Gov. Gen. Mary Simon is beginning her tour of the Nunavik region of northern Quebec today by meeting with local officials, including the Kuujjuaq mayor and council, the Kativik regional government, the school board and the board of health and social services.
Simon and her husband Whit Fraser will also stop at the Isuarsivik Recovery Centre’s qarmak site, a traditional Inuit dwelling, where they will learn about the facility’s focus on reclaiming Inuit identity and culture through connection with the land.
The centre was founded in 1994 and offers addictions and trauma treatment programs that incorporate traditional Inuit values.
Its services are provided at no cost to people from 14 Nunavik communities who are beneficiaries of the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement, known as the first modern treaty in Canada, which Simon worked to negotiate and implement.
There will be throat singing and other cultural presentations throughout the day, which wraps with a town hall discussion with students at a local school and a visit to the elders’ home.
Simon’s visit to northern Quebec is the first time she has been back to the region where she was born since she was appointed to the viceregal office in July 2021.
