{"id":25721,"date":"2025-07-26T15:00:32","date_gmt":"2025-07-26T15:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/25721\/"},"modified":"2025-07-26T15:00:32","modified_gmt":"2025-07-26T15:00:32","slug":"carney-names-virginia-mearns-as-canadas-new-arctic-ambassador","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/25721\/","title":{"rendered":"Carney names Virginia Mearns as Canada\u2019s new Arctic ambassador"},"content":{"rendered":"

News<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Jul 24, 2025 \u2013 6:31 pm EDT<\/p>\n

QIA calls Iqaluit woman\u2019s appointment \u2018milestone achievement\u2019<\/p>\n


\n \"\" <\/a><\/p>\n

Canada\u2019s newly named Arctic ambassador Virginia Mearns, right, meets with Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami president Natan Obed and Gov. Gen. Mary Simon in Inuvik, N.W.T. on Thursday. (Photo courtesy of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami)<\/p>\n

By <\/p>\n

\t Daron Letts<\/a><\/p>\n

Virginia Mearns of Iqaluit has been named to represent the North as Canada\u2019s new Arctic ambassador.<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Mark Carney announced the appointment Thursday in Inuvik, N.W.T., where he co-chaired a meeting of the Inuit-Crown partnership committee meeting alongside Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami president Natan Obed.<\/p>\n

Mearns served as senior director of Inuit relations with Qikiqtani Inuit Association, prior to her appointment.<\/p>\n

It was with \u201cpride and sadness\u201d that QIA received the news, said Karen Flaherty, director of strategic communications with the organization, in a news release Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cVirginia\u2019s appointment is a milestone achievement,\u201d she said. \u201cWhile Virginia\u2019s departure marks a tremendous loss for the Qikiqtani Inuit Association, we cannot imagine a more dedicated and visionary representative of Canada in the international arena.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said Mearns\u2019 leadership helped shaped policy and guide association initiatives, such as the implementation of its revenue allocation policy.<\/p>\n

The ambassador position was a pillar of the federal government\u2019s $34.7-million Arctic foreign policy that was announced<\/a>\u00a0late last year.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/a><\/p>\n

It was originally created by Jean Chretien\u2019s Liberal government in 1994. The first person to hold the position was current Gov. Gen. Mary Simon, who stayed there for 10 years. The ambassador position was eliminated in 2006 under prime minister Stephen Harper as a cost-saving measure before the idea was revived in December.<\/p>\n

As Arctic ambassador, Mearns will work with Canada\u2019s Arctic allies, Indigenous Peoples and provincial and territorial governments to promote the country\u2019s domestic and foreign policy agendas, advance Canada\u2019s Arctic interests and raise awareness of Indigenous rights in the Arctic, according to a news release from Global Affairs Canada.<\/p>\n

Mearns previously served as deputy minister and associate deputy minister of Executive and Government Affairs, cabinet secretary, and principal secretary for the Government of Nunavut.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"News\u00a0\u00a0Jul 24, 2025 \u2013 6:31 pm EDT QIA calls Iqaluit woman\u2019s appointment \u2018milestone achievement\u2019 Canada\u2019s newly named Arctic…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25722,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[49,48,295,66],"class_list":["post-25721","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25721","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25721"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25721\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}