Interim board of directors for National Council for Reconciliation named
Monday, December 18, 2017 @ 2:51 PM | By Carolyn Gruske
In an effort to advance Canada's commitment to implementing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Calls to Action (CTA), the federal government appointed six members to the interim board of directors for the National Council for Reconciliation.
Of the six, four hold law degrees.
Grand Chief Wilton Littlechild, a former commissioner on the Truth and Reconciliation Commmission, will serve as chair. Littlechild is lawyer who has opearted nationally and internationally to advance Indigenous rights and treaties. He was a member of the 1977 Indigenous delegation to the United Nations, and worked on the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Littlechild will be joined on the board by Max FineDay, Mike DeGagné, Clint Davis, Edith Cloutier and Jean Teillet.
Teillet is senior counsel with Pape Salter Teillet LLP and specializes in Indigenous rights law. She was a founder of the Métis Nation of Ontario. Teillet is also the past vice-president and treasurer of the Indigenous Bar Association of Canada and a former member of the Métis National Council’s national research advisory committee, a member of the equity committee of the Law Society of Upper Canada and founding president of the Métis Nation Lawyers Association.
Davis, who is an Inuk from Labrador, is the partner and managing director of Acasta Capital Indigenous, an Indigenous-owned subsidiary company of Acasta Capital. He is also chair of the board of directors for the Nunatsiavut Group of Companies, which is the economic arm of Nunatsiavut Government, a self-governing entity that represents the political, social and economic interests of the Inuit of Labrador. Davis began his career as a lawyer in St. John’s before entering public service with the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development Canada.
DeGagné, who is president and vice-chancellor of Nipissing University, has a master of laws degree from York University’s Osgoode Hall, in addition to degrees in biology, education and administration.
FineDay is an activist from the Sweetgrass First Nation and Cloutier is executive director of the Native Friendship Centre in Val-d'Or, Que., and president of the Quebec Association of Aboriginal Friendship Centres.
The role of the board will be to engage with various stakeholders over the next six months and recommend options for the establishment of the National Council for Reconciliation and the endowment of a National Reconciliation Trust.
“Reconciliation is not just an Indigenous issue, it's a Canadian one, and it will take genuine collaboration at all levels to advance this journey. I am honoured that these highly accomplished and dedicated individuals have agreed to serve on interim board of the Reconciliation Council. I look forward to receiving their concrete recommendations that will further the government's commitment to advancing reconciliation for the benefit of all Canadians,” said Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Carolyn Bennett.
Of the six, four hold law degrees.
Grand Chief Wilton Littlechild, a former commissioner on the Truth and Reconciliation Commmission, will serve as chair. Littlechild is lawyer who has opearted nationally and internationally to advance Indigenous rights and treaties. He was a member of the 1977 Indigenous delegation to the United Nations, and worked on the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Littlechild will be joined on the board by Max FineDay, Mike DeGagné, Clint Davis, Edith Cloutier and Jean Teillet.
Teillet is senior counsel with Pape Salter Teillet LLP and specializes in Indigenous rights law. She was a founder of the Métis Nation of Ontario. Teillet is also the past vice-president and treasurer of the Indigenous Bar Association of Canada and a former member of the Métis National Council’s national research advisory committee, a member of the equity committee of the Law Society of Upper Canada and founding president of the Métis Nation Lawyers Association.
Davis, who is an Inuk from Labrador, is the partner and managing director of Acasta Capital Indigenous, an Indigenous-owned subsidiary company of Acasta Capital. He is also chair of the board of directors for the Nunatsiavut Group of Companies, which is the economic arm of Nunatsiavut Government, a self-governing entity that represents the political, social and economic interests of the Inuit of Labrador. Davis began his career as a lawyer in St. John’s before entering public service with the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development Canada.
DeGagné, who is president and vice-chancellor of Nipissing University, has a master of laws degree from York University’s Osgoode Hall, in addition to degrees in biology, education and administration.
FineDay is an activist from the Sweetgrass First Nation and Cloutier is executive director of the Native Friendship Centre in Val-d'Or, Que., and president of the Quebec Association of Aboriginal Friendship Centres.
The role of the board will be to engage with various stakeholders over the next six months and recommend options for the establishment of the National Council for Reconciliation and the endowment of a National Reconciliation Trust.
“Reconciliation is not just an Indigenous issue, it's a Canadian one, and it will take genuine collaboration at all levels to advance this journey. I am honoured that these highly accomplished and dedicated individuals have agreed to serve on interim board of the Reconciliation Council. I look forward to receiving their concrete recommendations that will further the government's commitment to advancing reconciliation for the benefit of all Canadians,” said Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Carolyn Bennett.
