2009 Symons Medallist:

Mary Simon, President of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, national Inuit organization

 

Mary Simon, O.C., O.Q., LL.D., President of the national Inuit organization Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, was chosen to receive the Confederation Centre of the Arts’ Symons Medal and give the 7th national Symons Lecture on the State of Canadian Confederation. The lecture will took place on Tuesday, November 3, 2009 in the Centre’s Homburg Theatre.

Ms. Simon has devoted her life’s work to gaining further recognition of Aboriginal rights and to achieving social justice for Inuit and other Indigenous peoples nationally and internationally. Her leadership was key in securing international cooperation in forming the Arctic Council made up of eight Arctic nations and in creating the University of the Arctic. She has received many honours for her leadership in developing strategies for Aboriginal and Northern affairs and was a founding Chairperson of the Arctic Children and Youth Foundation, among many other achievements.

“Mary Simon is a timely choice by the Centre as our eyes in the south of Canada turn North on issues of aboriginal rights and social justice, national sovereignty, climate change, and economic development. We welcome Mary Simon as she joins the distinguished line of past Symons Medal recipients and Symons Lecturers,” said Mr. H. Wayne Hambly, Chairman of the Fathers of Confederation Buildings Trust.