Whenever a new governor general is selected, it usually takes a while to find any dirt on them. Even Julie Payette, whose term became enough of a disaster to prompt her early resignation, was greeted at the outset as an accomplished scientist and one of only a handful of Canadians to have visited space.
But with Tuesday's selection of former Supreme Court justice Louise Arbour as the next governor general, the list of controversies on her resume was immediately obvious to anyone with an internet connection.
Early Controversies
As far back as 2008, she was being condemned as a “disgrace” in the House of Commons by Vic Toews, then the president of the Treasury Board. Or, there was that time she publicly praised Cuban dictator Fidel Castro for his “unprecedented positive engagement with the UN human rights system.”
Charter Right to Welfare
Arbour spent five years on the Supreme Court during the tenure of chief justice Beverly McLachlin, who helped author many of the most disruptive and consequential Supreme Court decisions of the modern era. Race-based sentencing, low-barrier MAID, the catch-and-release bail regime; it all ultimately originates with a decision out of the McLachlin court.
So it’s notable that Arbour’s most memorable contribution during her time as a Supreme Court judge was a dissent arguing that the McLachlin court wasn’t being activist enough.
The case was Gosselin v Quebec, which surrounded a Quebec law that made welfare benefits less generous for residents under 30 as an incentive to encourage younger Quebecers to get a job.
The majority decision, written by McLachlin, rejected the notion that the law was a violation of the Charter right to “equal benefit of the law without discrimination.”
Arbour didn’t just disagree with this, but authored a dissent arguing that welfare was a “positive right” guaranteed under the Charter of Rights of Freedoms. By not paying full freight on welfare benefits to 20-somethings, Quebec had “interfered with their fundamental right to security of the person and perhaps even their right to life,” she wrote.
Military Recruitment Critique
After a series of sexual harassment scandals hit the Canadian Armed Forces in the 2010s, Arbour was picked to head up a review recommending reform.
The resulting Arbour Report, published in 2022, spoke of a culture of “toxic masculinity” within the military, and would find fault in the fact that service members were predominantly composed of white men.
“Members of Indigenous and black communities, and other visible minorities and equity-seeking groups, have been largely absent, clearly not welcome,” reads the report’s opening paragraph.
Arbour's comments suggested the military should stop recruiting “white boys who like guns,” a phrase that drew sharp criticism from conservatives and veterans' groups.
Political Baggage
Below, a not-at-all comprehensive list of some of the political baggage Arbour brings to the position. Her appointment has reignited debates about the role of the governor general and the suitability of candidates with such a polarizing public record.
