DATE: May 14, 2026
EVENT: Canada was my “beat”:  Lifetime reflections - Unique perspectives

His Excellency Whit Grant Fraser is the spouse of Mary May Simon, Canada’s first Indigenous governor general and the 30th governor general since Confederation. He was born in Merigomish, Pictou County, Nova Scotia on November 26, 1942. Mr. Fraser is an author and a storyteller who has had a front seat to many of the historic events in the last half century in the Canadian Arctic.

Whit Fraser’s  passion for the Arctic and its peoples began more than five decades ago when he relocated from Nova Scotia to the Canadian Arctic as a journalist with CBC North. From his base in Iqaluit (then Frobisher Bay) and later Yellowknife, he travelled to the far corners of the Canadian North, and to Alaska and Greenland, sharing important stories for Indigenous peoples and other northerners on TV and radio. His coverage included the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline Inquiry, the negotiations leading to the signing of comprehensive Inuit land claims agreements, and the historic First Ministers' meetings in the 1980s where Indigenous rights were affirmed in Canada’s constitution. In all, Mr. Fraser spent 25 years with the CBC, including 8 years as a national Parliamentary reporter in Ottawa.

Following his extensive journalistic career, Mr. Fraser remained closely connected to the North. He was founding chair of the Canadian Polar Commission from 1991 to 1997, working on a series of recommendations and measures to enhance science policy in the polar regions and improve human health and social issues in the North. As executive director of the national Inuit organization, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, from 2001 to 2006, he coordinated the Inuit-specific agenda presented to the Kelowna First Ministers’ meeting on Aboriginal issues in 2005.

Mr. Fraser enjoys writing, discussions, the outdoors, fishing and walks with the family dog, Neva. Their Excellencies were married in 1994. Mr. Fraser has three children, three stepchildren and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren. His latest book is “From Ragged Ass Road to Rideau Hall: Stories of Canada”