Meet Suzanne!
Biography
Canada’s first Métis citizenship judge, Suzanne Carrière, has presided over 1,600 citizenship ceremonies, personally welcoming over 100,000 newcomers into the Canadian family. She uses her platform unfailingly to speak about reconciliation being a shared responsibility of all Canadians, whether Indigenous or non-Indigenous, whether born here or elsewhere. In June 2021, she was honoured to preside the very first citizenship ceremony in Canadian history using a revised oath of citizenship recognizing the rights of Indigenous Peoples, in response to TRC Call to Action #94. Prior to her appointment as a citizenship judge, she practiced law for over 14 years, including 8 years with the federal Department of Justice in Aboriginal Legal Services. During that time, she represented Canada in more than 200 hearings and settlement interviews with Indian residential school survivors as part of a dispute resolution process established to resolve claims of physical, sexual or emotional abuse suffered at the schools. She considers this work to have been life-changing. Suzanne Carrière is proudly Red River Métis on both sides of her family, and lives, works and plays on Treaty 1 territory with her husband and three children.