Elizabeth Dowdeswell
Elizabeth Dowdeswell | |
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![]() Dowdeswell in 2017 | |
29th Lieutenant Governor of Ontario | |
Assumed office September 23, 2014 | |
Monarchs | Elizabeth II Charles III |
Governor General | |
Premier | |
Preceded by | David Onley |
3rd Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme | |
In office 1992–1998 | |
Secretary-General | Boutros Boutros-Ghali Kofi Annan |
Preceded by | Mostafa Kamal Tolba |
Succeeded by | Klaus Töpfer |
Personal details | |
Born | Violet Elizabeth Patton November 9, 1944 Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK |
Nationality | Canadian |
Residence(s) | Queen's Park, Toronto |
Alma mater | |
Occupation | Public servant |
Website | www |
Violet Elizabeth Dowdeswell[1][2] OC OOnt (née Patton; born November 9, 1944) is a Canadian public servant who currently serves as the lieutenant governor of Ontario, the 29th since Canadian Confederation.[3] She is the viceregal representative of the King in Right of Ontario.
Early life
Violet Elizabeth Patton was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom, on November 9, 1944, and moved with her family to Canada in 1947, settling in rural Saskatchewan.[4] Her father Desmond Granville Patton (1920–2008) was a United Church of Canada minister.[5] Dowdeswell married at a young age but soon divorced.[5] She attended the University of Saskatchewan and Utah State University and later became a teacher and university lecturer.[6]
Career
Dowdeswell left teaching and entered public service, working in Saskatchewan as deputy minister of culture and youth during the New Democratic Party government of Allan Blakeney, but was dismissed, along with other deputy ministers, after the Progressive Conservative government of Grant Devine took power in 1982.[5]
She held various positions in the federal public service in the 1980s, working at one point as assistant deputy minister at Environment Canada with responsibility for the Atmospheric Environment Service and negotiating the Framework Convention on Climate Change. She also led a public inquiry into Canada's unemployment benefits program and federal water policy.[7]
In 1992, Dowdeswell was selected to lead the United Nations Environment Programme in Nairobi, Kenya, serving a full four-year term and a one-year extension until she resigned in 1998.[8]
From 1998 to 2010, she was an adjunct professor at the McLaughlin-Rotman Centre for Global Health at the University of Toronto, while also serving as founding president and CEO of the Nuclear Waste Management Organization.[9] From 2010 until her appointment at Lieutenant Governor, she was the president and CEO of the Council of Canadian Academies.[10]
As lieutenant governor
Dowdeswell was appointed lieutenant governor by Governor General David Johnston on the advice of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who selected Dowdeswell from a shortlist devised by the Advisory Committee on Vice-Regal Appointments. On September 23, 2014, she was sworn in during a ceremony held at Queen's Park in Toronto.[11] She is the third woman to serve the position, following Pauline Mills McGibbon and Hilary Weston.
Dowdeswell declared in her installation address that she would not immediately espouse a particular area of focus during her time as lieutenant governor. Instead, she said she would engage the people of Ontario, listening to their concerns and ideas. She has since adopted sustainability and "Ontario in the world" as personal themes. In addition, Dowdeswell has called herself Ontario's unofficial "Storyteller-in-Chief".[12]
According to annual reports published on her office's website, Dowdeswell has conducted, on average, more than 700 public engagements yearly as lieutenant governor, as well as numerous visits abroad to the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, and Denmark.[13]
Dowdeswell has visited all of Ontario's provincial electoral districts.[14]
On September 22, 2022, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced the addition of Dowdeswell, alongside other Canadian lieutenant governors, to the country's so-called stop list banning entry to Russian territory.[15]
Titles, styles, honours and arms
Titles and styles
As lieutenant governor, Dowdeswell is entitled to be styled Her Honour the Honourable while in office and The Honourable for life.[16]
Honours
Ribbon bars of Elizabeth Dowdeswell | |||
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- Appointments
May 24, 2012: Officer of the Order of Canada (OC)
November 26, 2014: Dame of Justice of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem (DStJ)
- November 26, 2014 – present: Vice Prior of the Priory of Canada of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem (while in office)
September 23, 2014: Member of the Order of Ontario (OOnt)
- September 23, 2014 – present: Chancellor of the Order of Ontario (while in office)
- Medals
June 18, 2012: Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal
November 18, 2020: Louie Kamookak Medal of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society
- Honorary appointments
September 23, 2014 – present: Colonel of the Regiment of The Queen's York Rangers (while in office)
September 23, 2014: Honorary Commissioner of the Ontario Provincial Police[17]
Honorary degrees
Dowdeswell has received several honorary degrees from various universities in Canada and Europe. These include:
Jurisdiction | Date | School | Degree |
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May 25, 1994 | University of Saskatchewan | Doctor of Laws (LLD) [18] |
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1998 | Mount Saint Vincent University | Doctor of Humane Letters (DHL) [19] |
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Spring 1999 | York University | Doctor of Laws (LLD) [20] |
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October 22, 1999 | Royal Roads University | [21] |
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Spring 2001 | University of Regina | [22] |
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2013 | University of Ontario Institute of Technology | Doctor of Science (DSc) [23] |
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June 9, 2015 | University of Western Ontario | Doctor of Laws (LLD) [24] |
Arms
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References
- ^ Dowdeswell, Violet Elizabeth (May 1972). Inferred Values of Clothing related to Adjustment Among Pregnant Women (MS thesis). Utah State University. doi:10.26076/a9f4-2745.
- ^ Queen's Printer for Ontario (April 9, 2016). "Proclamation" (PDF). Ontario Gazette. 149 (15): 711. ISSN 0030-2937. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 26, 2016. Retrieved April 9, 2016.
THE HONOURABLE V. ELIZABETH DOWDESWELL LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR OF OUR PROVINCE OF ONTARIO
- ^ "Her Honour". Lieutenant Governor of Ontario. October 1, 2014. Archived from the original on December 8, 2016. Retrieved October 1, 2014.
- ^ "Installation address". Lieutenant Governor of Ontario. September 26, 2014. Archived from the original on January 6, 2016. Retrieved October 1, 2014.
- ^ a b c "New lieutenant-governor may surprise Ontarians". Toronto Star. October 1, 2014.
- ^ "The Hon. Elizabeth Dowdeswell "Ontario's Lieutenant Governor" | School of Policy Studies". www.queensu.ca. Retrieved May 5, 2021.
- ^ "Newsroom : Biography : Elizabeth Dowdeswell". news.ontario.ca.
- ^ Knox, Paul (December 3, 1997). "WORLD BUZZ / Environmental apostle awaits the UN's nod. Toepfer tapped for UNEP". The Globe and Mail. Toronto. p. A14.
But Ms. Dowdeswell was granted only a one-year extension when her four-year term expired last Dec. 31.
- ^ Singer, Peter A.; Daar, Abdallah S. (January 2009). "How Biodevelopment can Enhance Biosecurity". Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. 65 (2): 23–30. Bibcode:2009BuAtS..65b..23S. doi:10.2968/065002004. ISSN 0096-3402. S2CID 143672949.
- ^ "Biography". Lieutenant Governor of Ontario. Retrieved May 5, 2021.
- ^ "Ontario's lieutenant-governor Elizabeth Dowdeswell to be sworn in during fall ceremony". CTV News, July 24, 2014.
- ^ "Areas of focus". Lieutenant Governor of Ontario.
- ^ "News".
- ^ @lglizdowdeswell (August 22, 2019). "As I complete my 5th year as LG, I am inspired by all who have welcomed me to their communities. Today marks my visit to all 124 ridings. Thank you for sharing the places where you work, live, and play. Your stories remind us that we should all be proud to call Ontario home" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ "Канада - Министерство иностранных дел Российской Федерации".
- ^ "Table of titles to be used in Canada". Lieutenant Governor of Ontario. June 18, 1993. Retrieved October 1, 2014.
- ^ "OPP Mess Dinner". Lieutenant Governor of Ontario. September 24, 2014. Archived from the original on October 6, 2014. Retrieved October 1, 2014.
- ^ "Honorary Degrees - University of Saskatchewan". library.usask.ca.
- ^ "Our honorary degree recipients". Archived from the original on April 20, 2015. Retrieved July 12, 2015.
- ^ "Honorary Degree Recipients | University Secretariat". Archived from the original on March 18, 2015. Retrieved May 18, 2015.
- ^ adove (January 6, 2014). "Fall 1999 Convocation". www.royalroads.ca.
- ^ "Honorary Degree Recipients - Registrar's Office, University of Regina". www.uregina.ca.
- ^ "Ms. Elizabeth Dowdeswell - UOIT - Honorary degrees 2013". uoit.ca.
- ^ University, Department of Communications and Public Affairs, Western (March 19, 2015). "Western News - Honorary degree lineup announced for 305th convocation".
- ^ Dowdeswell, Elizabeth, Public Register of Arms, Flags and Badges of Canada
External links
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- 1944 births
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- Living people
- Northern Ireland emigrants to Canada
- Officers of the Order of Canada
- People from County Antrim
- Royal Canadian Geographical Society fellows
- Saskatchewan civil servants
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