Prime Minister Mark Carney named retired Supreme Court justice Louise Arbour as Canada’s next governor general on Tuesday, hailing her as a storied defender of human rights.

The accomplished former jurist is fluently bilingual, and has served as UN human rights commissioner and chief prosecutor at The Hague.

Arbour, 79, was chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, and made history when she became the first to indict a sitting head of state, president Slobodan Milosevic, for crimes against humanity.

The Montreal native also secured the first conviction for genocide since the establishment of the 1948 Genocide Convention, and became first to prosecute sexual assaults as crimes against humanity.

Here are some scenes from the announcement and a look back at Arbour’s career.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 5, 2026.

The Canadian Press