Watch as Mary Simon challenges Pierre Elliott Trudeau in 1984

The country's new governor general-designatecomesto the roleafter adecades-long career in Canadian public life which includedthis exchange with former prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau in the mid-1980s.

Mary Simon is an Inuk from Kuujjuaq, a village on the coast of Ungava Bay in northeastern Quebec.

Back in 1984, she was one of the senior Inuit negotiators involved inthe repatriation of theConstitution, representing the Inuit Committee on National Issues.

Mary Simon challenges Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau in 1984

3 years ago

Duration 3:29

The First Ministers Constitutional Conference was held in March of 1984. This exchange happened during a discussion about gender equity.

At thisFirst Ministers Constitutional Conference in March of that year, Simon weighed in ongender equalityin a discussionwith Trudeau.

"At the end of this conference, everybody is going to shake their head and say, 'Well, we spent way too long on the equality clause,' and yet we're talking about a fundamental right," Simon said.

An 'incredible resume'

The back-and-forth is just one example of Simon's many moments shapingpolicyover the decades.

In 1986, Simon was chosen to lead the Inuit Circumpolar Council (formerly the Inuit Circumpolar Conference), a group created in 1977 to represent the Inuit in all the Arctic countries. There, she championedenvironmental protection andeconomic development.

She was later named Canada's first Arctic ambassador, and also went on to serve asCanada's ambassador to Denmark.

Simon also served two terms as the president of the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK), the national Indigenous organization that works to advanceInuit rights.

"Her incredible resume is what I am most impressed about," saidYukon First Nations Grand Chief Peter Johnston in an interview Tuesday with host Leonard Linklater on CBC Radio'sMidday Cafe.

"She is a very powerful person in this role if used in the right way,"Johnston added. He's one of anumber of Inuit and First Nations leadersexpressing hope about what Simon could bring to the role.