Former Supreme Court of Canada justice Louise Arbour will be formally installed as Canada's 31st governor general on June 8, 2026, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced Tuesday.
The installation ceremony will take place at Rideau Hall in Ottawa, just days after Carney named Arbour as the successor to outgoing Governor General Mary Simon, whose five-year term ends this month.
Speaking at the National Gallery of Canada, Carney revealed that King Charles III had approved the appointment. Carney emphasized that Arbour, a Francophone from Montreal, fulfills his promise to select a French-speaking viceroy.
Simon, though born in Quebec and bilingual, is primarily English and Inuktitut-speaking due to her upbringing in Kuujjuaq, Nunavik. Her lack of French proficiency became a recurring issue during her tenure, despite nearly $52,000 spent on language classes and her stated commitment to learning the language. She notably used little French during a 2024 visit to Quebec City.
Arbour brings a distinguished legal and international career to the role. In addition to serving on the Supreme Court of Canada, she was UN High Commissioner for Human Rights from 2004 to 2008 and UN Special Representative for International Migration from 2017 to 2018. She authored the Arbour Report on conditions for women prisoners at the Kingston Prison for Women and led the 2022 review of sexual misconduct in the Canadian Armed Forces.
