Raffi.

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

Arbour will give her first address to the nation as governor general during the ceremony, in which she is expected to outline her priorities for her time in office.

Carney is also set to deliver a speech.

As Arbour ascends to the throne in the Senate chamber, a 21-gun salute will be fired from Parliament Hill.

At the same time, the Central Band of the Canadian Armed Forces will play “God Save the King” and the Governor General’s Flag will be raised on the Peace Tower.

An accomplished former jurist, Arbour is fluently bilingual and served as UN human rights commissioner and chief prosecutor at The Hague.

Arbour, 79, was chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunals for 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.

She also was first to prosecute sexual assaults as crimes against humanity.

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.

The role of governor general includes serving as commander-in-chief of the Canadian Armed Forces and representing Canada at home and abroad.

The official duties of a governor general include 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.

Carney said last week that Canada is grateful for Simon’s service and thanked her for her efforts to further Indigenous reconciliation.

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

—With files from Dylan Robertson

Catherine Morrison, The Canadian Press