Phil Fontaine

Larry Phillip ( Phil ) Fontaine, OM OC ( born September 20, 1944 at Fort Alexander Reserve, Manitoba ) is an Indian tribal leader in Canada. From 1997 to 2000 and from 2003 to 2009 he was Chairman ( National Chief ) of the Assembly of First Nations in Canada.

Life

Fontaine in 1944 as a member of Anicinabe Sagkeeng Nation in Fort Alexander Reserve, 150 km north of Winnipeg, was born. His first language is Ojibway. Until 1961 he attended the Assiniboia Residential School and the Powerview Collegiate in Winnipeg. He later studied political science at the University of Manitoba where he graduated in 1981 with a Bachelor of Arts.

1973 Fontaine was elected for four years to the tribal leader of the Sagkeeng Anicinabe nation. He then moved with his family to the Yukon Territory, where he accepted a post as Regional Director of the Canadian Government General. After his return to Manitoba and completion of university studies, he worked as a government employee for the Southeast Tribal Council. He was then elected Deputy tribal leaders from Manitoba to represent this province in the Assembly of First Nations. 1989 saw the election of the supreme chieftain of Manitoba, 1991 and 1994, he was confirmed in office.

The First Nations Assembly elected to the National Chief Fontaine 1997, the supreme representative of the First Nations in Canada. In 2000 he took part in a government office as Chief Commissioner of the Indian Claims Commission. 2003 and 2006 he was elected for one further term as National Chief. In July 2009, Shawn Atleo Fontaine went to successor, had renounced another candidacy.

Services

Fontaine has devoted most of his life, the rights of First Nations in Canada. Within the political currents in the First Nations he took a balancing position. In 2000 he had his office as National Chief Matthew Coon dispose to the more radical Come, who reproached him for being too close to the Liberal Party of Canada. In 2003 he was, however, re-elected to office.

Fontaine was the first to bring the abuse of children in the Church's Indian boarding schools ( residential schools ) to the public, and he could reach 2005 that the Canadian government consented to a compensation payment of two billion dollars.

Also in 2005, Prime Minister Paul Martin promised in the Convention of Kelowna payment of five billion dollars over a period of five years, to improve the precarious living conditions of many First Nations. This Agreement has been drawn up by the Conservative government of Stephen Harper on ice. After his re-election as National Chief Fontaine said in July 2006 that it was his priority to bring the agreement back on the agenda. In June 2008 he received the official apology by the Prime Minister for the states at the residential schools.

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