Governor General meets with Albertans and hears about ‘challenges they face’

The King’s representative to Canada is in Alberta for her first official visit to the province.

Governor General Mary Simon is spending five days in the province, meeting with local leaders and raising awareness on a variety of issues affecting Canadians.

Simon began her tour at the 4 Wing Cold Lake fighter base in honor of the Royal Canadian Air Force’s centennial, where she and her husband Whit Fraser were greeted with a short ceremony.

The couple then visited a Cold Lake First Nation school to meet children, staff and elders.

Indigenous language revitalization and preservation are among the topics Simon plans to address during her visit. In addition to raising awareness, she will recognize several Albertans for their service in their communities.

On Saturday, the Governor General visited Jasper National Park to meet with the community and see first-hand the remarkable efforts that many in the community have made to assist in the city’s wildfire recovery.

“It’s to show our support and the contributions I think we’re trying to make to help people feel like they’re getting their lives back on track and addressing the very real issues that they’ve been facing,” Simon said.

Simon will spend most of her visit to Alberta in the capital region, and on Sunday she met with members of the C5 North East Community Hub, a collective of five social service organizations in Clareview.

There she took African dance lessons and made soup and Bannock for the community.

Governor General Mary Simon meets with community members at the C5 Northeast Community Hub in Edmonton on Oct. 27, 2024. (Adel Ahmed/CTV News Edmonton)“It’s been really inspiring to see the organizations coming together… people working together to tackle the issues that individuals are facing,” Simon told media at the community center on Sunday.

She said her visit to Alberta “provides me with a real opportunity to get to know people in their region and the challenges they face.”

On Monday, Simon will visit MacEwan University for a fireside chat and panel discussion on the impact of online harassment and online safety.

Later that day, she will participate in an economic reconciliation luncheon at Government House before investing seven Albertans into the Order of Canada.

Simon will conclude her trip Tuesday with a visit to the Alberta Legislature and a meeting with Premier Danielle Smith and Indigenous leaders.

With files from Jeremy Thompson and Adel Ahmed of CTV News Edmonton