OTTAWA: Former international war crimes prosecutor and UN human rights chief Louise Arbour was sworn in Monday as Canada’s new governor general, a ceremonial post that serves as the British monarchy’s representative in Canada.

Arbour, also a former judge on Canada’s Supreme Court, replaces Mary Simon, who was the country’s first Indigenous governor general.

Arbour, 79, had a high-profile career in international justice, serving as the chief prosecutor for the tribunals that investigated atrocities committed during the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia and the Rwanda genocide.

Her most prominent moment as a prosecutor came in May 1999, when Arbour secured indictments against Slobodan Milosevic for crimes in Kosovo. Milosevic was the president of Yugoslavia at the time, and the indictments made him the first sitting head of state to be charged with war crimes by an international court.

From 2004-2008, Arbour was the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, and president of the International Crisis Group from 2009-2014.

In an address to Canada’s Senate after being sworn in on Monday, she urged Canada to serve as a model on how to confront global challenges.

“The world is watching us, not to copy everything we do, but to draw inspiration from a country striving to embrace the future with greater security, prosperity, and dignity for all,” Arbour said. Prime Minister Mark Carney, who named Arbour to the post, said she had built a career defending the world’s “most vulnerable” and would reflect Canadian leadership globally — a “Canada that is a beacon to a world at sea.”

Published in Dawn, June 9th, 2026