For decades, Georges Erasmus led the fight for Indigenous rights. From the Berger Inquiry to the Canadian constitutional talks to the Oka Crisis, Georges was a significant figure in Canada’s political landscape. In the 1990s, he led the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples and afterward was chair and president of the Aboriginal Healing Foundation, around the time that Canada’s residential school system became an ongoing frontpage story.
Georges’s five-decade battle for Indigenous rights took him around the world and saw him sitting across the table from prime ministers and premiers. In the 1980s, when Georges was the National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, he was referred to as the “Thirteenth Premier.” This book tells the personal story of his life as a leading Indigenous figure, taking the reader inside some of Canada’s biggest crises and challenges.
Authors
- Pages
- 312
- Published in
- Toronto, CA
Table of Contents
- Cover 1
- Title 5
- Copyright 6
- Dedication 7
- Contents 9
- Foreword 11
- Introduction 15
- 1 Young Georges 21
- 2 The Indian Brotherhood 59
- 3 The Assembly of First Nations 117
- 4 The Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples 179
- 5 The Aboriginal Healing Foundation 219
- 6 The Dehcho First Nations 261
- 7 Conclusion 287
- Postscript 299
- Acknowledgements 301
- Notes 303
- Image Credits 307
- Index 309
- About the Authors 317
- Back Cover 320
