Canada’s Governor General calls for Hudson’s Bay artifacts to be returned to Indigenous communities

Governor General Mary Simon sat down with Omar Sachedina to discuss the challenges of doing her job while staying true to her Indigenous roots.

Canada’s first indigenous Governor General, born to an Inuk mother and an English father who managed the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) outpost in Nunavik, located in northern Quebec, insists any indigenous artifacts the company has in its possession need to be returned.

“These are things that belong to the people,” Mary Simon told CTV News Chief Anchor and Senior Editor Omar Sachedina on the grounds of Rideau Hall in Ottawa.

Sachedina visited that Quebec outpost in 2021 as part of a profile of Simon before she was installed as Governor General.

“I hope that by discussing (this) with the Hudson’s Bay Company that this can happen,” she said. “For instance, at the Vatican … there’s a process going on whereby certain artifacts will be returned to Canada. There should be a process involved to see how it can be brought back.”

Earlier this year, a court ruled that Canada’s oldest company can prepare to auction off more than 4,000 artifacts and pieces of art. HBC has been facing pressure from The Congress of Aboriginal Peoples, the Assembly of First Nations and the Assembly of Manitoba Chief to halt the sale of art and artifacts that have cultural and historical significance to Indigenous communities.

Simon spoke to Sachedina on the eve of National Indigenous Peoples Day, outside The Heart Garden, where local students on Saturday will write messages to honour the struggle, sacrifice, and courage of residential school survivors.

Ten years after the release of the 94 Calls to Action in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, only 13 have been realized.

“Looking at it from an indigenous viewpoint, everything is slow,” she said. “I always think about the layers of what this all means in terms of making lives better for people, and I try to look at it in a more comprehensive way, but clearly there’s a lot more work to do.”

One such area is confronting denialists who downplay the horrors endured in the residential school system, despite the more than 6,700 testimonies of survivors collected by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

“It’s not made up. Denialism needs to be addressed,” Simon said. “I think one of the ways in which we need to do this as a country is to put it into our education system.”

Simon – who was an advocate for indigenous rights before stepping into her current position – admits to the occasional challenges of now serving in a role that must be kept apolitical.

Ottawa is pushing legislation to fast-track infrastructure projects, which is attracting criticism from some indigenous groups who insist it tramples on their rights.

Some are even calling on the Governor General to delay or deny that legislation. Bill C-5, which passed in the House of Commons on Friday and is scheduled to head to the Senate on June 27, will ultimately need to be granted royal assent by the Governor General to become law.

No Governor General has ever refused royal assent.

Sachedina asked if Simon sometimes feels a clash between her identity as an Indigenous person and the Governor General.

“It’s not so much a clash,” she said. “I struggle with those issues as an individual, as a person, as a human.”

Simon says Prime Minister Mark Carney has conveyed that he’s going to “consult Indigenous people in the economic development of the country.”

Simon’s duty to Canada and the Crown was on display recently during a Royal Visit from King Charles III, who delivered the speech from the throne in which he said, “The Truth North is Indeed Strong and Free.”

Even though the role of the monarch is not political, and the speech lays out the government’s agenda, it’s likely Buckingham Palace poured over every word given the state of heightened tensions between Canada and the United States.

“I think the North is strong and free. It has always been strong and free,” Simon said. “To provide a message in a throne speech to the international community, saying our Canadian North is too strong and free is appropriate.”

Simon, who is entering her final year as Governor General – unless her term is extended – says the focus in these last months of her term will continue to be reconciliation.

While she acknowledges there has been a certain pushback against diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, she believes the conversation is ultimately progressing.

“There will always be times when things are difficult,” she said. “I try to talk about hope because hope is not just for the future; hope is today.”