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Thing is, I have managed to stay busy in retirement and am not lounging at home in front of the TV, we don’t have one. A year ago when we last travelled to New Brunswick, I did look briefly at the television and found it so stupid it was beyond words. My dentist used to have television but now its radio music which is fine by me, not missing it.

This morning I got my second shot of Pfizer so I am now fully vaccinated and it should be fully effective by 31 July. Good feeling, no reaction and happy to have this behind me now. I wonder at the efficiency and high spirit of all the nurses at the Vaccination Centre in Charlottetown. The happy attitude certainly helps and what I saw was people coming for their shot in a good mood.

I also had to renew by Provincial Health Card in the last few weeks, it is done online and takes all of 3 minutes, got my new card in the mail. I was also asked if I wanted to donate organs to save a life. I said Yes, once you are dead you can still help so many people who are desperate for a donation. It is the right thing to do, no questions.

Today Her Majesty the Queen announced that she had approved the recommendation of the Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and named Mary Ningiukadluk Simon as our new Governor General and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces in Canada. We have been without a Head of State for 5 months. The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court was acting G.G. as per Constitutional arrangements. In CANADA in terms of ranking, First is the Sovereign, Queen Elizabeth II, Second, the Governor General and then the Prime Minister.

Mary Simon is the first indigenous person to occupy this High Office, She is from Nunavik in Northern Quebec and is an Inuk person. She speaks Inuktitut and English, but I know from people who worked with her when she was our Ambassador to Denmark that she understands and reads French, she has been studying French to be able to speak it. My old colleagues in the Foreign Service described her as a wonderful person of great intelligence.

Simon began her introductory remarks in Inuktitut, and went on to thank both Trudeau and the Queen for their confidence in her taking on this “very historic opportunity.”

“I believe we can build the hopeful future in a way that is respectful of what has happened in the past…If we embrace our common humanity and shared responsibility for one another, Canada’s greatest days are yet to come,” Simon said.

From Nunavik, in northern Quebec, Simon has long been an advocate for Inuit rights and culture. She has worked as a radio host with CBC North and later served as chair of national advocacy organization Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami and the National Inuit Education Committee.

She has also worked alongside the federal government on several files over many years, including on the original North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), on the Charlottetown Accord, the repatriation of the Constitution, and during the implementation of Canada’s first land claims policy.

Simon was the first Inuk to be a Canadian ambassador, representing Canada both as the ambassador of circumpolar affairs and as the ambassador to Denmark.

Mary Ningiukadluk Simon, Governor General of Canada