Media Advisory - Governor General to Attend Presentation of the Key to the City of Ottawa to Chief Justice of Canada

OTTAWA, March 21, 2016 /CNW/ - Their Excellencies the Right Honourable David Johnston, Governor General of Canada, and Mrs. Sharon Johnston will attend the presentation of the Key to the City of Ottawa to the Right Honourable Beverley McLachlin, P.C., Chief Justice of Canada. The event will take place in Andrew S. Haydon Hall, at Ottawa City Hall, on Tuesday, March 22, 2016, at 7 p.m.

On this occasion, His Excellency will deliver remarks on Ms. McLachlin's impressive and distinguished judicial career as the longest-serving chief justice of Canada and the first woman in Canada to hold this position.

About the Key to the City
The Key to the City is bestowed upon distinguished persons and honoured guests of the City of Ottawa. In 1935, then-Governor General Lord Tweedsmuir and his wife Lady Tweedsmuir were presented with the first Key to the City of Ottawa by His Worship Stanley Lewis. The practice of presenting a key to an individual may be traced back to medieval times, when admission into a city was hampered by many legal restrictions, as well as by walls and locked gates. The key symbolized free entry. By the mid-1800s, it became customary to give a Key to the City as a direct symbol of the city's intention that the recipient was free to come and go at will. For more information on the ceremony, visit http://ottawa.ca.

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SOURCE Governor General of Canada

Media information: Marie-Ève Létourneau, Rideau Hall Press Office, 613-998-0287, 613-302-0912 (cell), [email protected]; City of Ottawa, Media Department, 613-580-2450