Activities
Keynote / Plenary
Wednesday, October 21
Keynote
Phil Fontaine, Former National Grand Chief
Assembly of First Nations
Mr. Phil Fontaine is a dedicated and highly respected figure in Canada. He has been instrumental in facilitating change and advancement for First Nations people from the time he was first elected to public office as Chief, at the young age of 28. He is a proud member of the Sagkeeng First Nation in Manitoba and still plays an active role in the support of his community.
In the early 1980’s he was elected to the position of Manitoba Regional Chief for the Assembly of First Nations. When his term expired in 1991, he was elected Grand Chief of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs where he served three consecutive terms. He played a key role in the development of Manitoba’s Framework Agreement Initiative, in the defeat of the Meech Lake Accord, and signed an Employment Equity Agreement with 39 federal agencies. In 1997 he stepped onto the national stage where he was elected to the highest elected position in First Nations politics, National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations. He recently finished serving an unprecedented third term in office.
His list of accomplishments as National Chief include signing the Declaration of Kinship and Cooperation of the Indigenous and First Nations of North America, being the first Indigenous leader to address the Organization of American States, leading the successful resolution and settlement of the 150 year Indian residential school tragedy which led to the historical Apology by the Canadian government, the Making Poverty History Campaign, lobbying for the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People, and negotiating a fair and just process for the settlement of Specific land claims. His belief in creating an inclusive Assembly of First Nations ensured that all information was accessible in both French and English languages, and initiated the Renewal Commission, resulting in a 47 recommendation report on improving the political structure of the AFN, including a universal vote by all First Nations citizens.
Mr. Fontaine has received many awards and honours for his work, including six honorary degrees and membership in the Order of Manitoba. He now owns and operates his own consulting business named Ishkonigan Inc.
Plenary
Dr. Rex Roman
Rex Roman recently completed a Fellowship in Mental Health and Ethics with the Department of Psychiatry at Women's College Hospital. Prior to that he worked for the Mississauga Halton LHIN leading a demographic study of mental health resource allocation. He has also been a Fellow with the Joint Centre for Bioethics. For a number of years he worked for the Ministry of the Attorney General and the Chief Justice's office. He holds a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Toronto. He is currently working on a Knowledge Translation project for Distress Centres Ontario.
Thursday, October 22
Keynote
Michael Sheehan
Michael Sheehan was appointed to the Court of Quebec in 1988 and the Quebec Human Rights Tribunal in 1992. Judge Sheehan is the father of four children.
Since February 1998, he is a volunteer with the Quebec Suicide Prevention Centre and with the local chapter of Compassionate Friends. Since February 2000, he has been giving conferences on suicide prevention to students and their professors in universities, colleges and high schools throughout Quebec.
In 1996, the Quebec Bar awarded him the Medal of Merit for his involvement in the Quebec legal community. In 2001, he was spoke-person for the Provincial Suicide Prevention week. The French language newspapers "La Presse" of Montreal and “Le Soleil” of Quebec City designated him as "Personality of the week". His promotion of human rights, humanism, justice and of suicide prevention, has been recognised and awarded by the Canadian Bar Association, the Montreal Saint-Jean-Baptiste society, the Quebec government, the Canadian and Quebec Associations of Suicide Prevention, the Quebec Association of psychiatrics as well as the Quebec Order of psychologists. In 2002, the Quebec suicide prevention center created an award in his honour.
Plenary
Dr. Antoon Leenaars
Dr. Antoon A. Leenaars is a registered psychologist in private practice in mental health and public health, Windsor, Canada, is affiliated with the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Division of Mental Health, Norway, and was a member of the Faculty (Dept. of Clinical and Health Psychology) at the University of Leiden, The Netherlands and the Faculty (Dept. of Public Health Sciences) at the Karolinska Institutet, Sweden.
He is the first Past President of the Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention (CASP), and a Past President of the American Association of Suicidology (AAS), the only non-American to have served in that role to date. He has collaborated with 100 colleagues in over 35 nations, and has published over 150 professional articles/chapters on violence, trauma, suicide, altruistic suicide, suicide notes, homicide, AIDS, genocide, psychotherapy, gun control, ethical/legal issues, and related topics. He has published 12 books, including, Psychotherapy with Suicidal People (John Wiley & Sons, UK) and forthcoming, Suicide and Homicide-Suicide among Police (Baywood Publ. Co., US), and was the founding/first Editor-in-Chief of Archives of Suicide Research, the official journal of the International Academy for Suicide Research (IASR). Dr. Leenaars was the Senior Editor of the world report, Suicide among Indigenous Peoples: The Research, the first international volume of its kind. Dr. Leenaars is a recipient of The International Association for Suicide Prevention’s biannual Stengel Award, CASP’s Research Award and AAS’s Shneidman Award, for outstanding contributions in research in suicidology.
Dr. Heather Fiske
Heather Fiske is a psychologist with over 30 years of clinical experience. Originally from Cape Breton, she has worked in hospitals, community clinics, schools, and correctional facilities. Heather is an active volunteer and frequent speaker for provincial, national, and international suicide prevention conferences and training workshops.
She is a member of the Provincial Advisory Board of the Ontario Suicide Prevention Network, a past member of the Board of Directors of the Canadian Association of Suicide Prevention (CASP), and a recipient of the CASP National Service Award. One of the founders of the Solution-Focused Brief Therapy Association, she teaches a postgraduate program in solution-focused therapy at the University of Toronto and also trains service providers to the homeless. In addition to her private clinical practice, Heather writes about solution-focused practice and training. Her book about solution-focused approaches to suicide intervention, Hope in Action, was published in 2008.
After raising huskies for many years, she is now owned by a miniature schnauzer.