Louise Arbour

About

Louise Arbour is the 31st Governor General of Canada, installed on June 8, 2026 after being appointed by Prime Minister Mark Carney on May 5, 2026. She is the first Governor General appointed by King Charles III. A distinguished jurist from Montreal, Arbour served as a justice of the Supreme Court of Canada from 1999 to 2004, as chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda from 1996 to 1999 (where she indicted Slobodan Milosevic), and as United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights from 2004 to 2008. She earlier sat on the Ontario Court of Appeal and, in 2022, led the independent external review into sexual misconduct in the Canadian Armed Forces. As Governor General she is the non-partisan vice-regal representative of the Crown and commander-in-chief of Canada.