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Mary Simon
Mary May Simon was ambassador for circumpolar affairs at the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade from 1994 to 2003 and Canada’s ambassador to Denmark from 1999-2001; between 1997 and 2000, she was also a member of the Joint Public Advisory Committee of NAFTA’s Commission on Environmental Cooperation. She has served as the first vice-president and then president of the Makivik Corporation and has held a number of positions with the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami. For 14 years (until 1994), she was executive council member, president and special envoy of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference. Ms. Simon was a senior Inuit negotiator in the repatriation of the Canadian Constitution, and in 1994 she was appointed first Canadian ambassador for circumpolar affairs; part of her mission was to assist in the creation of the Arctic Council. In 2004-05, she helped to prepare reports on the sectoral follow-up sessions at the conclusion of the April 2004 Canada-Aboriginal Peoples Round Table. Ms. Simon was special advisor to the Labrador Inuit Association on the 2004-05 land claims agreement and in 2006 became president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami. She is a member of the Order of Canada and holds honorary doctorates of law from McGill, Queen’s, Trent and Memorial Universities.
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