Walter Gordon Symposium — Restoring Respectful Relationships: Designing a Royal Proclamation of Reconciliation

Registration is now open for the 2016 Walter Gordon Symposium on Public Policy, which this year will be held at Massey College, the SPPG and Hart House on March 22 and 23.

The Symposium, a joint venture of Massey College and the Munk School of Public Policy and Governance, engages with the central issue of our joint occupancy of this land: how do we move beyond words and promises to a new community bound by honour, dignity and understanding.

This year the symposium is organized in partnership with U of T’s Hart House and First Nations House and the collaboration of the Aboriginal Law Students Association and the Native Students Association.

The Symposium will explore reconciliation between Canada and Indigenous peoples in the aftermath of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). More specifically, the symposium will examine Recommendation 45 of the Calls to Action: a royal proclamation that would mark a new beginning for Canada and First Nations.

Inaugurated in 1990 in honour of the distinguished Canadian statesman and public servant, the late Hon. Walter Gordon, the annual Walter Gordon Symposium is made possible by generously granted seed monies from the Walter and Duncan Gordon Charitable Foundation and the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto.

On the organizing committee of this year's symposium were Junior Fellows Sophie Borwein, Misha Boutilier, Marisa Franz, Alexa Greig, Maripier Isabelle, and Iona Sendroiu; SPPG students Benjamin Hanff, Danton Suck, and Mohamad Yaghi; Autumn Johnson from the Aboriginal Law Students' Association at U of T; and Audrey Rochette from the Native Students' Association at U of T.

Agenda

Day 1 – Opening Remarks

• R. Stacey LaForme – Chief of the Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nation
• Linda White – Interim Director of the School of Public Policy and Governance
• Hugh Segal – Master of Massey College
• Isadore Day – Ontario Regional Chief

Day 1 – Panel 1 – The Doctrine of Discovery as an Impediment to Reconciliation

• Moderated by Lee Maracle – Massey College Senior Fellow
• Victoria Freeman – author of Distant Relations: How My Ancestors Colonized North America and a member of First Story Toronto, which is based at the Native Canadian Centre
• Adrian Jacobs – a member of the Cayuga First Nation of the Six Nations Reserve in Ontario, who currently works at the University of Alberta to promote Aboriginal health

Day 1 – Panel 2 – Nation-to-Nation: Reconciling Aboriginal and Crown Legal Orders

• Moderated by Callandra Cochrane – a Métis student in her third year at the U of T Faculty of Law and an Executive Member of the Aboriginal Law Students' Association at U of T
• Mary Eberts – litigation counsel to the Native Women's Association
• Deborah McGregor – a Professor at the Osgoode Law School, whose research focuses on Indigenous knowledge systems and their applications in diverse contexts, such as water and environmental governance
• Douglas Sanderson – a member of the Opaskwayak Cree Nation and an Associate Professor at the U of T Faculty of Law, whose research areas include Aboriginal and legal theory
• Paul Williams – who serves as counsel to Indigenous nations on issues such as hunting and fishing rights

Day One – Lunch Roundtable – Educational Institutions Response to the Truth and Reconciliation Report

• Moderated by Audrey Rochette – a member of the Whitesand First Nation and the Crane and Governance Leader of the Native Students' Association at U of T
• Jean Becker – a member of the Nunatsiavut territory of Labrador, and Senior Advisor, Aboriginal Initiatives at Wilfrid Laurier University
• Martin Cannon – a member of the Six Nations at Grand River Territory, whose work includes published histories of settler colonialism and sexism and racialization
• Renée McGurry – Regional Coordinator for Indspire, a non-profit organization committed to closing the gap in Indigenous education
• Monica McKay – a member of the Nisga'a Nation and Director of Aboriginal Initiatives at Ryerson University

Day 1 – Sharing Circle – Experiences from Residential Schools

• Christine Gigig – residential-school survivor
• Celine Valencia – residential-school survivor

Day 1 – Keynote Address – Designing a Royal Proclamation of Reconciliation

• Moderated by Kim Stanton – Massey Senior Fellow
• John Kim Bell – the first Indigenous symphonic conductor and founder of the National Aboriginal Achievement Awards
• Bob Rae – former Premier of Ontario and Interim Leader of the Federal Liberal Party, and a legal advisor to Indigenous peoples across the country

Day 2 – Panel 1 – Land and Treaty Relationships

• Moderated by Clara MacCallum Fraser – co-Executive Director of Shared Oath Consultation Circle who is currently working on a Ph.D. at York University on urban planning and Aboriginal and treaty rights
• Heather Dorries – Professor in the Indigenous Policy and Administration Program at Carleton University
• Dean Jacobs – Consultation Manager for the Walpole First Nation
• Hayden King – Anishinaabe and Director of the Centre for Indigenous Governance at Ryerson University

Day 2 – Panel 2 – Implementation of the UNDRIP as a Framework for Reconciliation

• Moderated by Terry Mitchell – an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at Wilfrid Laurier University, where she is also Director of the Launer Indigenous Health and Social Justice Research Group
• Brenda Gunn – a Métis and Associate Professor of Law at the University of Manitoba
• Pamela Palmater – a member of the Eel River Bar First Nation in New Brunswick and an Associate Professor and the Chair of Indigenous Governance at Ryerson University
• Harry Swain – an Associate Professor at the Centre for Global Studies at the University of Victoria

Day 2 – Lunch Roundtable

• Moderated by Pamela Klassen – Professor in the Department for the Study of Religion at U of T, whose special interests are the politics and material practices of storytelling in exchanges between indigenous peoples and Christian missionaries in early 20th-century Canada
• Frank Iacobucci – former Dean of the Faculty of Law at U of T and Chief Justice of the Federal Court, and a leading authority on negotiating with First Nations
• Mark MacDonald – the first national Indigenous Anglican Bishop in Canada and a student of Indigenous Theology
• Susan Neylan – an Associate Professor in the Department of History at Wilfrid Laurier University, whose main research interest examines relations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities, particularly in the context of 19th and 20th century missions

Day 2 – Dinner / Community Feast

• MC for this final event, Trina Moynan – a member of the Nehiyawak (Plains Cree) from Northern Alberta and a writer and documentary film producer
• Reflections by Eileen Antone – a member of the Oneida of the Thames First Nation, whose work at the Transitional Year Program at U of T focused on the achievement of Aboriginal students
• Performance by Rosary Spence – a singer and songwriter from the coastal Cree community of Fort Albany First Nation off the coast of James Bay.

Registration

Registration for all panels and symposium is free, and tickets for the closing dinner are sold at the price of $15 for students and $30 for general admission.

Register here

Photo Gallery

See photos here