Title

Nishnawbe Aski Nation Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler and Osgoode Dean Lorne Sossin announce that they will bring together leaders to create a plan for moving beyond the Indian Act

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

3-2018

Abstract

FIRST-EVER INDIGENOUS-LED SUMMIT TO FOCUS ON MOVING PAST THE INDIAN ACT

THUNDER BAY, ON (March 26, 2018): Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler and Osgoode Hall Law School Dean Lorne Sossin announced today that they will bring together leaders to create a plan for moving beyond the Indian Act.

“Creating a new relationship with our federal Treaty partner is complex and is missing a clear path forward,” said Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler. “The summit will seek to address this challenge by creating a framework for change from an Indigenous perspective.”

The determiNATION: Moving Beyond the Indian Act Conference will be Indigenous-led and will create a venue for a broad range of voices including Indigenous youth, women, leaders, Elders, legal and scholarly experts, keepers of traditional Indigenous knowledge, as well as representatives from the Government of Canada.

“The systems we need to change are complex and our work needs to be informed by Indigenous legal traditions and customs if we want this new relationship to succeed,” said Lorne Sossin, Dean of Osgoode Hall Law School. “We look forward to bringing a diversity of voices and viewpoints together to begin this important work.”

“The Indian Act has been in place for more than 140 years, bringing about a legacy of poverty, marginalization, and mistreatment of First Nations,” said Fiddler. “Undoing this work through decolonization will require a fundamental rethink of Canada’s legal framework.”

The event will cover principles that underlie the Indigenous-government relationship and include a diverse range of delegates, presenters, and other special guests. Working together, participants will contribute to a concrete, actionable solution for overcoming barriers to de-colonize the relationship between Indigenous Peoples and the Government of Canada.

Registration opens today for determiNATION, which will be held on May 23-24, 2018, on the traditional and unceded territories of the Algonquin Nation (Ottawa).

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