Gala 2026 - Pollution Probe

Join Canada’s foremost gathering of cross-sector leaders at the 2026 Pollution Probe Annual Gala. Taking place on Tuesday, November 24, 2026, at the Steam Whistle Roundhouse in Toronto, this year’s event explores how interconnected forms of security, from energy and water to food and environment, are critical to Canada’s economic competitiveness and long-term prosperity.

When: Tuesday, November 24, 2026
Where: Steam Whistle Roundhouse
255 Bremner Blvd Bay 6, Toronto

5:00 p.m. Networking Reception
7 :00 p.m. Dinner & Award Presentation
9:30 p.m. Close Out

Purchase Tickets

2026 Pollution Probe Award Recipient

We are thrilled to announce that the 2026 Pollution Probe Award recipient is The Right Honourable Mary Simon.

Ms. Simon served as Canada’s first Indigenous Governor General. A distinguished leader with decades of service, Madam Simon has earned national and international recognition for her advocacy on Arctic issues, Indigenous rights, youth, and culture. From negotiating the creation of the Arctic Council as Canada’s Ambassador for Circumpolar Affairs to authoring the pivotal report on A new Shared Arctic Leadership Model, her lifelong dedication to northern equity, community resilience, and environmental diplomacy stands as a powerful model for Canada’s future. As Governor General, she championed the principle that caring for the environment is a shared responsibility and that environmental well-being is inseparable from Canada’s economic future.

Read more about this year's award recipient

The Right Honourable Mary Simon Former Governor General of Canada C.C., C.M.M., C.O.M., O.Q., C.D.

The Right Honourable Mary Simon was sworn in on July 26, 2021, as Canada’s first Indigenous governor general. She is the 30^th governor general since Confederation. Madam Simon concluded her mandate as governor general on June 8, 2026.

Mary Simon was born on August 20, 1947, in Kangiqsualujjuaq, Nunavik (Quebec), to Nancy May (Angnatuk-Askew), her Inuk mother, and Bob Mardon May, her English father who worked for the Hudson’s Bay Company.

Ms. Simon gained national and international recognition for her work on Arctic and Indigenous issues and for her efforts in advocating for Inuit rights, youth and culture.

Ms. Simon began her career as a radio broadcaster with the CBC Northern Service (now CBC North) in the 1970s. Following this, she held a series of executive positions with the Northern Quebec Inuit Association, Makivik Corporation and Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami. As president of Makivik Corporation, she was directly involved with the implementation of the first land claims agreement in Canada, the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement, along with the protection and promotion of Inuit rights.

She later joined the executive council of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference (now the Inuit Circumpolar Council), for which she served two terms as president. In addition, she was commissioner of the Nunavut Implementation Commission and policy co-director of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples.

From 1994 to 2003, Ms. Simon served as ambassador for Circumpolar Affairs, becoming the first Inuk to hold an ambassadorial position. During this time, she negotiated the creation of the Arctic Council. Concurrently, she served as ambassador of Canada to Denmark from 1999 to 2001.

Beginning in 2006, Ms. Simon served two terms as president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami. In 2008, in the House of Commons, she delivered a response on behalf of Inuit to the formal apology on residential schools. She is the founder of the Arctic Children and Youth Foundation and, until 2014, she was the chairperson of the National Committee on Inuit Education.

In 2017, as the Minister’s Special Representative, Ms. Simon delivered a report to the Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs on A new Shared Arctic Leadership Model, setting the stage for important policy and program development in support of the Arctic and its residents.

Among other distinctions, Ms. Simon is an Officer of the Ordre national du Québec. She is also a recipient of the Governor General’s Northern Medal, the Gold Order of Greenland, the National Aboriginal Achievement Award, the Gold Medal of the Canadian Geographical Society and the Symons Medal.

Upon becoming governor general, Ms. Simon was promoted by Queen Elizabeth II as Companion of the Order of Canada (C.C.), and invested as Commander of the Order of Military Merit (C.M.M.) and Commander of the Order of Merit for Police Forces (C.O.M.). His Majesty The King is the Sovereign of these Orders.

Ms. Simon plays the accordion and loves berry picking and nature. She is anaana (mother) to a daughter and two sons, anaanatsiaq (grandmother) to 12 children and amauq (great-grandmother) to four children. She also has three stepchildren from her marriage in 1994 to Mr. Whit Fraser, former head of the Canadian Polar Commission, former executive director of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami and a long-time former CBC journalist.

Fireside Chat

Fireside Chat Keynote

John Stackhouse, Senior Vice-President, Office of the CEO, Royal Bank of Canada

John is one of Canada’s leading voices on innovation, economic disruption and geopolitical change. He is Senior Vice-President in the Office of the CEO at Royal Bank of Canada, where he created and leads the RBC Thought Leadership team that publishes cutting-edge research and convenes national conversations designed to inform and inspire Canadian prosperity.

Before joining RBC in 2015, John was Editor-in-Chief of The Globe and Mail, where through a 25-year career he led its digital transformation, transformed its business and investing coverage, and was the newspaper’s correspondent in Asia through the 1990s, winning five National Newspaper Awards.

John is the author of four books on Canada and its place in the world, and in addition to his role at RBC, is a senior fellow at the C.D. Howe Institute and the Munk School for Global Affairs and Public Policy and sits on the Board of the Canadian International Council.

Fireside Chat Moderator

Susan Ormiston, Journalist and Senior Correspondent CBC NEWS, Senior Fellow Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy

Susan Ormiston is an award-winning journalist and Senior Correspondent with CBC News whose career spans decades of reporting on major global events. Her reporting on political revolutions, natural disasters, and humanitarian crises across the Middle East, Europe, the U.K, Asia, Africa, and the Americas has brought global affairs to Canadian audiences with depth, humanity, and clarity.

Ormiston has sent dispatches from conflict zones and flashpoints including Afghanistan, Ukraine, Israel, Gaza, and Lebanon, and the ‘Arab Spring’ uprisings. She also reported from South Africa during the end of apartheid and the election of Nelson Mandela.

At CBC and at CTV, she has interviewed hundreds of public figures and world leaders while documenting those civilians caught up in conflict, displacement, and political upheaval.

As CBC’s Correspondent in London, Moscow, Washington she chronicled key moments in contemporary history, including the protests following George Floyd’s killing in the U.S., the COVID-19 pandemic, and White House politics from 2019 - 2023.

In 2023, Ormiston became CBC’s first international climate correspondent, reporting on the global climate crisis and its human, political, and economic consequences. In 2025 she joined the Canadian Navy and climate scientists on a month-long scientific and strategic mission to Antarctica.

Her journalism has earned numerous honours, including the U.K.’s Foreign Press Award, a Gracie Award for excellence in women’s rights reporting, and multiple Canadian Screen Awards, including Best Reporting for Afghanistan. She has guest lectured at Toronto Metropolitan University, the University of Toronto, and The Canadian Forces College.

Ormiston holds a Bachelor of Journalism (B.J.) Honours from Carleton University and a Doctor of Letters (D.Litt.) from the University of Saskatchewan in recognition of her lifetime contribution to journalism.

2026 GALA SPONSORS

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