Canada's first Indigenous Governor General speaks out about online abuse toward women

The first Indigenous Governor General in Canada's history is speaking out about online abuse and hate.

It's a topic that's close to Mary Simon: it's something she's going through and has had to make some drastic changes.

History was made in 2021 when Mary Simon became the 30th Governor General. Her Excellency soon discovered that a lot of people out there don't like change.

"When I was installed as Governor General, I became a target. So there was a lot of negative comments that were made towards me as an individual, as a woman, as an Indigenous person," she told CTV National News in a sit-down interview, where she was very candid about this issue.

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She said comments were made about her appearance, as well as her heritage. The hate she has received is so derogatory we can't publish it.

Two years into her post, Her Excellency has had to close the comments section of her social media accounts because the abuse is that bad.

"They use that platform to kind of, you know, degrade me," she says.

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It's her goal to use her platform to change this online hate.

According to the Canadian Women's Foundation, one in five women experience online harassment in Canada, 30 per cent of Indigenous women experience unwanted behaviour online and 44 per cent of women and gender-diverse people aged 16 to 30 are personally targeted by online hate speech.

There is also a 72 per cent increase in hate crimes since 2019 against women, LGBTQ2S+ people, and targeted ethnic and religious groups.

"If we internalize it and just walk away from social media, it's not going to change," Simon said.

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Raised in Nunavik, Que., she's bilingual but not in the traditional way for a Governor General – she speaks fluent Inuktitut.

So at 76 years of age, she's learning how to speak French.

"We went to federal day school. We weren't allowed to speak our native Indigenous language … We could only speak English … There was no French offered," Simon said.

Her advice to women experiencing this abuse: "I would tell somebody I trust about what's going on, not to keep it to themselves. Because if you, when you, internalize something, it becomes harder to express it verbally."

Racialized women have long been targets to all forms of abuse, but Simon hopes that she and other women in high profile positions can make a difference, so all women can live a life without hate.

You can watch the full sit-down interview with Canada's Governor General as she speaks candidly about other topics in her role two years in.