Keynote Speakers
Sheila Watt-Cloutier
Former Chair of Inuit Circumpolar Council
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Dealing with youth issues holistically is important for Ms. Watt-Cloutier. She contributed significantly to "Silatunirmut: The Pathway to Wisdom," the 1992 report of the review of educational programming in Nunavik, and she co-wrote, produced and co-directed the acclaimed youth awareness video "Capturing Spirit: The Inuit Journey."
Ms. Watt-Cloutier has been a political spokesperson for Inuit for over a decade. From 1995 to 1998, she was Corporate Secretary of Makivik Corporation, set-up under the 1975 James Bay and Northern Quebec Land Claims Agreement. Defending the rights of Inuit has been at the forefront of Ms. Watt-Cloutier's mandate since her election as President of ICC Canada in 1995 and re election in 1998. Ms. Watt-Cloutier was instrumental as a spokesperson for a coalition of northern Indigenous Peoples in the global negotiations that led to the 2001 Stockholm Convention banning the generation and use of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) that contaminate the arctic food web. In 2002, Ms. Watt-Cloutier was elected international Chair of ICC a term she held until July of 2006.
She contributed markedly to ICC Canada's Institution-Building for Northern Russian Indigenous Peoples' Project which focused on economic development and training in remote northern communities.
Ms. Watt-Cloutier received the inaugural Global Environment Award from the World Association of Non-Governmental Organizations in recognition for her POPs work. She is the recipient of the 2004 Aboriginal Achievement Award for Environment. In 2005, she was honored with the United Nations Champion of the Earth Award and the Sophie prize in Norway (following in the footsteps of Nobel Peace prize winner Wangari Maathai) She was awarded the inaugural Northern Medal by the outgoing Governor General of Canada, Adrienne Clarkson. More recently in 2006 she has been awarded the Global Green USA Award for International Environmental Leadership, the Citation for Lifetime Achievement by the Canadian Environment Awards, an Honorary Doctorate of Law from the University of Winnipeg and the Canadian Earth Day International Environment Award. She is also to receive the Order of Canada in the coming months.
During the past year, Ms. Watt-Cloutier alerted the world that Inuit will not become a footnote to the onslaught of globalization by finalizing and filing a complaint to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to defend Inuit human rights against the impacts of climate change (see http://www.inuitcircumpolar.com/index.php?ID=316&Lang=En).
Ms. Watt-Cloutier sums up her work by saying: " I do nothing more than remind the world that the Arctic is not a barren land devoid of life but a rich and majestic land that has supported our resilient culture for millennia. Even though small in number and living far from the corridors of power, it appears that the wisdom of the land strikes a universal chord on a planet where many are searching for sustainability."
MR. JUSTICE JOHN Z. VERTES
The Canadian justice system has had to make many adaptations in the northern territories that recognize and accommodate the needs of Aboriginal Canadians, who make up the majority of northern Canada's population. Justice Vertes will describe many of those adaptations as they apply in the court system and how they may apply to any decision-making body. These will include the use of interpreters and the development of legal terminology in the Aboriginal languages; the recognition of Aboriginal customary practices in the field of family law; and new approaches to the assessment of evidence in the Aboriginal context.
Justice Vertes has been a judge of the Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories since September 13, 1991. The same year, he was also appointed as a justice of the Court of Appeal of the Northwest Territories and the Yukon Court of Appeal as well as a judge of the Supreme Court of the Yukon Territory.
Prior to his appointments, Justice Vertes practiced law in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, from 1977 to 1991, primarily in the fields of criminal and civil litigation. He was appointed Queen's Counsel in 1988. Justice Vertes recevied his Bachelor of Laws, Osgoode Hall Law School of York University in 1975 and was admitted to the bars of Ontario and the Northwest Territories in 1977.
Positions held:
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. "Judge-in-Residence" and holder of the Milvain Visiting Chair in Advocacy at the University of Calgary Law School (September, 2006, to April, 2007)
. President of the Executive Committee of the Canadian Superior Courts Judges Association (2006-2007)
. Member (as the representative of Canada) of the Governing Council of the Commonwealth Magistrates & Judges Association (2006-2009)
. Participant and faculty member in numerous continuing education programmes for the National Judicial Institute, the Canadian Bar Association, the Alberta Queen's Bench Judges Education Seminar, and the Law Society of the Northwest Territories
. Current faculty member of the Federation of Law Societies of Canada National Criminal Law Programme
. Member of the Board of Directors of the Canadian Institute for the Administration of Justice (2002-2004)
. Board member of the Canadian Bar Insurance Association (1988-91)
. Counsel to the Inuvialuit Environmental Screening Committee and Environmental Impact Review Board (1984-1990)
. President of the Law Society of the Northwest Territories (1984-85)
. Member of the national Executive Committee of the Canadian Bar Association (1982-84)
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