Thank you for joining us on Wednesday, October 18th, 2023 from 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm (PST), for “We’re Still Dancing Around the Table: Reconstituting our Sensibilities about Truth, Reconciliation and Redress.” In this Indigenous Speaker Series session, we had conversation with Chief Bill Wilson – Hemas KlaLeeLeeKla, Founding Signatory of the BC Treaty Commission and Founding Chairman of the BC First Nations Congress (First Nations Summit). He brought both truth and truthfulness about past and present contexts of our collective struggle to negotiate Indigenous peoples’ legitimate and proper place in British Columbia and Canada. He remains a pillar of determination for Indigenous peoples, and continues to inspire the very political processes that he helped to create and influence. Seemingly, we’re still dancing around the table to really get at coming to terms with the things we’ve labelled as truth, reconciliation and redress. Hemas KlaLeeLeeKla shared what he believes to be necessary in efforts to reconstruct, to reorganize, to shift, to transform, and to fundamentally arrive at a sensibility that places Indigenous people at the heart of this great country and its constitution.
Join us virtually on Wednesday, October 18th, 2023 from 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm (PST), for “We’re Still Dancing Around the Table: Reconstituting our Sensibilities about Truth, Reconciliation and Redress.” This virtual event is presented by the Indigenous Speakers Series.
Speaker
Chief Bill Wilson – Hemas KlaLeeLeeKla
Founding Signatory, BC Treaty Commission
Founding Chairman, BC First Nations Congress (First Nations Summit)
Senior First Nations Representative – First Ministers Conference (1983)
Founding President, United Native Nations
Director, Union of BC Indian Chiefs (1970-73)
Vice-President, Native Council of Canada (1982-83)
BORN
- April 6th, 1944, Comox, BC
EDUCATION
- Elementary School – Comox, B.C.
- High School – Courtenay Senior Secondary
- University
- Bachelor of Arts, University of Victoria, 1970
Political Science and English Majors
- Bachelor of Laws, The University of British Columbia, 1973
ANCESTRY
- Youngest son of Charles William Wilson and Ethel Christine (nee Johnson)
- Father was a member of the Cape Mudge Indian Band
- Mother was born in Hopetown Village and raised at Kingcome Village and on Gilford Island
- I am a Musgamagw Indian, and a member of the Hamatsa Society as initiated and recognized by our still thriving Potlatch system
WORK
- 2002 – Present
Treaty Negotiator, Private Consultant and Trainer in land claims, self-esteem building, public speaking, and negotiating skills. An accomplished and published author - 2000 – 2002
First Nations Summit, Task Group Member - 1997 – 2000
Special Political Advisor on BC Indian Issues to AFN National Chief Phil Fontaine - 1991 – 1992
Political Secretary, Assembly of First Nations - 1990 – 1991
Vice-Chief, Assembly of First Nations - 1990 – 1991
Chairman, First Nations Congress (First Nations Summit), Provided leadership to bring the Federal Government and the Provincial Government to the table to create a British Columbia Claims Task Force which led directly to the creation of the British Columbia Treaty Commission and the present tripartite negotiations that are now in progress - Negotiated successfully with Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and Premier Bill VanderZalm
- 1986
Co-founder, Eagle Airlines LTD (1986), a wholly owned Native Indian airline company - 1984 – 1990
Coordinator, Musgamagw Tribal Council- Member, District Advisory Board, Canada Employment and Immigration Commission
- Member, B.C. Native Economic Advisory Committee, Canada Employment and Immigration Commission
- March 15th & 16th, 1983, Ottawa, ON
Negotiator at the First Constitutional Conference on Aboriginal Issues – HELPED TO DRAFT AND SUCCESSFULLY NEGOTIATE THE FIRST AND ONLY AMENDMENT TO CANADA’S CONSTITUTION.
- 1982 – 1984
Vice-President, Native Council of Canada, Ottawa, ON- Member, Special Committee on Indian Self-Government – This committee produced what became known as the “Penner Report” which among other things recommended the elimination of Indian Affairs and true self-government for Native Indian people at the community level.
- 1981 – 1983
School Trustee, School District & 71, Courtenay - 1981 – 1982
Vice President, United Native Nations - 1981
Organizer, BC Tribal Forum - 1978 – 1980
Co-founder, Aboriginal Council of BC - 1976 – 1981
Founding President, United Native Nations - 1975 – 1977
Member of Board of Governors, Canadian Council on Social Development - 1975 – 1976
Executive Committee Member, Union of BC Indian Chiefs - 1973 – 1975
Chiefs’ Council Member, Union of BC Indian Chiefs - 1973
Aboriginal Title and Land Claims Director, BC Association of Non-Status Indians - 1972 – 1973
President, UBC Law Students Association- Member, Provincial Council of the Canadian Bar Association
- 1972 – 1982
Board of Director/Member and Vice President, Native Courtworkers and Counselling Association of BC - 1971
Director, Native Indians and the Law Program – This program was sponsored by the Union of BC Indian Chiefs and led directly to the formation of the Native Courtworkers and Counselling Association of BC - 1970 – 1971
Executive Council Member, National Indian Brotherhood - 1970
Executive Director, Union of BC Indian Chiefs - 1969 – 1970
President, University of Victoria Native Student Union- President, National Native Students Union
- 1966
President, UBC Native Students Association - 1963 – 1968
Organizer, BC Native Youth Association - 1958
Member, Native Brotherhood of British Columbia
Moderator
Derek K Thompson – Thlaapkiituup, Director, Indigenous Engagement
Description
Written by Derek K Thompson – Thlaapkiituup, Director, Indigenous Engagement
They were individually and collectively smug, ignorant, antagonistic, indifferent, classist, chauvinistic, paternalistic, and blatantly racist. The people, the men, that I am referring to are your Prime Ministers and Premiers from the 1980s Federal and Provincial Conference of First Ministers on Aboriginal Constitutional Matters. They were, well, you know who they are because that’s what was taught in Canada’s school systems, and if you don’t know, google them, or even better, you can watch them in action in the two-part documentary called Dancing Around the Table.
Who you likely don’t know are our First Nations, Inuit and Métis leaders who showed up to rightfully and successfully negotiate an amendment to Canada’s Constitution to include Section 35 within the Constitution Act (1982), which subsequently enshrined Indigenous – First Nations, Inuit, Métis – rights and title. They were Chief Bill Wilson, Ethel Pearson (mother to Bill Wilson), Georges Erasmus, Simon Lucas, George Watts, Joe Mathias, James Gosnell, Jim Sinclair, Brion Whitford, Harry Daniels, Mary Simon, John Amagoalik, Zebedee Nungak, Gary Potts, William Commanda, and Yvon Dumont, among many other great Indigenous leaders past and present.
For this important conversation, Chief Bill Wilson will bring both truth and truthfulness about past and present contexts of our collective struggle to negotiate our legitimate and proper place in British Columbia and Canada. He remains a pillar of determination for Indigenous peoples, and continues to inspire the very political processes that he helped to create and influence. Seemingly, we’re still dancing around the table to really get at coming to terms with the things we’ve labelled as truth, reconciliation and redress. Hemas KlaLeeLeeKla will tell us what he believes to be necessary in our efforts to reconstruct, to reorganize, to shift, to transform, and to fundamentally arrive at a sensibility that places Indigenous people at the heart of this great country and its constitution.
We are absolutely honored and grateful to be hosting and welcoming Chief Bill Wilson – Hemas KlaLeeLeeKla. All of us, and I do mean all of us, owe a debt of gratitude for the great good leadership of Chief Bill Wilson – ƛ´eko ƛ´eko | Gila’kasla | Nakurmiik | Marrsî | Thank you.
Topic: We’re Still Dancing Around the Table: Reconstituting our Sensibilities About Truth, Reconciliation and Redress
Date: Wednesday, October 18th, 2023
Time: 12:00 – 1:30 pm (PST)
What Will I Learn?
You will learn about the unique experiences and perspectives of First Nations leadership in the context of truth, reconciliation and redress.
Continue Learning
“The time to make things happen is now. The time to seek out our individual and shared power is now.”
Learn more about REDI’s Indigenous Initiatives here
Discover more about REDI’s Indigenous Initiatives Speakers Series here
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