Children of Shingwauk Commemoration 2012

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Many individuals gathered from all quarters on Friday, August 3rd,
at Sault Ste. Marie's George Leach Centre to commemorate the lives
of those who attended residential schools.

VIDEO by Soo Today: http://www.youtube.com/v/xr5DKkJgTcI

List of Presenters (alphabetical)
Garnet Angeconeb: “Speaking My Truth” book launch/talk
Join author Garnet Angeconeb and editors Shelagh Rogers and Mike DeGagné for a book
launch/talk and Q&A. Copies of Speaking My Truth: Reflections on Reconciliation and Residential
School will be available for free onsite and online at http://www.speakingmytruth.ca.
Garnet Angeconeb is an Anishinaabe originally from the Lac Seul First Nation and now lives in
Sioux Lookout, Ontario. Garnet attended Pelican Indian Residential School near Sioux Lookout
from 1963 to 1969. In 1975, Garnet graduated from Queen Elizabeth High School in Sioux
Lookout. In 1982, he graduated from the University of Western Ontario with a diploma in
journalism.
In 1985, Garnet was elected to the council of the municipality of Sioux Lookout. It was there that
Garnet spearheaded the founding of the Sioux Lookout Anti-racism Committee. Today the Sioux
Lookout Anti-racism continues its work with an added dimension to mandate that being the
Sioux Lookout Coalition for Healing and Reconciliation. The SLCHR membership comprises of
local former Indian Residential School students, clergy and interested citizens. The main purpose
of the SLCHR is to promote awareness and seek renewed relations as a result of the Indian
Residential School legacy. Garnet co-chairs the Sioux Lookout Coalition for Healing and
Reconciliation. He is a recipient of the Queen’s Golden Jubilee award.

Henry & Keith Angeconeb: “Kahkiimewat (They Ran Away)” Story & Digital Presentation
Henry and Keith Angeconeb are members of the Lac Seul First Nation and their clan is the
caribou clan. This is their first collaboration using a digital medium.
Henry attended the Pelican Lake Residential School for six years near Sioux Lookout, and also
spent two years at the Shingwauk Residential School in Sault Ste. Marie. Henry is a fluent
speaker of Ojibway and has a BA in Anishinabemowin from Algoma University. He also taught at
Sault College’s language program, and can write in Ojibway using the syllabics system. Henry
has spoken at Algoma U about his residential school experiences as well as his knowledge of the
Anishinaabe language and culture. He is an accomplished storyteller and artist.
Keith is Henry’s eldest son. He has inherited his father’s artist ability and has a developed a
unique style of his own. His work has been made available through local artistic events and
venues. He has completed murals for the local separate school board, and has collaborated
with his father and other family members to produce other murals, and language resources.

Trina Bolam: Legacy of Hope Curriculum & Edu-Kit Workshop
The bilingual, mobile “100 Years of Loss” exhibition is designed to raise awareness about the
history and legacy of residential schools and includes companion educational resources for
students in grades 9-12. Consisting of eight thematic pods (4 in each official language), and a
wavy wall that presents interweaving timelines, this educational resource lends itself to weeklong
activities or events, such as Aboriginal Awareness Week.
The Edu-Kit and the mobile exhibition can be used together or as stand-alone resources.
Together with online resources, such as http://www.wherearethechildren.ca, these new products
provide ample means by which educators can increasingly integrate information on the
Residential School System and its impacts into their course offerings.
Both the Edu-Kit, which targets grades 7-10, and the mobile exhibition and workshop which
targets grades 9-12, promote an understanding of the history and legacy of Residential Schools,
sensitize and educate young Canadian including Aboriginal, non-Aboriginal and new Canadians,
challenges stereotypes and contribute to shifting opinions that foster inquiry, dialogue, and
action. The workshop process, whether using the activities-based Edu-Kit or the inquiry,
research, and discussion-based mobile exhibition workshop, is designed to take youth through
the spectrum of awareness, to sensitization, to understanding, and finally to action that has the
potential, and indeed initiates the process of reconciliation. In terms of targeting youth, the LHF
considers: the potential for making the greatest impact in shifting opinions and values during a
time of intense learning and inquiry before viewpoints may become entrenched; the level of
maturity required to cope with learning difficult subject matter in a comprehensive manner.
Trina Bolam is the Director of Legacy Projects at the Aboriginal Healing Foundation and the
former Executive Director of the Legacy of Hope Foundation.

Samantha Boyer: Youth Panel: "The Future of Reconciliation"

John-Paul Chalykoff: Youth Panel: "The Future of Reconciliation"
John-Paul Chalykoff has a degree in Anishinaabemowin (BA3) from Algoma University /
Shingwauk Kinoomaage Gamig and has recently completed his Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.)
from Lakehead University. He will be continuing his schooling this fall by pursuing a Master’s of
Education through Lakehead University. During his spare time he takes interest in music,
playing guitar and piano; and also furthering his knowledge of Anishinaabemowin, the Ojibwe
language.
He will be moderating the Youth Panel: “The Future of Reconciliation”. With his grandmother
and great-grandfather having been through residential schools, there is an understanding of the
intergenerational effects that the residential school legacy has left on current
generations. Working towards healing from this legacy is one of his main focuses.

Mike DeGagné: “Speaking My Truth” book launch/talk
Join author Garnet Angeconeb and editors Shelagh Rogers and Mike DeGagné for a book
launch/talk and Q&A. Copies of Speaking My Truth: Reflections on Reconciliation and Residential
School will be available for free onsite and online at http://www.speakingmytruth.ca.
Mike DeGagné is the Executive Director of the Aboriginal Healing Foundation, a national
Aboriginal organization dedicated to addressing the legacy of Canada’s Indian Residential School
System. He has worked in the field of addiction and mental health for the past 25 years, first as a
community worker on-reserve in northern Ontario and later with the Addiction Research
Foundation (ARF), the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse (CCSA), and the National Native
Alcohol and Drug Abuse Program (NNADAP).
Mike lectures nationally and internationally on issues of Aboriginal health, Residential Schools,
reconciliation, and governance. He serves on a number of Boards including Champlain Local
Health Integration Network (LHIN), is currently the Chairman of the Child Welfare League of
Canada, and past Chairman of Ottawa’s Queensway Carleton Hospital. His PhD focuses on
Aboriginal post-secondary education.

Brenda Gallander: “Racism in Indian Residential Schools: A Collection of Poetry”
Over her 35 year teaching career, Brenda Gallander has taught in a variety of settings including
grades five and six at Red Earth First Nation in Saskatchewan. For the Algoma District School
Board, Brenda has mainly taught grades four to six and most recently grade six at H.M. Robbins
Public School. Brenda was the 2000 recipient of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario
Anti-Bias Curriculum Development Award. She has been chair of the Algoma District Elementary
Teachers’ Federation Social Justice and Equity Committee for the past eight years.
Brenda teaches her students about the injustices of the residential school system through
literature and visits to the Shingwauk Residential Schools Centre, which includes listening to
survivors of that and other residential schools. The students are then given the opportunity to
express their thoughts and feelings about the cultural genocide caused by the residential school
system by writing poetry.
The mural of the Shingwauk Residential School displays the poetry written by her grade six class
in 2011. Brenda read to her students the book “Fatty Legs: A True Story” by Christy Jordan-
Fenton and Margaret Pokiak-Fenton about Margaret’s experiences in a Catholic residential
school in Aklavik. The students discussed the book, generated questions, toured the Shingwauk
Residential School site and visited the Shingwauk Centre where interacted with two former
students of the school. The students’ grasp of the atrocities which took place at residential
schools and their emotional responses are reflected in the heartfelt poetry they wrote.
The mural of poetry is housed in the Shingwauk Centre at Algoma University. It serves as a
model for future classes of a way to express students’ horror at the injustices they learn about
and their empathy for the students who attended the residential schools.

Dawnis Kennedy: “Reconciliation in Education through the Shingwauk Covenant”
In 2006, Shingwauk Education Trust (SET) and Algoma University College (AUC) signed the
Shingwauk Covenant. As covenant partners, AUC and SET committed themselves to Chief
Shingwaukoonse’s vision of building a ‘Teaching Wigwam’ bringing together “the best of the
heritage of the Indigenous and European peoples [to] cooperatively provide a better future
through education.” In 2007, SET created Shingwauk Kinoomaage Gamig (SKG) with a mandate
to preserve the “integrity of Anishinabe knowledge and understanding in co-operation with the
European world view to education present and future generations”. In 2008, AUC became a
University with a special mission to “cultivate cross-cultural understanding between Aboriginal
communities and other communities”. This presentation will consider the Shingwauk covenant
as a key feature in the movement towards education in Canada and the World.
Minnawaunagogeezhegoquay is an Ojibwe Marten Clan woman from Roseau River Anishinabe
First Nation and a first degree Midewiwin of the Three Fires Lodge. Also known as Dawnis
Kennedy, she is an assistant professor at Algoma University in the Law and Politics Department,
an Anishinabe law professor at Shingwauk Kinoomaage Gamig, former Trudeau Scholar and SJD
Candidate at the Faculty of Law, University of Toronto. Her dissertation, Anishinabe
Onakonigewin: Relating to and through Anishinabe Law, asks how we might strengthen our
selves by learning to work with the laws given to Anishinabe. Minnawaunagogeezhegoquay is
also an avid beadworker and learner.

Richard Kistabish: “Where Are the Children? Healing the Legacy of the Residential Schools” exhibit
talk
New interactive audio and visual interpretive elements will be unveiled at the Shingwauk 2012
gathering & Conference, Saturday, August 4.
Developed in 2001, the goals of Where are the Children? Healing the Legacy of the Residential
Schools are to: acknowledge the experiences of, and the impacts and consequences of Canada’s
Residential School System on Aboriginal peoples; to create a public and historical record of this
period in Canadian history that could be easily accessed by Canadians; and to promote public
awareness, understanding and education of the history and legacy of residential schools.
Through documentation, acknowledgment and education, the goal of the exhibition is also to
assist in promoting understanding and reconciliation in Canada about residential schools.
The exhibition consists of 118 framed archival photographs, text panels, maps, original
classroom textbooks and historical government papers selected from nine public and church
archives, and depicts the history and legacy of Canada’s Residential School System. Where are
the Children? spans over 125 years and contains photographs and documents from the 1880s to
present day.
The exhibition depicts the life of Aboriginal peoples before, during and after residential
schools. Photographs, text panels and artifacts move visitors through the experience of
residential school, from leaving home and arriving at residential school, to school activities and
being part of a classroom. A section on the children who never returned home as well as on
contemporary role models provides visitors with the range of experiences of attending
residential school.
Visitors come to understand the history of residential schools and the lasting impact that
residential schools have had on generations of Aboriginal peoples, and on First Nations, Inuit
and Métis cultures, languages and communities. The exhibition also helps to inform visitors of
the impact that residential schools have had on shaping relations between Aboriginal and non-
Aboriginal Canadians, and on shaping the history of this country. Where are the Children? allows
Canadians to come to grips with this part of their history and to challenge their assumptions and
understandings about residential schools.
The LHF has witnessed first-hand how the education brought about by the exhibition has
assisted in the process of reconciliation. For the first time in their history, communities are
engaging in dialogue about how its residents have been affected by residential school. This
dialogue touches upon such issues as how to reconcile with the past, how to work to address
some of the impacts of residential school and how to build and improve relationships within the
community. These discussions, which are taking place between generations of Aboriginal
peoples, as well as between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal peoples, have been facilitated by
Where are the Children? Healing the Legacy of the Residential Schools.
The Where Are the Children? exhibition does not attempt to tell the whole story about
residential schools; rather, it introduces people to a part of Canadian history by encouraging
children to ask, and parents to answer, important questions about their family histories which
will contribute to healing for Aboriginal communities.

Richard Kistabish is an Algonquin from the Abitibiwinni first nation, Quebec, who speaks
English, French and Algonquin fluently. He is the former president of Social Services Minokin and
has been involved in the field of health and social services at the regional and provincial levels
for many years. He served as administrator and manager of the health committee, Kitcisakik, as
Chief of Abitibiwinni First Nation, and as Grand Chief of the Algonquin Council of Quebec for 2
terms. His publications include Mental Health and Aboriginal People of Quebec, the Green Book
Position Paper of the Algonquin Nation on Environmental Issues, and the National Inquiry into
First Nation Child Care.

Andrea Landry: Youth Panel: "The Future of Reconciliation"
Themes to discuss: The resurgence of indigenous youth and their connections to the their
culture, their ability to hold the teachings close to their hearts and minds even after years of this
nation's government’s attempts to assimilate and destroy our people through the residential
school/60's scoop. Also the importance of advocating for youth and ensuring our voice is
represented at all tables; we are walking hand in hand with the elder's in our communities
attempting to decolonize our country
Andrea Landry has a diploma in Social Work, a degree in Child and Youth Care and is currently
on her way to attain her Masters in Communications and Social Justice at the University of
Windsor. She has been involved, and engaged with, advocacy roles within the indigenous
community on a local, provincial, national and international level. Her work ethic enables her to
exceed past her fullest potential and strive forward to personally, and politically engage for
brighter futures for aboriginal youth in Canada. Andrea is currently the Youth Executive for the
National Association of Friendship Centres and also works as a Youth Worker at a youth centre
and an emergency youth shelter. Andrea has been involved with other National organizations
such as Elections Canada, Apathy Is Boring, Kids Help Phone, and others. She has also been
involved with the United Nations through their International Day of Peace ceremonies and the
UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. Through this work, Andrea represents Aboriginal
youth living in Canada and brings their issues to the forefront for further advancement. She has
also been involved with political engagement strategies which enable her to meet with MLA’s,
MP’s and the Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, to discuss the best ways to create better lives for
aboriginal people living in Canada. By putting the issues on the table in front of world, and
political leaders, addressing the problems becomes less difficult, and information sharing
processes, along with education processes, become highly effective. Andrea hopes to
accomplish a lot more in her life surrounding advocacy, social justice, and the role of providing
advancement for the Aboriginal community in Canada.

Rene Andre Meshake: High-Tech Elders: Integrating Ojibwe Language, Culture & Tradition With New
Media
Rene Andre Meshake is an Ojibwe visual and performing artist, author, storyteller, and new
media artist living in Guelph, Ontario. By seamlessly fusing Ojibwe and English words into his
stories, poetry and spoken word performances, Rene communicates his Ojibwe spiritual
heritage to the contemporary world. He was born in the railway town of Nakina in Northwestern
Ontario and was raised by his Okomissan grandmother. His education includes: Anishinaabe oral
tradition, language, arts and culture and A diploma in Graphic Design from Sheridan College and
a certificate in Creative Writing from the Humber School for Writers. Rene’s body of artwork and
his personal life experiences create a strong, expressive, and entertaining presentation for an
ever-increasing audience.

Aideen Nabigon: Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement Update
Aideen Nabigon is Director General, Settlement Agreement Policy and Partnerships, Aboriginal
Affairs and Northern Development Canada. She is a graduate of Algoma University.

Pat Ningewance: "Creating our Own Materials to Teach our Languages"
Native Language Camps are happening every summer. More people want to learn their
language. Let's make our materials to use at these grassroots language camps: games, pictures,
videos, audio materials and story books.
Patricia Margaret Ningewance is a former student of Shingwauk School and has worked in
native language teaching, and native language materials development since leaving Sault Ste
Marie. She is owner of Mazinaate Inc. and an artist. She is also a board member of the
Indigenous Language Institute.

Ted Quewezance: Family Model

Peter Rinaldi: Independent Assessment Process Update
Peter Rinaldi is Director, Client Services, Indian Residential School Adjudication Secretariat.

Shelagh Rogers: “Speaking My Truth” book launch/talk
Join author Garnet Angeconeb and editors Shelagh Rogers and Mike DeGagné for a book
launch/talk and Q&A. Copies of Speaking My Truth: Reflections on Reconciliation and Residential
School will be available for free onsite and online at http://www.speakingmytruth.ca.
Shelagh Rogers is a veteran broadcast-journalist. She has hosted flagship programs with CBC
Radio including This Morning and Sounds Like Canada. In 2000, she won the John Drainie Award,
Canada's highest broadcasting honour.
Shelagh loves being host of The Next Chapter on CBC Radio. The program is devoted to two of
her favourite kind of people: Canadian writers and songwriters. She works with her long-time
collaborator Jacqueline Kirk and Erin Noel, who comes to The Next Chapter from Go!. Tom
Howell, the poetry guy, helps out whenever he can while he writes a book.
Shelagh is the first ever Ambassador-at-Large for the Canadian Canoe Museum in Peterborough
because she believes we are all in the same boat. Shelagh is also a proud member of the Royal
Canadian Legion, Branch 45, Bonne Bay, NL where she hosts the annual Writers at Woody Point
Festival. She is also an honourary member of the League of Canadian Poets. And she is a
previous "Jack" Award winner for her decades-long promotion of Canadian literature.
Two years ago, she was named a Champion of Mental Health for a series she did about mental
illness and the impact on families and friends. That same year, she received a Transforming Lives
Award from CAM-H for speaking publicly about depression. In 2010, the Mood Disorders
Association of Ontario gave her their Hero Award and the CMHA of British Columbia gave her
their Mental Health Voices Award. She has also been honoured for her work in reconciliation
between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people in Canada.

Edmund Sackeny: Healing Blanket

Sylvia Smith: "Project of Heart" Workshop
As educators, we want our teaching practice to build confidence, self-esteem, and collective
well-being amongst our learners. And as parents, care-givers, and concerned members of our
communities, we anxiously hope for these outcomes. But too often such goals remain mere
buzz-phrases and educational jargon. This presentation will demonstrate how teachers can
make the high-sounding ideals come to life for our students, by teaching and modeling for social
justice.
Project of Heart will demonstrate how all aspects of the learner in both formal and informal
learning environments can be engaged through art and activism, to centre the lived experiential
knowledge of the “experts” -- the Indian Residential School survivors themselves. Participants
will learn how to engage the heart and spirit so our quest for reconciliation can become a
reality.
Sylvia Smith is a high school teacher in Ottawa, Ontario. Since 2007, Sylvia has been
coordinating an Indian Residential School Commemoration Project called Project of Heart, a
learning module she created with the help of her Grade 10 history students. She has presented
to community organizations, faith groups, labour organizations, elementary and secondary
schools, school boards and universities. In December 2011 Sylvia won the Governor General’s
Award for Excellence in Teaching History for Project of Heart.
About Project of Heart: Over 140 learning communities across Canada have taken part in Project
of Heart. It has now entered its second phase, under the umbrella of the National Day for
Healing and Reconciliation. Project of Heart was featured at the First National Event of the
Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 2010 in Winnipeg. Its first-ever “graduates”
participated in the TRC’s re-launch at Rideau Hall in 2009. It was also received national
attention with the CBC’s documentary “8th Fire” in 2012. It is an ardent supporter and ally of
Aboriginal organizations fighting for justice.

Dan & Mary Lou Smoke: TBA
Dan Smoke is a member of the Seneca Nation of the Iroquois Confederacy. Originally from the
Six Nations Reserve, Grand River Territory, Dan has been gifted with extensive traditional
knowledge and teachings. He is of the Kildeer Clan and is a lifetime member of the Onondaga
Longhouse. Dan is an Eagle Staff Carrier for the N’Amerind Friendship Centre and Community. In
addition to their vast traditional knowledge and cultural experience Dan, along with his partner
Mary Lou Smoke, are successful television and radio broadcasters.
Mary Lou Smoke is Ojibway from Blind Rover, Ontario. She shares the songs of the Sweat Lodge
with Native women based on the teachings gathered from visiting many l odges. She has been
honoured with requests to help with many ceremonies throughout the years. Along with her
partner, Dan Smoke, Mary Lou is a successful radio and television broadcaster.
“We have been Traditional Teachers/Elders and serve as cultural counsellors for Visiting Elders
programs at: University of Waterloo; University of Guelph Aboriginal Resource Center; the
University of Toronto First Nations House; Wilfrid Laurier University; University of Windsor,
Mohawk College; Centennial College; as well as at our own Western University. We are
regular young Elders-In-Training seeing the public at the Dodem Kanonhsa Clan Lodge in
Toronto Regional ANAC headquarters; KUMIK Elders Lodge in Gatineau ANAC
Heaquarters; Iskotew Lodge at Health Canada in Ottawa; the Elders Advisory Circle of the
Native Canadian Center of Toronto http://www.ncct.on.ca/taamkaadinakiijik.php known as the
Taam Kaadinakiijik Advisory Circle. We also work with many organizations and agencies,
including the Native Women's Association of Canada; National Aboriginal Family Circle Against
Violence, Families of Sisters In Spirit, Wabano Health Community Services in Ottawa as are the
other agencies above. In Toronto we help with the Aboriginal Legal Services of Toronto, the
University of Toronto Ontario Institute for Studies In Education, the Native Women's Resource
Center of Toronto, The Anduyhaun Native Women's Residence, Native Child and Family Service,
the Native Canadian Center of Toronto, Society of Friends, (Quakers). In London, Ontario we
are Elder helpers with At^lohsa Native Family Healing Services Agency, the N'Amerind
Friendship Center and are the founders of the Gathering of the Good Minds Indigenous Arts and
Wisdom festival. We teach up at Western University two courses: a Media course on the
Representation of Indigenous Issues in the Mainstream and Alternative Media; and an
Introdcution to Indigenous Spirituality. We are freelance consultants on media representation
and work at the CTV London television Studios, owned by Bell Globemedia. We are also
freelance journalists. In the Indigenous culture we are 'Storytellers of public/current affairs.’”

Cliff Standing Ready: "Children of the Creator" book talk

Cathy Syrette: Jingle Dress Talk & Presentation

Theodore Syrette: Youth Panel: "The Future of Reconciliation"
Theodore S. Syrette is from Rankin Reserve of Batchewana First Nation and currently lives in
Sault Ste. Marie. He is currently working at the Native Education Department as the Project
Coordinator Assistant for Sault College Applied Arts and Technology. His leadership experience
has gained him a seat on the Sault College Student Union board as the Native Student Council
President for the 2012-2013.
Theodore is a descendent of Margaret Syrette (Fox) of Wikwemikong Unceded First Nation who
attended Spanish Residential School for the majority of her childhood. In the summer of the
2011 Theodore worked for a performance troupe called New Traditions and collaborated on a
multi-media production entitled “New Choices Different Voices.” This artistic collaboration gave
multi-perspective look into the tragedies of Residential Schools. This was also a cross cultural
look at the aftermath it left behind for Aboriginal communities and the disconnection of families
who suffered the consequences after being affected by this Canadian genocide of Aboriginal
people.

Rosalee Tizya: Oral History presentation
Rosalee Tizya is Vuntat Gwich’in and was born and raised in the Yukon Territory till the age of
17. She took two (2) years at the University of British Columbia after graduation in Whitehorse,
Yukon. She attended Chooutla Residential School till the age of 13. She left the University of
British Columbia where she was training as a teacher to help her people in the Mackenzie Delta
stop the building of the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline through the Porcupine Caribou herd’s
migration route. Through those years of hard work, her elders taught her many disciplines and
showed her how to take in the beauty of the Gwich’in People’s territory. Her parents are Peter
and Clara Tizya of Old Crow, Yukon. She lives in Vancouver where she has made her home and
raised her son Christian who is now happily married.
During her career, Rosalee worked for two major Indian organizations in the Northwest
Territories – COPE, the Committee for Original People’s Entitlement, and, the Dene Nation. She
worked briefly at the National Indian Brotherhood in Ottawa as the Education Director in the
early 1970’s but returned to Vancouver British Columbia to work for the Union of B.C. Indian
Chiefs and subsequently for the United Native Nations. She has been a passionate advocate of
Indigenous rights for 40 years and has earned the respect of Indian, Metis and Inuvialuit
communities where she has worked tirelessly during her 40 year career. Rosalee apprenticed
with a professional therapist from the age of 18 years old and applied these techniques and
teachings to help Indigenous people meet their needs.
Rosalee continues her grueling pace working in small Indian communities throughout Canada
assisting community people to address the internalized/externalized pain that leads to suicides
and homicides. She recently completed projects in Ontario with First Nations from James Bay to
the U.S./Canada border, in addition to First Nations in Manitoba and British Columbia.
In her public life, she is well-known for her “Oral History of Indian North America” which
continues to be in demand throughout Canada, the United States, Australia and New Zealand.
Single parenthood did not prevent her from continuing to work at her blistering pace and in
1992 relocated to Ottawa for three (3) years where she was invited to work for the Royal
Commission on Aboriginal People’s as the Urban Research Coordinator. Following her work at
the Royal Commission, Rosalee returned to Vancouver and began her business “Little Scout
Research & Consulting” in July 1995. Rosalee committed her life to help community people
alleviate the suffering and abusive conditions existing on reserves that is associated with
violence and poverty throughout Canada. She works tirelessly to link the off-reserve and onreserve
with their original stories and cultural belief systems.
Rosalee served diligently up to 2002 for three (3) years on the Board of the Legal Services
Society for B.C., the Institute of Indigenous Government, and for the past 20 years on the Centre
for World Indigenous Studies based in Olympia, Washington holding the Chief George Manuel
Chair. Many people are responsible for the work and commitment of Ms Tizya in their support
of her work sharing with her their knowledge, skill and abilities. They have contributed to her
understanding of the roots of racism as she bridges cultural gaps and strengthens the self-worth
of every human being she meets.
Rosalee believes she has many more years of work which she carries out with humor, respect
and love for people. She looks forward to the future with optimism based on the incredible
changes she has witnessed in the lives of people.

Marie Wilson: Commemoration Ceremony Keynote Address
Marie Wilson is a fluently bilingual, university educated professional who has lived and worked
in cross-cultural environments for almost forty years, both internationally, and in several parts
of Canada, including the North. Throughout that time, Ms Wilson has dealt effectively with
Aboriginal, church and political organizations at the operational, executive and political levels.
For 25 years she worked for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in radio and television as
regional and national reporter, television program host, and Regional Director for northern
Quebec and the northern Territories. As an independent contractor, Ms Wilson has developed
and led complex, national profile, community development initiatives. Before becoming a
Commissioner, she served as a senior manager (Vice President of Operations) in a public crown
corporation, the Workers’ Safety and Compensation Commission of the Northwest Territories
and Nunavut.
Ms Wilson holds a Bachelor’s degree with Honours in French Language and Literature and a
Master’s degree in Journalism from the University of Western Ontario.
She is a recipient of the 1999 “Northerner of the Year” award from the prominent
northern/national newsmagazine “Up Here”, and a “Lifetime Achievement” CBC North award
from a jury of CBC staff and colleagues in 1999, in addition to various awards for documentary
and writing excellence.
With a broad and deep understanding of the issues that will face The Truth and Reconciliation
Commission of Canada, Ms Wilson brings a wealth of specific skills and relevant experience that
will serve the Commission in its important work.
She is married to Stephen Kakfwi, and is the proud mother of three children: Kyla, Daylyn and
Keenan.