The case for why our next governor general should be an Indigenous Canadian
Of all the things a prime minister has to do and worry about, especially these days, picking a governor general should be at or near the bottom of the list.
That task should be set-it-and-forget-it, and for the first 28 GGs and the PMs who nominated them, that has been the case. But Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has a knack for making what should be routine complicated. To wit, a few names: the Kielbergers, SNC-Lavalin and the Aga Khan on his private island. Now add to that list of self-inflicted wounds choosing the first person to ever resign from the role of Canada’s head of state.
Trudeau is wearing the rise, slow fall and resignation of Julie Payette as the Queen’s representative in Canada. She has glorious qualifications — an astronaut, a scientist, someone on the youngish side — and Trudeau was keen to have her ensconced in Rideau Hall. That unravelled over accusations that Payette fostered a toxic workplace, and raised questions about how thoroughly she was vetted, and if red flags were ignored.
The governor general role is largely ceremonial, but there have been times in Canadian history when the head of state was thrust into a political/constitutional crisis. In a minority parliament, with constant chatter about an election mid-pandemic, the GG might well end up stickhandling another political showdown. So Trudeau needs to get right what he got wrong in 2017.
For this do-over — it’s not a mulligan because the Payette mess will still show up on his scorecard — he has options. One might be to entice David Johnston back to complete Payette’s term. Another would be to find a respected MP, as Brian Mulroney did with Ray Hnatyshyn.
Or he could make a statement, one that would underline the importance of the governor general in Canada’s democracy, and at the same time be a signal about how Canada has changed, or how it needs to change. He could appoint Canada’s first Indigenous head of state.
Prime ministers past have used their choice of governors general as a way of recognizing and championing change in Canadian society. As the role of women changed, the first Trudeau chose the first female GG — Jeanne Sauve. Michaëlle Jean became the first Black governor general at a time when Canadian values around race and immigration were shifting.
Trudeau would have no shortage of strong and strong-willed Indigenous leaders from which to choose. Murray Sinclair, former senator, former judge, is always at the top of any list of Indigenous leaders. Nellie Cournoyea was the first Indigenous woman to lead a provincial or territorial government in the Northwest Territories. There is no Indigenous astronaut, but any one of the former national chiefs of the Assembly of First Nations would be strong candidates.
An Indigenous governor general isn’t going to build water treatment plants or new housing. She or he won’t wipe away the trauma and stain of residential schools, create jobs or bring down the high rate of suicide. But choosing an Indigenous representative for the Crown would be a signal that the fraught and sad relationship between Canada and its first people is changing, albeit slowly.
It would also be a symbol, and symbolism should not be dismissed lightly. Americans know and celebrate its importance. The inauguration ceremony in Washington was a case in point in using symbols to send and re-enforce a message. Having an Indigenous governor general would do the same thing.
It would, in the end, even help Trudeau put the rise and fall of Payette behind him. This, after all, is a prime minister who declared that there is no more important relationship than the one between the federal government and Canada’s Indigenous people.
It is the same government that declared that it would implement all 94 of the “calls to action” from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on the impact of residential schools. Progress on that has been slow, to say the least. So consider this: if there is little or no tangible progress and impact on those issues, any conversation the prime minister has when he visits a governor general with Indigenous heritage will be just a tad awkward. And that might not be a bad thing at all.