The
Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia (icon) 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
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...
of the Canadian monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, who
operates distinctly within the provinceBy the arrangements of the Canadian federation, the Canadian monarchy operates in Nova Scotia as the core of the province's Westminster-style parliamentary democracy. As such, the Crown within Nova Scotia's jurisdiction is referred to as the Crown in Right of Nova Scotia, 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 Nova Scotia 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 Nova Scotia is Mayann Francis, who has served in the role since 7 September 2006.
Role and presence
The Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia 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 Nova Scotia institutions, such as the Multicultural Association of Nova Scotia, the Nova Scotia Salmon 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...
(Nova Scotia-Nunavut Command). Also, The viceroy, him or herself a member and Chancellor of the order, will induct deserving individuals into the
Order of Nova ScotiaThe Order of Nova Scotia is a civilian honour for merit in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. Instituted on 2 August 2001, when Lieutenant Governor Myra Freeman granted Royal Assent to the Order of Nova Scotia Act, the order is administered by the Governor-in-Council and is intended to honour...
and, upon installation, automatically becomes a Knight or Dame of Justice and the Vice-Prior in Nova Scotia 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 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 Nova Scotia in 2006 undertook 289 engagements and 384 in 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, unlike most other viceregal flags in Canada, of the
Royal Union FlagThe Union Flag, also known as the Union Jack, is the flag of the United Kingdom. It retains an official or semi-official status in some Commonwealth Realms; for example, it is known as the Royal Union Flag in Canada. It is also used as an official flag in some of the smaller British overseas...
defaced with the shield of the
Arms of Her Majesty in Right of Nova ScotiaThe coat of arms of the province of Nova Scotia is the oldest provincial achievement of arms in Canada, and the oldest British coat of arms outside Great Britain. It was granted in 1625 by King Charles I for the first Scottish colony on the Canadian mainland...
surrounded by a circle of 18 green maple leaves. This is the last of the Canadian governors' flags to retain the original design set out by Queen Victoria in 1869, though for a period in the 1950s, the lieutenant governor used a flag bearing simply the arms of the province. Within Nova Scotia, the lieutenant governor also follows only the sovereign in the
province's order of precedenceThe Nova Scotia order of precedence is a nominal and symbolic hierarchy of important positions within the province of Nova Scotia. 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 Nova Scotia came into being in 1786, when 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 Nova Scotia, along with
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...
,
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....
, and
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...
, should have as their respective governors a single individual. The earlier post of Governor of Nova Scotia 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 1867, upon Nova Scotia'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
Myra Freeman-References:* . Government of Nova Scotia. Accessed 2010-12-22....
the first female lieutenant governor of the province and Mayann Francis the first lieutenant governor of
West IndianThe Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
ancestry. The shortest mandate by a Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia was
Joseph HoweJoseph Howe, PC was a Nova Scotian journalist, politician, and public servant. He is one of Nova Scotia's greatest and best-loved politicians...
, for three weeks in July 1873, while the longest was
MacCallum GrantMacCallum Grant was a Canadian businessman and the 11th Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia.Born in Hants County, Nova Scotia, the son of John Nutting and Margaret Grant, Grant was educated in Newport, Nova Scotia. He commenced his business career with S. A. White & Co, in 1873. He was a member of...
, from 1916 to 1925.
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