Your Excellency the Right Honourable Louise Arbour, the Right Honourable Mary Simon and Whit Fraser, the Right Honourable Richard Wagner, Chief Justice of Canada, former governors general, former prime ministers, Indigenous leaders, and distinguished guests.
As Elder Verna McGregor reminded us, this place holds history.
As part of the traditional lands of the Algonquin Anishinaabeg peoples, through time immemorial.
As the start of the Rideau Canal, which transformed commerce during the 19th century.
As the place where Canadian soldiers embarked for the battlefields of the First World War, including Vimy Ridge, where many felt Canada became an independent nation.
As the train station where Sir Winston Churchill arrived to rally Allied support when the outcome of the Second World War hung in the balance.
As the building where Canada’s first ministers gathered for negotiations that led to the repatriation of our Constitution, the establishment of our Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and the enshrinement of Indigenous rights in it.
Important chapters in Canadian history have been written here. Moments of sacrifice and leadership. Moments that have helped to build our country.
Today, as the home of the Senate of Canada, this building is where the decisions that will shape the next chapters in our history are debated, refined, and given sober second thought.
Throughout Canada’s history, whenever the world’s fortunes were threatened, Canadians chose to step up and assert ourselves as a sovereign, ambitious, and compassionate nation.
We are once again living through one of those hinge moments of history.
Which is why, a year ago, His Majesty King Charles III came here to open our Parliament.
Which is why respect for our institutions is vital.
Which is why we are each called to share each other’s perspectives and work for our common good.
As of today, His Majesty will have a new representative in Canada.
Canada will have a new Commander-in-Chief and a new guardian of the constitutional order.
Today, the Right Honourable Louise Arbour is becoming the 31st Governor General of Canada.
The Crown is the continuous thread through our constitutional life. It is, as His Majesty himself said in this very building, “a symbol of Canada today, in all her richness and dynamism”.
The Governor General is the guardian of our constitutional order, a symbol of unity, and above all, a steward of our commitment to peace, order, and good government.
Canadians entrust the Governor General to defend our institutions.
To uphold our core values of liberty, fairness, solidarity, and sustainability.
To represent our ambition to build a stronger, fairer country for all.
These duties call for sound judgment, deep learning, and an unwavering commitment to the rule of law.
The very principles upon which our new Governor General, Her Excellency Louise Arbour, has built her exceptional career.
Her Excellency has served at the pinnacle of Canada’s judiciary, including at the Supreme Court of Canada.
However, her legacy is not limited to the work she has done on the bench.
Some of her most notable achievements as a jurist have taken place outside of Canadian courtrooms.
As High Commissioner, she urged the United Nations’ human rights system to be worthy of the people it claimed to serve.
She gave voice to those who were denied dignity, in places where the powerful preferred silence.
At every stage of her distinguished career, Her Excellency Louise Arbour has defended and promoted justice, dignity, and equality.
In The Hague, where her work held the most powerful to account.
At the United Nations, where she defended the most vulnerable.
In Canada, where across academia, our highest courts, and public service, she upheld justice for all.
For over 50 years, in every role that she has held, the Right Honourable Louise Arbour has always had the same conviction.
The conviction that, in order for a society to be free, its institutions must be held to account.
That the law is what stands between the most powerful and the most disadvantaged.
That the dignity of every human being should not depend on random factors like geography, citizenship, or convenience.
And that Canada’s role in the world is to put these principles into practice and to help other countries to do the same.
The Governor General is the steward of the values we cherish, of the democracy we celebrate, of the constitution that protects our freedoms, and of the institutions that promote them.
In fulfilling these tasks, Her Excellency will represent the best of Canada to Canadians and to the world.
A Canada that is a bastion of justice, security, and prosperity for all.
A Canada that is a beacon to a world at sea.
A Canada that is clear-eyed about the challenges we face and steadfast in the values we uphold.
A Canada that is not just strong, but good.
A Canada that is not just prosperous, but fair.
Your Excellency, on behalf of the Government of Canada and of all Canadians, thank you for agreeing to take on this new role – for the good of Canada.
And now, it gives me great pleasure to welcome the 31st Governor General of Canada, the Right Honourable Louise Arbour.