{{Short description|Lieutenant Governor of Alberta from 2015 to 2020}} {{For|the American computer scientist|Lois B. Mitchell Haibt{{!}}Lois B. Mitchell (Haibt)}} {{Use Canadian English|date=September 2021}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2024}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = The Honourable | name = Lois Mitchell | honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=CAN|CM|AOE|size=100%}} | image = Lois Mitchell.jpg | image_size = 200px | caption = Mitchell in 2019 | order = | office = 18th Lieutenant Governor of Alberta | term_start = June 12, 2015 | term_end = August 26, 2020 | monarch = Elizabeth II | governor_general = {{plainlist| * David Johnston * Julie Payette }} | premier = {{plainlist| * Rachel Notley * Jason Kenney }} | predecessor = Donald Ethell | successor = Salma Lakhani | birth_name = Lois Elizabeth Boulding | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1939|6|22}} | birth_place = Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada | spouse = {{marriage|Doug Mitchell|c. 1962|2022|end=d}} | children = 4 | profession = {{nowrap|businesswoman, philanthropist}}<br>consultant, organizer | alma_mater = University of British Columbia | signature = }} '''Lois Elizabeth Mitchell''' {{post-nominals|country=CAN|CM|AOE}} (née '''Boulding'''; June 22, 1939) is a Canadian businesswoman and philanthropist who was the 18th lieutenant governor of Alberta from 2015 to 2020. Her appointment as the lieutenant governor was made by Governor General of Canada David Lloyd Johnston on the Constitutional advice of Prime Minister of Canada Stephen Harper, effective June 12, 2015. A former teacher and founder of a consulting firm, Mitchell is also a longtime organizer of events and active volunteer in the Calgary community, along with her late husband, Doug Mitchell.
==Career== Mitchell was born on June 22, 1939<ref name="newspapers.com">[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/29256483/calgary_herald/ Lois & Doug Mitchell]</ref><ref name="sun" /> and raised in Vancouver. She attended the University of British Columbia and studied physical education, graduating around 1961. She later worked as a teacher in British Columbia for two years before moving to Calgary.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://canadaworldyouth.org/about/meet-the-team/board-of-directors/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140102051658/http://canadaworldyouth.org/about/meet-the-team/board-of-directors/ |url-status=usurped |archive-date=January 2, 2014 |title=Board of Directors |publisher=Canada World Youth |accessdate=May 21, 2015}}</ref><ref name="mgazdoug">{{cite news|title=New league boss brings boardroom success to CFL|newspaper=The Montreal Gazette|date=April 14, 1989|page=H4|first=Dick|last=Bacon|location=Montreal, Quebec|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1946&dat=19840414&id=WZEjAAAAIBAJ&sjid=jqUFAAAAIBAJ&pg=4263,2217255&hl=en|accessdate=May 21, 2015}}</ref> She is the founder of and a senior partner at Rainmaker Global Business Development, a marketing and consulting firm based in Calgary, and the president of Amherst Consultants.
Considered one of the most prominent people in Calgary,<ref name="MrMrsCgy" /><ref>Networking in Calgary:: [Final Edition] Calgary Herald [Calgary, Alta] November 6, 2003: D5.</ref> she is also a member of the boards of directors of UBS Bank Canada, Mitacs and Canada World Youth, the governor of the Canadian Women's Hockey Association, a co-founder of the Global Business Forum, and one of twelve founders of Crime Stoppers Calgary.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/alberta/consulting-firm-founder-appointed-as-new-lieutenant-governor-of-alberta/article24532939/ |title=Consulting firm founder appointed as new Lieutenant-Governor of Alberta |work=The Globe and Mail |date=May 20, 2015 |accessdate=May 21, 2015}}</ref> She has also been a board member of the Calgary Chamber of Commerce (also a former chair), International Institute for Olympic, Paralympic and Sport Pedagogy, Special Olympic Foundation, Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, and Hockey Canada Foundation.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://larc.ucalgary.ca/node/19412 |title=Lois Mitchell, Chair |publisher=University of Calgary |accessdate=May 21, 2015 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150615202901/http://larc.ucalgary.ca/node/19412 |archivedate=June 15, 2015 }}</ref> Mitchell also is the chair of the Latin American Research Centre at the University of Calgary and in 1997 was named an honorary consul of Colombia to Alberta by the Colombian ambassador to Canada.<ref name="MrMrsCgy" /><ref>Meet Lois Mitchell: one-woman dynamo: [Final Edition] Parker, David. Calgary Herald [Calgary, Alta] December 30, 2001: B10.</ref> She and her husband, Doug, donated to and organized many hockey and sport-related events.<ref name="thunderbird">{{cite web |url=http://news.ubc.ca/2009/08/21/ubc-thunderbird-sports-centre-named-in-honour-of-hockey-builder-doug-mitchell/ |title=UBC Thunderbird Sports Centre named in honour of hockey builder Doug Mitchell |publisher=UBC News |date=August 21, 2009 |accessdate=May 21, 2015}}</ref>
The Doug and Lois Mitchell Outstanding Calgary Artist Award was established in 2012 from contributions from her and her husband.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://mayorslunch.com/content/doug-and-lois-mitchell-outstanding-calgary-artist-award |title=Doug and Lois Mitchell Outstanding Calgary Artist Award |publisher=mayorslunch.com |accessdate=May 21, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150617192929/http://mayorslunch.com/content/doug-and-lois-mitchell-outstanding-calgary-artist-award |archive-date=June 17, 2015 |url-status=dead }}</ref> She established the Hayley Wickenheiser Thunderbird Ice Hockey Endowment in 2007 to support the UBC Women's Ice Hockey team.<ref name="thunderbird" />
==Lieutenant governor== On May 20, 2015, Mitchell was appointed by Governor General of Canada David Johnston on the advice of Prime Minister Stephen Harper to be lieutenant governor of Alberta, replacing Donald Ethell.<ref name="sun">{{cite web |url=http://www.edmontonsun.com/2015/05/21/albertas-new-lieutenant-governor-honoured-to-follow-ethell |title=Alberta's new Lieutenant Governor 'honoured' to follow Ethell |work=Edmonton Sun |date=May 21, 2015 |accessdate=May 22, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/lois-mitchell-appointed-as-alberta-s-new-lieutenant-governor-1.3080929 |title=Lois Mitchell appointed as Alberta's new lieutenant-governor |date=May 20, 2015 |publisher=CBC News |accessdate=May 21, 2015}}</ref> She was sworn in on June 12. As the viceregal representative in Alberta, she is styled "Her Honour" while in office and has the style "the Honourable" for life.
==Personal life== She was appointed to the Order of Canada in 2012 when she also received the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal. In 1998, she won the Calgary Women of Distinction Award<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.alberta.ca/aoe-lois-mitchell |url-status=live |title=The Honourable Lois E. Mitchell |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=<!--Not stated--> |website=The Alberta Order of Excellence |publisher=Government of Alberta |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231130103103/https://www.alberta.ca/aoe-lois-mitchell |archive-date=November 30, 2023 |access-date=February 25, 2024 |quote=In 1998 she received the Calgary Women of Distinction Award in the category of Arts and Culture.}}</ref> and, in 2008, she was named Citizen of the Year by the City of Calgary.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.calgary.ca/awards/calgary-awards/previous-calgary-awards-recipients.html |url-status=live |title=Previous Calgary Awards recipients |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=<!--Not stated--> |website= |publisher=City of Calgary |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230926113654/https://www.calgary.ca/awards/calgary-awards/previous-calgary-awards-recipients.html |archive-date=September 26, 2023 |access-date=February 25, 2024 |quote=}}</ref> She was married to Douglas Mitchell, whom she met while at school in British Columbia, from 1961 until Doug's death in 2022.<ref name="mgazdoug" /><ref>{{cite web |author=Press release |title=Statement on the passing of former CFL Commissioner Doug Mitchell |url=https://www.cfl.ca/2022/07/21/statement-on-the-passing-of-former-cfl-commissioner-doug-mitchell/ |date=21 July 2022 |publisher=Canadian Football League |access-date=22 July 2022}}</ref> Doug was a lawyer, a Canadian football player in his youth, and later a commissioner of the Canadian Football League.<ref>Football icon's cup comes home Fortney, Valerie. Calgary Herald [Calgary, Alta] November 2010: B.1.</ref> They had four children: two daughters and two sons.<ref name="mgazdoug" /><ref>{{cite web |url=https://calgaryherald.com/news/politics/alberta-gets-new-lieutenant-governor |title=Lois Mitchell appointed lieutenant-governor of Alberta |author=James Wood |work=Calgary Herald |accessdate=May 21, 2015}}</ref> Her grandfather, Tom Mackie, served as the chief of the Calgary Police Service from 1909 to 1912. She is of Scottish heritage.<ref name="MrMrsCgy">Mr.& Mrs. Calgary:: [Final Edition] Teel, Gina. Calgary Herald [Calgary, Alta] August 13, 2005: E1 Front.</ref>
==Arms== {{Infobox COA wide |image = Lois Elizabeth Mitchell Escutcheon.png |escutcheon = Azure on a saltire Argent surmounted by a bezant charged with two hockey sticks in saltire Sable four eighth notes Sable. |crest = A garden wall Azure masoned Argent its portal irradiated Proper doors open Azure flanked by two roses Gules slipped barbed and seeded Proper. |motto = Love Truth Courage<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gg.ca/en/heraldry/public-register/project/2811 |publisher=Canadian Heraldic Authority |accessdate=6 September 2023 |title=Lois Elizabeth Mitchell}}</ref> |supporters = Two mares Proper each crined unguled and collared Or pendent therefrom a bezant charged with a football palewise Azure standing on a grassy mount Vert issuant from waves Azure crested Argent. }}
==References==
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Mitchell, Lois}} Category:Living people Category:1939 births Category:21st-century Canadian politicians Category:21st-century Canadian women politicians Category:Businesspeople from Calgary Category:Businesspeople from Vancouver Category:Canadian people of Scottish descent Category:Canadian philanthropists Category:Canadian women viceroys Category:Lieutenant governors of Alberta Category:Members of the Alberta Order of Excellence Category:Members of the Order of Canada Category:Politicians from Calgary Category:Politicians from Vancouver Category:Presidents of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society Category:University of British Columbia alumni Category:Women in Alberta politics