Our keynote speakers include national Indigenous leaders, legal experts on the Daniels Decision and UNDRIP, and powerful community voices — including youth advocates — who will guide and inspire the Summit’s conversations.
Gary
Peter Gould
Lifelong Advocate, Author
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Gary Peter Gould is a member of the Wolastoqiyik Nation who has spent more than 50 years representing, serving and working on behalf of the Off-Reserve Indigenous People of New Brunswick and Canada.
He was elected to the Board of Directors of the New Brunswick Association of Non-Status-Indians in 1973 and was elected Vice-President in 1974. From 1976 until 1990 he served as President of the organization.
As President he oversaw the expansion of Skigin-Elnoog Housing Corporation, a province wide non-profit housing society that owns or manages more than 500 units of social housing ; delivers renovation and repair programs and homeownership programs to the Off-Reserve Indigenous Population of N.B. In 2007 under his stewardship Skigin-Elnoog Housing designed and launched the CMHC award winning Off-Reserve Homeownership Program (ORAH), which has enabled urban and rural Indigenous people living in N.B. to become first time homeowners.
In 1985 Mr. Gould founded Wabanaki Development Corporation an indigenous owned business that developed a carpentry training program and built real estate holdings in Fredericton and Saint Andrews N.B. Also Wabanaki built NBAPC’s Office Building at 320 Saint Mary’s St. Fredericton and NBAPC’s Summer Camp at Little Lake.
As a political representative from 1974-1990 Mr. Gould participated in the numerous processes that lead to the entrenchment of the Aboriginal Sections of the Constitution in 1982 and was a participant during the Aboriginal Constitutional Conferences that were held from 1982-1987. He served as Chief Negotiator for the Native Council of Canada during the 1992 Charlottetown Accord process and was a participant during Meech Lake.
Mr. Gould has presented and appeared before numerous Parliamentary Committees and has been published in the University of New Brunswick’s Law Journal and the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples. He is Co-Editor of “Our Land - the Maritimes”, a book on the historical and legal basis of Aboriginal Title in the Maritimes and he co-authored , “ Broken Promises“, a historical account of the Aboriginal Constitutional Conferences of 1983 and 1984.
From August of 1990 until retirement in December of 2016 he was General Manager of Skigin-Elnoog Housing Corporation and worked provincially and nationally to improve the housing conditions of the Off Reserve Indigenous People of Canada.
In May of 2012 he was elected Secretary-Treasurer of the New Brunswick Non-Profit Housing Association. During his tenure funding from the province of New Brunswick more than doubled enabling NBNPHA to hire fulltime staff.
Distinctions
In 2012 he was awarded the Queens Diamond Jubilee Metal .
He was invested into the Order of New Brunswick on November 4th. 2015.
In 2017 he received the Canadian Housing Renewal Association’s Annual Leadership Award.
On January 18th. 2018 Mr. Gould was appointed to the National Seniors Council of Canada for a three year term.
On February 14th 2023 he was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Metal.
He was married to the love of his life Rebecca (Walsh) for more than 52 years and has has one son Kurtis.
Elder
Mary Palmater
National Elder Representative
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Mary is the Chair of the CAP National Elders Council, which is comprised of Elder representatives from each of CAP's eleven provincial-territorial organizations (PTOs). As the National Elder Representative, Mary sits on the CAP board of directors as a full voting member regarding Indigenous issues of importance for urban and off-reserve Indigenous Peoples.
Mary is no stranger to CAP. Mary and her late husband, Frank Palmater, have been lifelong advocates for Non-Status and off-reserve Indigenous Peoples for over 50 years. Frank served as the President of New Brunswick Aboriginal Peoples Council (NBAPC) and National Vice-Chief at CAP. Mary is a founding member and former Board of Director of the NBAPC, and continuous member since 1973. She has also been actively involved with CAP since 1973.
Mary is a Status, off-reserve Maliseet woman whose ancestry is from Woodstock First Nation. She is currently retired and living in Fredericton. Mary previously worked in healthcare, hospitality, and Indigenous program and service delivery. She is the proud mother of one son, and grandmother of three grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. She is currently a board director at Under One Sky: Fredericton's Friendship Centre, Head Start Program, Skigin Elnoog Housing Corporation, Wabanaki Inc.; and former board director at Gignoo House.
Elder
Peggie Wentzell
Elder and keeper of Indigenous traditions
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Margaret Wentzell, known to most as Peggie, is an Elder with the Native Council of Nova Scotia, where she serves as Board Elder. She also sits on the boards of Mime’j Seafoods and the Joint Apprenticeship Training Committee (JATC) for Native Council.
Peggie lives on the banks of the LaHave River on Nova Scotia’s South Shore, where she regularly performs water ceremonies and offers prayers for the water, both individually and with her community. A dedicated drummer and singer, she is passionate about sharing traditional songs and culture as often as possible. For many years, Peggie has been invited into local schools, where she has had the privilege of bringing the Honour Song to children and teaching them to sing it. Today, when she visits and sings, the children join in — a moment that continues to warm her heart.
In her spare time, Peggie enjoys beading, sewing, and gardening. She considers it an honour to serve on the National Elder Council with the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples and looks forward to supporting its work in any way she can.
Brendan
Moore
National Chief
Congress Of Aboriginal Peoples
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National Chief Brendan Moore brings more than a decade of heartfelt dedication and advocacy for Indigenous Peoples, most recently serving as Chief of the New Brunswick Aboriginal Peoples Council. Of Mi’kmaq and Scottish heritage, he was born in Dalhousie on the north shore of New Brunswick and is a proud member of Elsipogtog First Nation. Having been raised in various off-reserve communities within the New Brunswick Aboriginal Peoples Council, his deep roots in both his culture and community fuel his passion for creating meaningful change.
Chief Moore is especially recognized for his unwavering commitment to off-reserve Indigenous rights. He takes great pride in his work with urban community members— particularly in his adopted home community of Fredericton, which holds a special place in his heart. His personal journey has been one of resilience, healing, and spiritual growth, while striving to “walk the Red Road” to become the leader he is today. A lifelong athlete, community builder, and world traveler, Chief Moore brings a spirit of openness, optimism, and vision to his new role.
As National Chief, he is focused on strengthening CAP’s presence across the country by building trusted relationships, promoting unity among Indigenous organizations, and ensuring the voices of urban, off-reserve, and non-status Indigenous Peoples are heard, respected, and empowered. With a leadership style rooted in collaboration and mutual respect, National Chief Moore is committed to ensuring CAP stands strong as a vital voice within the Indigenous, governmental, and advocacy landscapes.
Lorraine Augustine
Chief and President
Native Council of Nova Scotia
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Chief Augustine, a Mi’kmaq, has been an actively involved member of the Native Council of Nova Scotia since 1979. Chief Augustine, by her direct involvement in many aspects of the Council as a volunteer and by employment was elected as Chief and President of the Council in 1997 and held the office until 2002. She was elected again in 2017 and has continued to hold the office to date. Chief Augustine has extensive experience in local organization, capacity development and community economic development, advocacy and program initiation and implementation through her long service to the community.
Chief Augustine has held several positions in areas of economic development, barriers assessment, advocacy and partnership development to end the stereotype, social and economic prejudice, vulnerability, and disadvantage held against the large community of Mi’kmaq/Aboriginal Peoples who continue to reside on their traditional homelands throughout Nova Scotia.
Chief Augustine is a Board Member of the Native Council of Nova Scotia, the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples, the Maritime Aboriginal Peoples Council, the Micmac Benevolent Society, the National Parole Board and the Nova Scotia Mi’kmaq Legal Services Network. She has worked, and continues to work for the advancement of status and non-status Indigenous Peoples residing off reserve in Nova Scotia, and throughout Canada by meeting with Members of Parliament, Senators and presentations to Senate Committees, as well as the United Nations Indigenous Forum in New York.
Joseph Eliot Magnet
Professor and Lawyer,
FRSC, BA, LLB, LLM, PhD
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Joseph Eliot Magnet, F.R.S.C., B.A., LL.B., LL.M., Ph.D., is one of Canada’s foremost constitutional law experts. He clerked for Chief Justice Brian Dickson at the Supreme Court of Canada and served as Crown Counsel in Ottawa. Professor Magnet has held numerous distinguished academic appointments, including Distinguished Visiting Professor at Boalt Hall Law School, University of California, Berkeley; Visiting Professor at the Faculty of Law, University of Haifa, Israel; Central European University, Budapest; Buchmann Faculty of Law, Tel Aviv University; and Université de Paris, France.
He was co-counsel in the landmark Daniels v. Canada case on behalf of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples (CAP), and has acted as counsel in more than 200 constitutional cases before the Supreme Court of Canada, the Federal Court, and provincial appellate and trial courts.
He has served as lead counsel for the Government of Canada in Supreme Court appeals, advised Senators and Members of Parliament, represented First Nations and national Indigenous organizations, minority groups, and corporations, and has been Chief Negotiator and Lead Counsel in First Nations land claims processes. He is regularly invited as an expert before Senate and House of Commons committees and has advised federal, provincial, and territorial governments on constitutional matters.
Professor Magnet is the author of 18 books and over 100 articles on constitutional and Indigenous law. He has lectured widely in Canada and internationally and is a frequent commentator in radio, television, and print media. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 1998.
Andrew
Lokan
Lawyer, BA, MA, LLB, LLM
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Andrew Lokan is a distinguished Canadian lawyer and educator, recognized for his expertise in Indigenous law and constitutional law, with additional experience in administrative, labour, employment, and complex commercial litigation. He was co-counsel on the landmark Daniels v. Canada case on behalf of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples (CAP), and has continued to act as counsel for CAP on a range of important matters. He has appeared in over 30 cases before the Supreme Court of Canada, including precedent-setting cases that define Indigenous rights and clarify the limits of government authority, and regularly appears before appellate and trial courts across Canada.
A prolific scholar and speaker, Andrew publishes widely on constitutional, Indigenous, and public law, and teaches constitutional and Indigenous law at Osgoode Hall Law School. He serves as Director and Past Chair of the Board of Directors of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, which he has frequently represented pro bono. He has been recognized with the Best Lawyers in Canada (2024–2025) award for Aboriginal Law and is consistently acknowledged by Lexpert and Benchmark Litigation as a leading practitioner in Indigenous and public law.
Paul L.A.H.
Chartrand
I.P.C., B.A. (Hons), LL.B.(Hons)(QUT), LL.M. (SK.),
Law Society of MB. Professor of Law (retired)
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Recognition & awards: Indigenous Peoples' Counsel, Indigenous Bar Assoc. of Canada, 2002;
Outstanding Alumni Award, QUT law school, Australia, 2001; Indspire Award for law & justice 2018; Canadian Who's Who, 1992-2009; The Native North American Almanac, 1994-2001; Portraits of the North, 2017.
Paul Chartrand grew up in the Michif-speaking fishing and trapping community of St.Laurent along Lake Manitoba and received his elementary and high school education from the missionary nuns in the local school. A 1964 graduate of Manitoba Teachers' College, he earned an honours degree in history at the University of Winnipeg in 1972, and taught elementary and high school in Canada and Australia where he also took an honours degree in law. Returning to Canada in 1983 he took a graduate law degree from Saskatchewan where his thesis [https://harvest.usask.ca/items/15545454-bd6b-4f4a-a2c6-6de2174bad6a] was the basis of his 1990 book Manitoba's Metis Settlement Scheme of 1870.
His more than sixty publications include "Who Are Canada's Aboriginal Peoples?" in 2002 which he edited and co-wrote with several others, based upon a conference sponsored by the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples when Harry Daniels was President, as well as Our Metis National Anthem:The Michif Version, 2008 published by the Gabriel Dumont Institute, which includes a CD of the song in English and Michif French.
As a Professor of Law, he specialized in the law and policy of states in respect to indigenous people, designing courses in international and comparative law. He has been a featured speaker in conferences in Australia, New Zealand, several European countries and Canada. He has supervised graduate students earning Masters and Doctoral degrees in Canada and Australia.
His public service includes appointments as a commissioner on Canada's Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (1991-96), and on Manitoba's Aboriginal Justice Implementation Commission 1998-2000) as well as a director on Canada's Aboriginal Healing Foundation. He has advised Aboriginal organisations and government institutions in Canada and Australia.
Paul was an advisor at the First Ministers Conferences on Aboriginal Constitutional Reform (FMCs) in the 1980s, and participated in the deliberations in Geneva on the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples from the 1980s until it was turned over to governments and adopted by the UN General Assembly in September 2007. He worked on drafting the Daniels case in Edmonton with Harry Daniels and Dale Gibson at a time that Harry was President of the CAP.
Paul has been inducted into the Manitoba Baseball Hall of Fame, the Saskatoon Sports Hall of Fame, the Manitoba Indigenous Sports Hall of Fame, and the North American Indigenous Athletics Hall of Fame. He is also recognized in the Australian Hockey Hall of Fame and played on the Australian National Baseball team.
Lionel Richard Robert Chartrand
Barrister and Solicitor
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Lionel Richard Robert Chartrand is a Barrister and Solicitor with 41 years of legal experience in criminal law, constitutional litigation, and Indigenous rights advocacy. He has appeared before all levels of court in Canada, including the Federal Courts and the Supreme Court of Canada, where he has argued constitutional and Aboriginal rights cases on multiple occasions. His work has been instrumental in advancing Métis and Indigenous rights, Charter protections, and Aboriginal offender sentencing law and practice.
Mr. Chartrand has combined legal practice with leadership in Indigenous governance and community justice. He served as President of the Aboriginal Council of Winnipeg and the Aboriginal Council of Manitoba, and contributed to the Manitoba Métis Federation’s Nationhood and Citizenship Committee. In recognition of his dedication to community-based justice, he received the federal Community Restorative Justice Award (1998).
He has published and presented widely on Indigenous rights, Gladue principles, and systemic reform, including to the National Judicial Institute, the Indigenous Bar Association, and the Manitoba Bar Association. As Chair of the Criminal Trial Lawyers’ Association’s “Aboriginal Overrepresentation” Committee, he continues to advocate for systemic change to reduce the over-incarceration of Indigenous Peoples.
Today, as principal of Chartrand Law Office in Edmonton, Lionel Chartrand remains a leading advocate for Indigenous rights, equity, and justice reform across Canada.
Brad
Morse
Professor and Lawyer,
BA, LLB, LLM
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Bradford Morse is Professor Emeritus at the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Law and former Dean of Law at Thompson Rivers University and the University of Waikato in New Zealand. A leading authority on Indigenous rights and constitutional law, he has advised First Nations, Métis, and national Indigenous organizations for decades, including as General Counsel to the Native Council of Canada and Research Director of the Aboriginal Justice Inquiry of Manitoba. He played key roles in constitutional negotiations surrounding the Constitution Act, 1982, the Meech Lake Accord, and the Charlottetown Accord.
Beyond litigation and negotiation, Professor Morse has been a trusted advisor to major national inquiries and commissions, including the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the Law Reform Commission of Canada, the Australian Law Reform Commission, and New Zealand’s Waitangi Tribunal. He has also served as a federal negotiator on land claims and treaty issues.
Widely published with over 100 works, including books, articles, and reports, he continues to teach courses in Indigenous rights, property, and trusts law, while serving on boards such as the Vancouver International Arbitration Centre, the Canadian Institute for the Administration of Justice, and the International Commission of Jurists – Canada.
Gabriel Daniels
Actor and Advocate for Indigenous Rights
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Gabriel Daniels was born in Ottawa, Ontario, and raised in Edmonton, Alberta. Gabriel started acting in high school drama class which led him to Edmonton’s Citadel Theater. During that time, he was also auditioning for film and television. Gabriel landed his first role on a CBC film called Frost Fire. Shortly after that he took a hiatus from acting and it wasn’t until moving to Winnipeg years later that he got back into acting where he landed a role in Eye of the Beast. Since then, some of Gabriel’s acting credits include roles in The Don Cherry Story, Goon, Cashing In, Road of Iniquity, Fractured, Stand, Burden of Truth, Hunter Hunter, Ann Rule: House on Fire, Ice Road, Alter Boys, Aberdeen and Acting Good.
In addition to acting, Gabriel Daniels is proud to have had the opportunity to take part in an important Indigenous rights Court Case. After the passing of his father, Harry Daniels, Gabriel stepped in as representative in R v Daniels which took him to the Supreme Court of Canada and ultimately winning the case which recognized Metis rights within the Federal Government system.
Jim Devoe
Chief Executive Officer, BA, BSW, MBA
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In 2012, Jim Devoe became the Chief Executive Officer for the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples (CAP). CAP is the National Indigenous Organization that represents and advocates for the rights and interests of off-reserve status and non-status, Southern Inuit and Métis Indigenous Peoples living in urban, rural, remote and isolated areas throughout Canada.
Education:
Mr. Devoe holds a Master of Business Administration from St. Mary’s University, a Bachelor of Social Work from Saint Thomas University, and a Bachelor of Arts from St. Francis Xavier University.
Background:
In 1996, Jim began his career as a Social Worker in Maskwacis, Alberta, a First Nation community, working with Child and Family Services. He also served as the Regional Director for Windsong Child and Family Services in Alberta. In 2003, Jim relocated to Ottawa from Banff Alberta with his family and in 2004 he began working with Renfrew County Child and Family Services as a Director of Child Protection.
In 2009, Mr. Devoe assumed the position of Executive Director of Caldwell Family Centre. Under his leadership, the Centre worked to enhance its program and service delivery, improve the physical structure, and expand business operations, community and government partnerships.
Jim has served on various boards, including current terms on the Board of Governors at Carleton University, the White Ribbon Campaign, Dasch, Inc., and formerly Crime Prevention Ottawa (Chairperson) and Mothercraft Ottawa (President). Mr. Devoe resides in Ottawa with his family.