The Honourable Elizabeth Dowdeswell
29th Lieutenant Governor of Ontario.
September 23, 2014, to November 14, 2023.
The Honourable Elizabeth Dowdeswell is the 29th lieutenant governor of Ontario and is the longest-serving lieutenant governor in the history of the province. As the representative of His Majesty The King, Ms. Dowdeswell carried out constitutional and ceremonial duties and facilitated healthy citizen and community engagement.
Ms. Dowdeswell has served the public interest in all orders of government and in the private sector. She contributed globally as under-secretary-general of the United Nations and executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme. In Canada, her diverse portfolios have ranged from education and culture to the environment and the management of complex public enquiries. She was the founding president and CEO of the Nuclear Waste Management Organization, and later the president and CEO of the Council of Canadian Academies. She has served on the boards of Canadian and international corporate and non-profit organizations.
After taking office in late 2014, Ms. Dowdeswell challenged Ontarians to think deeply about their roles not just as residents of a province, but as global citizens. Her mandate focused on building resilience and sustainability through inclusive economic prosperity, environmental stewardship, and social cohesion, as well as safeguarding democracy.
Ms. Dowdeswell has a bachelor of science in home economics and a teaching certificate from the University of Saskatchewan, as well as a master of science in behavioural sciences from Utah State University. She is an Officer of the Order of Canada, a Member of the Order of Ontario, and the recipient of numerous distinctions and fellowships. She holds 12 honorary doctorates.
View Ms. Dowdeswell’s End of Mandate Report and the Activity Reports published during Ms. Dowdeswell time in office
The Honourable David C. Onley
28th Lieutenant Governor of Ontario
September 5, 2007 to September 23, 2014
The Honourable David C. Onley was appointed Ontario’s 28th lieutenant governor following a distinguished career as a broadcaster.
Mr. Onley championed disability issues for many years, having served as chair of the Accessibility Standards Advisory Council of the Government of Ontario and as an accessibility council member for the Rogers Centre and the Air Canada Centre.
As Ontario’s first lieutenant governor with a physical disability, Mr. Onley adopted accessibility as the overarching theme of his mandate. He defined accessibility as “that which enables people to achieve their full potential,” believing that true accessibility occurs when disabled people can fully participate in the social, cultural, and economic life of Ontario.
Because accessibility includes equal access to opportunities such as education, Mr. Onley expanded the Aboriginal Youth Literacy Initiative to include computer literacy programs.
Mr. Onley was born in Midland, Ontario, grew up in Scarborough, and has been inducted into the Canadian Disability Hall of Fame and the Scarborough Walk of Fame. He served as colonel of the Regiment of the Queen’s York Rangers (1st American Regiment) in his capacity of lieutenant governor, and personally as honorary colonel of 25 Field Ambulance. He was the recipient of the Rick Hansen Award of Excellence, the Courage to Come Back Award, and held 11 honorary degrees.
Mr. Onley passed away in January of 2023.
View Mr. Onley’s end of mandate report (PDF 2.84 MB)
The Honourable James K. Bartleman
27th Lieutenant Governor of Ontario
March 7, 2002 to September 5, 2007
Born on December 24, 1939 in Orillia, James Bartleman grew up in the Muskoka town of Port Carling, and is a member of the Chippewas of Rama First Nation. Mr. Bartleman earned a bachelor of arts (honours) in history from the University of Western Ontario in 1963. On a posting to Brussels, he met Marie-Jeanne Rosillon. The couple married in 1975 and have three children: Anne-Pascale, Laurent, and Alain.
Upon his installation as lieutenant governor in March 2002, Mr. Bartleman became a member of the Order of Ontario. He was promoted to Knight of Justice in the Order of St. John in 2002, and received a National Aboriginal Achievement Award for public service in 1999. He received the Dr. Hugh Lefave Award (2003) and the Courage to Come Back Award (2004) for his efforts to reduce the stigma of mental illness.
Mr. Bartleman identified three key priorities during his mandate as lieutenant governor: to eliminate the stigma of mental illness, to fight racism and discrimination, and to encourage Indigenous young people. In 2004, he launched the first Lieutenant Governor’s Book Drive, which collected 1.2 million good used books for First Nations schools and Native Friendship Centres throughout Ontario. To further encourage literacy and bridge-building, he launched in 2005 a twinning program for Native and non-Native schools in Ontario and Nunavut, and established literacy summer camps in five northern First Nations communities as a pilot project. In 2006, he extended the literacy summer camp program to 28 fly-in communities, securing funding for five years, and also launched Club Amick, a reading club for Indigenous children in Ontario’s North. In the winter of 2007, he completed a second book drive, collecting 900,000 books for Indigenous children in Ontario, northern Québec and Nunavut.
Mr. Bartleman passed away in August 2023.
The Honourable Hilary M. Weston
26th Lieutenant Governor of Ontario
January 24, 1997 to March 7, 2002.
Hilary Weston was installed as lieutenant governor of Ontario on January 24, 1997. Prior to serving in public office, Mrs. Weston was deputy chair of Holt Renfrew (1986-96) and participated in the charitable activities of the W. Garfield Weston Foundation. She also founded the Ireland Fund of Canada and is coauthor of two books: In a Canadian Garden and At Home in Canada. Born in Ireland, Mrs. Weston came to Canada in 1972.
Ontario’s 40th lieutenant governor since John Graves Simcoe arrived in 1792, she is only the second woman to have been appointed to the viceregal role in the province. Mrs. Weston served during an unprecedented time when the Governor General and seven Canadian lieutenant governors were female. She completed five years and 41 days in office until March 7, 2002.
At her installation, the lieutenant governor made a commitment to focus on celebrating volunteers, youth, and women. As Mrs. Weston’s mandate coincided with the new millennium, she continually explored new ways of making the role more contemporary, accessible, and relevant to Ontarians. As part of this effort, she instigated several new initiatives.
She created the Lieutenant Governor’s Community Volunteer Awards to honour unsung heroes in the community and student volunteers. She donated her salary as lieutenant governor to the Hilary M. Weston Foundation for Youth, which funded initiatives such as the First Connection program to provide business internships for 88 Ontario students and job training for street youth. Mrs. Weston was the first lieutenant governor to hold major holiday celebrations in communities outside the capital in alternating years. She also initiated exhibitions of contemporary Ontario art in the Lieutenant Governor’s Suite, in partnership with leading arts organizations.
Mrs. Weston wrote of her experiences as lieutenant governor in No Ordinary Time (PDF, 12 MB).
Colonel the Honourable Henry N. R. “Hal” Jackman
25th Lieutenant Governor of Ontario
December 11, 1991 to January 24, 1997
Henry Newton Rowell “Hal” Jackman, served as the 25th lieutenant governor of Ontario from 1991 to 1997. Born in Toronto on June 10, 1932, he is the son of former MP Harry Jackman and philanthropist Mary Rowell Jackman. His mother was the daughter of another former MP, Newton Wesley Rowell. His sister, Nancy Ruth, is a philanthropist who was appointed to the Senate in 2005.
Jackman was educated at Pickering College, the University of Toronto Schools, Upper Canada College (where he was a member of Jackson’s House), the University of Toronto Faculty of Law, and the London School of Economics.
He was chairman of the board of National Trust Company and the Empire Life Insurance Company, plus several other prominent Canadian corporations. In 1964 he married Maruja Trinidad Duncan. He was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada in 1991, the same year as his installation as lieutenant governor.
During his tenure as lieutenant governor, he focused on supporting the arts, history, and national unity. Mr. Jackman served until 1997, was appointed to the Order of Ontario in 1998, and was promoted to Officer of the Order of Canada in the year 2000.
Colonel the Honourable Lincoln M. Alexander
24th Lieutenant Governor of Ontario
September 20, 1985 to December 11, 1991
When Lincoln Alexander entered the Lieutenant Governor’s Suite for the first time in 1985, he might have paused for just a moment. He was, after all, about to enter not just a new and imposing office, but also an important phase of his own life—and in Ontario’s history.
He was a man accustomed to breaking new ground: he became the first Black person installed as the Queen’s representative in Ontario. Born in 1922 in Toronto, he was the son of West Indian immigrants—his father a railway porter and his mother a maid. Alexander served with the Royal Canadian Air Force during the Second World War. In 1948, he married Yvonne Harrison, who remained a pillar of strength for her extraordinary husband until her death in 1999.
Alexander was educated at McMaster University, and went on to study law at Osgoode Hall. Elected as an MP for Hamilton West in 1968, he was Canada’s first Black person elected to the House of Commons. He remained there for 12 years. He made history again in his final year in Parliament, when he became Canada’s first Black cabinet minister, having been appointed minister of labour.
As lieutenant governor—a post he held for more than six years—Alexander continued his pioneering ways. The first person of colour to be named to Ontario’s viceregal role, he focused on youth and education as a key part of his mandate. An awards program was established in his name, for young people who demonstrate leadership in combating discrimination and racism within their school or community.
Writing in the Financial Post at the time of Alexander’s appointment, journalist Peter Worthington said, “He can do more for the mixture of people that is modern Ontario than any legislation can. This Canadian-born son of a railway porter has been his own man during the first 63 years of his life. Lincoln Alexander is the Jackie Robinson of Canadian politics. It’s a proud moment for both him and Canada.”
Alexander was appointed a Companion of the Order of Canada in 1992. Four years later in 1996, Prime Minister Jean Chrétien appointed Alexander chair of the Canadian Race Relations Foundation. Numerous awards and schools have been named in his honour.
An inspiration and outstanding role model, Alexander was a human rights visionary whose impact, in word and deed, will continue to echo throughout Ontario and Canada for generations to come. He died in 2012.
Captain (N) the Honourable John B. Aird
23rd Lieutenant Governor of Ontario
September 15, 1980 to September 20, 1985
Born in Toronto in 1923, the grandson of Canadian war financier Sir John Aird, John Black Aird was educated at Upper Canada College, Trinity College, and Osgoode Hall. He practised law in Toronto, heading his own firm from 1974. During the Second World War, he served in the Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve, and in 1944 he married Lucille Housser. From 1964 to 1974, he served as a senator, and in 1971, he served as chairman of the Canada–United States Permanent Joint Board on Defence. From 1977 to 1985, he was chancellor of Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo. Mr. Aird was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada, and served as lieutenant governor of Ontario from 1980 to 1985. The main focus of his mandate was Ontarians with disabilities. He authored the book Loyalty In A Changing World, a look at the contemporary function of the lieutenant governor. Mr. Aird was appointed to the Order of Ontario in 1987, and in 1993, he was promoted to Companion in the Order of Canada. He died in Toronto in 1995.
The Honourable Pauline M. McGibbon
22nd Lieutenant Governor of Ontario
April 10, 1974 to September 15, 1980
Born in Sarnia in 1910, Pauline Mills studied at the University of Toronto and later worked with community and national organizations such as the Imperial Order of the Daughters of the Empire, where she served as national president. In 1935, she married Donald McGibbon. Mrs. McGibbon served as chancellor of the universities of Toronto and Guelph, chair of the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, and was a director of Massey Hall and Roy Thomson Hall. She was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1967. In 1974, she was sworn in as the first female lieutenant governor of Ontario, holding office until 1980. A particular focus of her mandate was the arts in Ontario. After leaving office, Mrs. McGibbon was promoted to be a Companion in the Order of Canada, and was appointed to the Order of Ontario. Mrs. McGibbon died in Toronto in 2001.
The Honourable William R. Macdonald
21st Lieutenant Governor of Ontario
July 4, 1968 to April 10, 1974
Born in Toronto in 1891, Macdonald studied law at the University of Toronto and Osgoode Hall. He practised law in Brantford, and served with the Canadian Expeditionary Force from 1914 to 1918. In 1921, he married Muriel Whittaker. Macdonald was an MP from 1935 to 1953, and served as solicitor general, deputy Speaker of the House, and later as Speaker of the House of Commons. He became a senator in 1953, and served as Government leader in the Senate. Macdonald served as lieutenant governor of Ontario from 1968 to 1974. He was involved with many service groups, such as the Canadian Order of Foresters and the Kiwanis Club. He died in Toronto in 1976.
The Honourable William E. Rowe
20th Lieutenant Governor of Ontario
May 1, 1963 to July 4, 1968
William Earl Rowe was born in Iowa of Canadian parents in 1894. He later moved to Ontario and was a farmer and cattle breeder. Rowe served as an MPP from 1923 to 1925, and was then elected to the House of Commons, where he served until 1935. In 1937, he was re-elected and served until 1958. Rowe was lieutenant governor of Ontario from 1963 to 1968. A champion and supporter of agriculture and rural affairs, he died in 1984 at Newton Robinson, Ontario.