National Inuit Leader Mary Simon, President of ITK

Mary May Simon was born in Kangiqsualujjuaq (George River) in Nunavik (Northern Quebec). She was elected national Inuit leader in July 2006.She was the Ambassador for Circumpolar Affairs at the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade from 1994 to 2003. Ms. Simon was the Canadian Ambassador to Denmark (1999-2001) concurrently during her Circumpolar position, a member of the Joint Public Advisory Committee of NAFTA's Commission on Environmental Cooperation (1997-2000), and was the chairperson from 1997-98. Ms. Simon was the Chancellor of Trent University (1995 to 1999).

Ms. Simon has devoted her life's work towards gaining further recognition of Aboriginal rights and to achieving social justice for Inuit and other Aboriginal peoples nationally and internationally. She began her career with the CBC Northern Service as a producer and announcer. She was subsequently elected Secretary of the Board of Directors of the Northern Quebec Inuit Association (1976-1978). From 1978-1985, Ms. Simon was elected 1st Vice-President and then President of the Makivik Corporation and went on to hold a number of positions with the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, Canada's National Inuit Organization. For 14 years (1980-1994), she served as Executive Council Member, President and Special Envoy of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference.

Mary Simon was one of the senior Inuit negotiators during the repatriation of the Canadian Constitution as well as the First Minister Meetings (FMM) that took place in the 1980’s and the Charlottetown Accord.  Ms. Simon also served as a member of the Nunavut Implementation Commission in 1993 until her appointment as Ambassador for Circumpolar Affairs.

In 1994, Ms Simon was appointed by the Prime Minister of Canada to be the first Canadian Ambassador for Circumpolar Affairs. As part of her work, she was instructed by the Government of Canada to take the lead in negotiating an eight country council, which is now known as the Arctic Council. This Council was established in 1996 and includes the active participation of the indigenous peoples of the Circumpolar Region. During her Chairmanship of the Arctic Council and subsequently as the Canadian Government, Senior Arctic Official, she worked closely with the Indigenous “Permanent Participant’s” of the Arctic Council, as well as the 7 other Arctic Countries, including Russia.

Mary Simon has received many honours for her leadership in developing strategies for Aboriginal and Northern affairs. She has been awarded the Order of Canada, National Order of Quebec, the Gold Order of Greenland, the National Aboriginal Achievement Award and the Gold Medal of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society. She is a Fellow of the Arctic Institute of North America and of the Royal Canadian Geographic Society.

She has received honorary doctorate of law degrees from McGill, Queen's, Trent and Memorial Universities.

Ms. Simon was Special Advisor to the Labrador Inuit Association on the Labrador Inuit Land Claims Agreement from 2004 to 2005.

She was a founding Chairperson of the Arctic Children and Youth Foundation.

She is currently the President of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK) and was elected on July 7, 2006.

 Board positions she currently holds are:

• Board Member, National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation
• Member, Board of Governor’s, University of the Arctic
• Board Member for the Canadian Millennium Foundation
• Treasurer and Board Member, Tungasuvvingat Inuit Centre (Ottawa based Centre for Inuit living in Ottawa and the surrounding area)
• Council Member -The National Police Services Advisory Council.
• Advisor to the European Space Agency (Arctic Monitoring Program)
• Patron – Nunavut Youth Abroad Program
• Board Member , National Mental Health commission
• Story Advisory Committee Member, Canadian Aboriginal Writing Challenge,
• Dominion Institute
• Board Member for the Institute on Governance
• Champion – Aboriginal Human Resource Council

Ms. Simon has published a book titled; Inuit: One Arctic - One Future