5 Things First Nations Want in Canada
(Published on Huffington Post.) Thursday, February 18th, I listened with rapt attention to The Right Honourable Paul Martin as he engaged with 5 Former First Nations Chiefs. In the image above, from left to right, they are Shawn A-in-chut Atleo, Matthew Coon Come, Phil Fontaine, Ovide Mercredi and Georges Erasmus. This was our last mainstage panel discussion of a week of sharing and brainstorming to reclaim and rebuild after 20 years of abusive neglect by our Canadian government.
The full title of the AFOA conference was “Leadership and Governance: Transformational Change through Education and Capacity Building”. The messages of hope and transformation rang throughout the week without naively denying what has happened. (more…)
It is December 4 and there are probably 40 people in the room at the “welcome cocktail” for the volunteers of our annual convention. I hug an acquaintance, start catching up and then I start coughing. I take a sip of my wine but the mucus in my throat seems to get thicker.
The Paris aftershocks will last beyond the funeral services of lives lost. With our mental health facilities and qualified intervenors at an all-time low, increasing our knowledge can go a long way to recovering from the shock of this much publicized global event.