The Aboriginal Studies Circle

The Aboriginal Studies Circle has organised a specialist panel. Our confirmed guest speakers are:

• Phil Fontaine (three-term National Chief, Assembly of First Nations)
• Kathleen Mahoney (A.F.N. Lead Negotiator, Indian Residential School Settlement) 

For more information, please e-mail: thomas.snell@newcastle.ac.uk

The theme of the conference is: Democracy as a work in progress: the intellectual and cultural dynamics of the Canadian idea.

Phil Fontaine OM has been a dedicated and highly respected leader in Canada ever since he was first elected to public office as Chief of the Sagkeeng First Nation in Manitoba, at the age of 28. As a child, Phil Fontaine was obliged to attend the Canadian residential school system for 10 months out of every year for 10 years. Phil became a youth activist with the Canadian Indian Youth Council, during which time he realized that self-determination and the implementation of treaty and land rights were crucial to alleviating poverty for First Nations peoples and became an early advocate for these rights. When he became Chief in his own community, he put his thoughts into action by establishing the first Indian controlled education system in Canada; a locally controlled Child & Family Services agency; and the first on-reserve Alcohol and Addictions Treatment Centre in the country.

In the early 1980s Phil Fontaine was elected to the position of Manitoba Regional Chief for the Assembly of First Nations. When his term expired in 1991, he was elected Grand Chief of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs where he served for three consecutive terms. In this position, he was instrumental in protecting Aboriginal rights and treaty rights in the Canadian constitution by engineering the defeat of the Meech Lake Accord which would have given special status to Quebec, but not to the Aboriginal Peoples of Canada. Phil also negotiated the first comprehensive self government plan for Manitoba First Nations and signed historic employment equity agreements which resulted in thousands of job opportunities for First Nations citizens. In June 2007, he negotiated a fair and just process for the settlement of Specific land claims, drawing on his experience as the Chief Commissioner of the Land Claims Commission, where he served for three years.

In 1997 Phil Fontaine stepped onto the national stage where he was elected to the highest elected position in First Nations politics, that of National Chief. He is now serving an unprecedented third term in office. His list accomplishments in this role are legend and continue to grow. Highlights include his bringing together First Nations from across the continent to sign the Declaration of Kinship and Cooperation of the Indigenous and First Nations of North America.  He became the first Indigenous leader to address the Organization of American States, bringing the message of Indigenous peoples to the international stage.

The crowning achievement of Phil Fontaine’s career to date, however, was leading the successful resolution and settlement of claims arising out of the 150-year Indian residential school tragedy. The Final Settlement Agreement now being implemented is the largest, most unique and most comprehensive settlement in Canadian history. Worth over $5.2 billion in individual compensation, the settlement also includes a Truth and Reconciliation Commission, an education fund, healing resources and commemoration funding.

The National Chief, himself a survivor of 10 years of residential school abuses, understood that unless the truth about residential schools was told and fair compensation provided, reconciliation between Canada and the First Nations would be impossible. In this respect his leadership has gone far beyond the First Nations community to the benefit of all Canadians.

Prof. Kathleen Mahoney FRSC has dedicated much of her research, practice, and activism to internationally critical issues in human rights.  She has published extensively and appeared as counsel in leading cases in the Supreme Court of Canada.  She has also organized and participated in collaborative human rights and judicial education projects in Geneva, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Tanzania, Namibia, Spain, Israel, China, Vietnam, the United States, and the United Nations.  She was a founder of the Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund and a pioneer of the judicial movement in Canada.  She was recently named an expert advisor to the Interaction Council, an organization of former heads of state seeking to advance the cause of human rights in the world.

In 2004, Professor Mahoney spearheaded and authored a major research project and Report examining the Canadian government’s response to the claims of Aboriginal residential school survivors. This led to her appointment as the Chief Negotiator for the Assembly of First Nations resulting in a settlement agreement with Canada that saw $5.6billion in individual compensation for the largest human rights violation in Canadian history – arising out of the 150-year Indian residential school tragedy.