The
Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick (icon, in
FrenchFrench is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
:
Lieutenant-gouverneur (if male) or
Lieutenante-gouverneure (if female)
du Nouveau-Brunswick) is the
viceregalA viceroy is a royal official who runs a country, colony, or province in the name of and as representative of the monarch. The term derives from the Latin prefix vice-, meaning "in the place of" and the French word roi, meaning king. A viceroy's province or larger territory is called a viceroyalty...
representative in
New BrunswickNew Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...
of the Canadian monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, who
operates distinctly within the provinceBy the arrangements of the Canadian federation, Canada's monarchy operates in New Brunswick as the core of the province's Westminster-style parliamentary democracy. As such, the Crown within New Brunswick's jurisdiction is referred to as the Crown in Right of New Brunswick, Her Majesty in Right of...
but is also shared equally with the
ten other jurisdictions of CanadaCanada is a federation with two distinct jurisdictions of political authority: the country-wide federal government and the ten regionally-based provincial governments. It also has three territorial governments in the far north, though these are subject to the federal government...
and resides predominantly in her oldest realm, the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. The Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick is appointed in the same manner as
the other provincial viceroys in CanadaIn Canada, a lieutenant governor is the viceregal representative in a provincial jurisdiction of the Canadian monarch and head of state, Queen Elizabeth II, who resides predominantly in her oldest realm, the United Kingdom...
and is similarly tasked with carrying out most of the monarch's constitutional and ceremonial duties. The present, and 30th, Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick is
Graydon NicholasGraydon Nicholas ONB is the 30th and current Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick. An attorney and judge, he is the first Aboriginal person to hold this office, as well as the first to be appointed as a provincial court judge , and the first in Atlantic Canada to obtain a law degree.-Early life...
, who has served in the role since 30 September 2009.
Role and presence
The Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick is vested with a number of governmental duties and is also expected to undertake various ceremonial roles. For instance, the lieutenant governor acts as patron, honorary president, or an honorary member of certain New Brunswick institutions, such as the Canadian
Red CrossThe International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is an international humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million volunteers, members and staff worldwide which was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure respect for all human beings, and to prevent and alleviate human...
(New Brunswick Region), the New Brunswick Lung Association, and the
Royal Canadian LegionThe Royal Canadian Legion is a non-profit Canadian ex-service organization founded in 1925, with more than 400,000 members worldwide. Membership includes people who have served as current and former military, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, provincial and municipal police, direct relatives of...
(New Brunswick Command). Also, The viceroy, him or herself a member and Chancellor of the order, will induct deserving individuals into the
Order of New BrunswickThe Order of New Brunswick is a civilian honour for merit in the Canadian province of New Brunswick. Instituted in 2000 by Lieutenant Governor Marilyn Trenholme Counsell, on the advice of the Cabinet under Premier Bernard Lord, the order is administered by the Governor-in-Council and is intended...
and, upon installation, automatically becomes a Knight or Dame of Justice and the Vice-Prior in New Brunswick of the
Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of JerusalemThe Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem , is a royal order of chivalry established in 1831 and found today throughout the Commonwealth of Nations, Hong Kong, Ireland and the United States of America, with the world-wide mission "to prevent and relieve sickness and...
. The viceroy further presents the Lieutenant-Governor's Prize for the Conservation of Wild Atlantic Salmon, and numerous other provincial honours and decorations, as well as various awards that are named for and presented by the lieutenant governor; these are generally created in partnership with another government or charitable organization and linked specifically to their cause. These honours are presented at official ceremonies, which count amongst hundreds of other engagements the lieutenant governor partakes in each year, either as host or guest of honour; the Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick undertook an average of 500 engagements in both 2006 and 2007.
At these events, the lieutenant governor's presence is marked by
the lieutenant governor's standardAs the viceregal representative of the monarch of Canada, the lieutenant governors of the Canadian provinces have since Confederation been entitled to and have used a personal standard. Within a lieutenant governor's province, this standard has precedence over any other flag, including the national...
, consisting of a blue field bearing the shield of the
Arms of Her Majesty in Right of New BrunswickThe original coat of arms of New Brunswick was granted to New Brunswick by a Royal Warrant of Queen Victoria on 26 May 1868. The provincial flag is a banner of the arms.-History:...
surmounted by a crown and surrounded by ten gold maple leaves, symbolizing the
ten provinces of CanadaThe provinces and territories of Canada combine to make up the world's second-largest country by area. There are ten provinces and three territories...
. Within New Brunswick, the lieutenant governor also follows only the sovereign in the
province's order of precedenceThe New Brunswick order of precedence is a nominal and symbolic hierarchy of important positions within the province of New Brunswick. It has no legal standing but is used to dictate ceremonial protocol at events of a provincial nature....
, preceding even other members of the Canadian Royal Family and the
Queen's federal representativeThe Governor General of Canada is the federal viceregal representative of the Canadian monarch, Queen Elizabeth II...
.
History
The office of Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick came into being in 1786, when the colony of New Brunswick was split out of
Nova ScotiaNova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
and, at the same time, the government of
William PittWilliam Pitt the Younger was a British politician of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. He became the youngest Prime Minister in 1783 at the age of 24 . He left office in 1801, but was Prime Minister again from 1804 until his death in 1806...
adopted the idea that the new jurisdiction, along with
Prince Edward IslandPrince Edward Island is a Canadian province consisting of an island of the same name, as well as other islands. The maritime province is the smallest in the nation in both land area and population...
, Nova Scotia, and
QuebecQuebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
, should have as their respective governors a single individual. The post Governor of New Brunswick thus came to be occupied by the overreaching authority of the governor-in-chief, who was represented in the colony by a lieutenant. The modern incarnation of the office, however, was established in 1873, upon New Brunswick's entry into
ConfederationCanadian Confederation was the process by which the federal Dominion of Canada was formed on July 1, 1867. On that day, three British colonies were formed into four Canadian provinces...
. Since that date, 30 lieutenant governors have served the province, amongst whom were notable firsts, such as
Margaret McCainMargaret Norrie McCain, is a Canadian philanthropist, the 27th and first female Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick.Born in Amos, Quebec, she received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Mount Allison University and a Bachelor of Social Work from the University of Toronto...
the first female lieutenant governor of the province
Hédard RobichaudHédard Joseph Robichaud, PC, OC was an Acadian-Canadian Member of Parliament, Cabinet member, Senator and the first Acadian to be Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick....
the first lieutenant governor of Acadian ancestry and
Graydon NicholasGraydon Nicholas ONB is the 30th and current Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick. An attorney and judge, he is the first Aboriginal person to hold this office, as well as the first to be appointed as a provincial court judge , and the first in Atlantic Canada to obtain a law degree.-Early life...
the first
First NationsFirst Nations is a term that collectively refers to various Aboriginal peoples in Canada who are neither Inuit nor Métis. There are currently over 630 recognised First Nations governments or bands spread across Canada, roughly half of which are in the provinces of Ontario and British Columbia. The...
Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick. The shortest mandate by a Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick was
John BoydJohn Boyd was a businessman and the eighth Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick following Canadian confederation....
, from 21 September 1893 to 4 December 1893, while the longest was
David Laurence MacLarenDavid Laurence MacLaren, was a Canadian politician and the 20th Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick....
, from 1 November 1945 to 5 June 1958.
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