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CCCA_V7No3_Profiles-FIN_CCCA 13-09-23 3:02 PM Page 15 Profile W hen Tom Bressette was used to assimilate aboriginal people — can development (including a proposed golf- elected chief of the be reshaped for more constructive ends. course complex) and risk management, Chippewas of Kettle and such as training for staff and elected offi- “If we are going to have a meaningful Stony Point last year, his and look at us through our lens and not top priority was to reduce the number of relationship you need to understand us cials to limit financial liability. But his first assignment was to end the court disputes involving native children. through the lens developed by assimila- band’s long absence as a participant, as is For help, he turned to retired Ontario tionist policies and colonialism,” declares its right, in court cases under the Child Provincial Police superintendent Ron George, the third of 11 siblings and son of and Family Services Act and to address George, a lawyer steeped in native child a residential school survivor. frayed relations with the Sarnia-Lambton welfare law, experienced in conflict resolu- He is currently completing his PhD at Children’s Aid Society. tion and an advocate on aboriginal rights. University of Ottawa law school, with a “We had had a 30-40-year fight with The two worked together in the early focus on indigenous knowledge and legal the CAS and I said it is going to change,” 1990s, the last time Bressette was chief traditions in promoting First Nation healing. says George. “We are going to be concil- and George was legal counsel for the In July, 2013, he began a three-year iatory, [but] we are going to be focused band. A motorcycle-riding 61-year-old stint as Ron Ianni Scholar-in Residence and determined,” he said of overtures to known as “Spike,” George was born, at the University of Windsor law school, agency officials. “We have a strong resolve raised and still lives on the 3,000-member where he has lectured on aboriginal legal but we want you to partner with us.” Ojibwe reserve that hugs the Lake Huron issues for the past 11 years. As scholar-in- The CAS, with a new executive direc- shore north of Sarnia, Ont. residence, he has been asked to raise the tor and a fresh commitment to outreach “I knew I had to get a lawyer with profile of aboriginal issues at a law school that includes First Nation representation some skill sets to handle the challenge of known for social justice advocacy, and to on the board of directors, had equally fer- dealing with the children’s aid society and assist with its evolving strategy to collab- vent ambitions. all the other problems we have,” says orate with local First Nation communi- “The history has been horrific between Bressette. “I told him ‘you need to come ties on legal issues of mutual interest. children’s aid societies and indigenous and work for us and use what you In June 2012, lured out of a brief retire- communities in our country,” declares learned out there.’” ment by the chief, George agreed to serve Dawn Flegel, executive director of Having spent his career navigating as legal counsel for Kettle and Stony Point Sarnia-Lambton CAS, citing over-repre- native and non-native institutions, until 2015, with added responsibility to sentation of aboriginal children in care. George believes that law and represent it in child custody hearings. He With an opening from the band, she says, education — institutions once also provides legal advice on economic “there was an opportunity and we AUTOMNE 2013 CCCA Canadian Corporate Counsel Association 15