Reconciliation Canadian Style

16 October 2006

Phil Fontaine

Like Australia, Canada faces challenges in resolving the grievances of First Nation peoples harmed by past policies. Phil Fontaine, the National Chief of Canada's Assembly of First Nations, has been at the heart of negotiations which have resulted in the Canadian government offering C$2 billion in compensation to former students of Residential Schools. Phil was visiting Australia with Charlene Belleau, Director of the Residential Schools Unit of the Assembly of First Nations, and Professor Kathleen Mahoney, chief negotiator for the residential schools settlement.

Broad Topics: Arts and Social Sciences

Sub-topics: Indigenous Studies, Policy & Political Science, Society & Culture

Areas: University

Mr Fontaine has spent decades at the forefront of First Nations leadership in Canada. He has helped to negotiate a vast range of agreements between First Nations communities and Canadian governments, including the Statement of Reconciliation and the Declaration of Kinship and Cooperation of the Indigenous and First Nations of North America. He was also the first First Nations leader to publicly expose the abuses within the residential school system.

Part of the 2006 Toyota-ANU Public Lecture Series