REGINA - Governor General Mary Simon has touched down in Regina to begin her first official visit to Saskatchewan.
This is Governor General Simon’s first official visit to Saskatchewan in her time in office, although she was in Saskatchewan before at the reconciliation event at Mosaic Stadium in the fall of 2022.
The Governor General arrived at the Regina airport and made her way to the Legislative Assembly, where she and her husband Whit Fraser were greeted by a host of dignitaries including Lieutenant Governor Russ Mirasty and Premier Scott Moe.
Simon inspected an honour guard of the RCMP in front of the Legislature, and shook hands with school kids on the way into the Legislature. It was a windy and rainy morning, but it didn’t dampen the spirits of the children there to greet her.
Inside, Governor General Simon met with Premier Moe in the Premier’s office and posed for photographers.
Premier Moe later spoke to reporters about the Governor General's visit: "We're very pleased to welcome and host her honour and her husband to the province of Saskatchewan, and have a discussion not only about where Saskatchewan is in the role we play in creating a better and stronger nation the Canada, but some of the more specific things that we're doing."
Moe said they "had a good discussion with respect to some of the mental health and addiction supports being enacted in Saskatchewan, specifically on our recovery oriented system of care." He also said they discussed law enforcement nd investing in safer communities. Moe noted said they had a "good discussion on how we need to work together on a topic, mental health and addiction and recovery based treatment and keeping our communities safe in an environment today that is very different than it was even three to five years ago and it's probably going to be even more changing in the coming years so it was a good discussion."
At 12:30 p.m., Simon headed to Government House to sign the guest book and meet Lieutenant Governor Mirasty and Donna Mirasty.
She then headed to First Nations University First Nations University to join students in recording an episode for pîkiskwêwin, described as an Indigenous-language podcast project. Tonight, she is scheduled to deliver remarks at an official reception at Government House hosted by the Lieutenant Governor.
On Tuesday morning, Governor General Simon is scheduled to visit the Regina Open Door Society and that will include a meeting with lead artists who had painted the Regina Open Door Society Mural on the wall of the building.
Afterwards, Simon is scheduled to head to Saskatoon for a discussion on mental health services for farmers and ranchers on Tuesday afternoon.
Wednesday will be another full day as the Governor General visits the Maternal Care Centre at Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital;meets Indigenous leaders Bobby Cameron, Chief of Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations and Glen McCallum, President of the Métis Nation of Saskatchewan; and visits the Wanuskewin Heritage Park.
