OTTAWA — Canada’s vice-regal is promising to do better after an embarrassing language gaffe during a visit to Quebec City last week.
Despite promising to learn French upon her installation as viceroy three years ago, Governor General Mary Simon’s inability to carry on a conversation in the official language renewed concern among French-speaking Canadians, and prompted a Friday morning statement from Rideau Hall.
“As a Canadian and as a Quebecer, I understand very well the critical relationship among identity, culture and language,” read Friday’s statement from Simon, who was born in Kangiqsualujjuaq, an Inuit village on the northern tip of Quebec.
“That is why speaking my mother tongue, Inuktitut, has been an integral part of who I am.”
After three years, Simon’s ability to converse in French still appears to be rudimentary, at best.
According to reports published in Le Journal de Québec, Simon was only able to offer simple greetings in French during a stop in Lévis last Tuesday — part of a two-day visit to Quebec City.
All discussions during the visit took place in English, with one person remarking to the Quebec newspaper that while Simon’s understanding of the language seemed to be improved, she still wasn’t able to speak it.
It also prevented Simon from participating in scrums with local French-speaking media.
That visit went so poorly, it prompted Rideau Hall to pull the plug on another visit on Wednesday.
“I understand the importance of French to French-speaking Canadians as a critical part of their cultures and identities,” Simon said in her statement.
“That is one of the reasons that, as I took on my role as governor general, I committed to learning French and continue to practice, improve and use all three languages.”
Some Liberal MPs were concerned over Simon’s lack of progress.
“I know she is making efforts and I appreciate her efforts, but after three years, we would like to see a little more progress,” Nova Scotia Liberal MP Darrell Samson said last week.
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Public Services and Procurement Minister Jean-Yves Duclos, who is also the government’s new Quebec lieutenant, said Simon’s upbringing offered little opportunities to learn French while growing up, but he remarked Simon needed to demonstrate both her desire and progress in learning French.
He stopped short of calling for her removal.
“She is the first Indigenous Governor General,” he said. “She does a lot to bring Canadians together and bring them closer together, including obviously working for reconciliation, for the affirmation of Indigenous Peoples.”
— With files from Canadian Press
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