NATIVE LEADERS OF CANADA


George Manuel, Neskonlith, 1921-1989
Throughout his life he worked for his community, for the aboriginal people of the nation, and for the indigenous people of the world. From 1975 to 1981 he was the founding president of the World Council of Indigenous Peoples. He realized that the aboriginal people of BC had much in common with other indigenous nations-elements of worldview, spirituality, relations with the colonizers and the fight to maintain rights in the face of adversity. Manuel was instrumental in bringing about the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. While President of the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs (1979-1981), he developed the Aboriginal Rights Position Paper and organized what came to be regarded as one of the Union’s most ambitious projects – the Indian Constitutional Express. A longer biography appears in Native Leaders of Canada.


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