Georges Erasmus
Georges Erasmus was born on Aug. 8, 1948 in Fort Rae, N.W.T. and is a proud member of the Dene people.
From his earliest days, Erasmus’s political determination has been shaped by his desire for his people to control their ancestral lands.
Having grown up in the Northwest Territories in the 1950s, he is motivated by the impoverished plight of native peoples.
On reserves and in cities, alcoholism, violence and poverty prevail. Most depend on welfare to survive.
Erasmus, president of the Dene Nation, stresses the importance of having a proud and sovereign native society to CBC’s Mary Lou Finlay.
Erasmus wants to see native peoples reassert their culture and regain self-rule. He wants to break the cycle of dependence on government handouts, which perpetuates a sense of inadequacy and worthlessness.
He is joined in the debate by Bill Wilson, vice-president of the Native Council of Canada, and sociology professor John Warner.
It’s a view Erasmus has held since he first came to prominence in the early 1970s as a young charismatic leader of the Indian Brotherhood of the Northwest Territories.
The organization would later be renamed the Dene Nation. Erasmus was a strong proponent of the 1975 Dene Declaration, a historic document declaring the sovereignty of the Dene Nation.
Erasmus was an outspoken speaker at the Berger Pipeline Inquiry appointed by the federal government in 1974. The Dene and Inuit peoples successfully fought off a proposed pipeline which would have carried oil through the Mackenzie River Valley. The Berger Inquiry gave native peoples a voice to air long-held grievances over land claims.
Hahaha….Erasmus was also Métis…lmao….check your facts sweetheart.
I don’t need to check my facts honey!
I never said he was or wasn’t Metis. I put him here for a reason – which is stated above.