Media Releases

Chief Shawn A‑in-chut Atleo appointed Distinguished Fellow of the W.C. MacDonald, Q.C. Fellowship and Adjunct Professor at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education

October 7, 2014

TORONTO, ON – Chief Shawn A‑in-chut Atleo has been named the first William A. Mac­don­ald, Q.C Dis­tin­guished Fel­low in Indige­nous Edu­ca­tion at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Toronto’s Ontario Insti­tute for Stud­ies in Edu­ca­tion (OISE).

As a Dis­tin­guished Fel­low, Chief Atleo will sup­port OISE’s new Indige­nous Edu­ca­tion Ini­tia­tive, a com­pre­hen­sive five-year pro­gram to explore the edu­ca­tion­al needs and aspi­ra­tions of Indige­nous peo­ples in Cana­da and around the world. Chief Atleo will play a lead role in forg­ing new part­ner­ships among Indige­nous peo­ples in Cana­da, gov­ern­ment agen­cies, non-gov­ern­ment orga­ni­za­tions and the pri­vate sec­tor. Chief Atleo’s appoint­ment is sup­port­ed by a $5‑million gift from an anony­mous donor. The gift is the largest dona­tion ever made to a Cana­di­an fac­ul­ty of edu­ca­tion for Indige­nous edu­ca­tion research. Chief Atleo will also join the Depart­ment of Social Jus­tice Edu­ca­tion and the Depart­ment of Lead­er­ship, High­er and Adult Edu­ca­tion as an Adjunct Pro­fes­sor.

Chief Shawn Atleo is a Hered­i­tary Chief from the Ahousaht First Nation. In July 2009, he was elect­ed as Nation­al Chief of the Assem­bly of First Nations and was re-elect­ed in 2012. Pre­vi­ous­ly, he served two terms as Region­al Chief of the BC AFN. Chief Atleo grad­u­at­ed in 2003 with a Master’s of Edu­ca­tion in Adult Learn­ing and Glob­al Change from the Uni­ver­si­ty of Tech­nol­o­gy in Syd­ney, Aus­tralia. Chief Atleo’s acco­lades include 12 hon­orary degrees from uni­ver­si­ties in Cana­da and the Queen Eliz­a­beth II Dia­mond Jubilee Medal for his advo­ca­cy work on behalf of First Nations. Chief Atleo also serves as the Chan­cel­lor of Van­cou­ver Island Uni­ver­si­ty.

“I am delight­ed to have Shawn Atleo join­ing OISE as a Dis­tin­guished Fel­low and Adjunct Pro­fes­sor,” said OISE Dean Julia O’Sullivan. “An inspi­ra­tional leader, Chief Atleo will be an invalu­able sup­port to OISE stu­dents and fac­ul­ty and to our Indige­nous Edu­ca­tion Ini­tia­tive, which will posi­tion OISE as the glob­al leader in indige­nous edu­ca­tion research.”

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For more infor­ma­tion, con­tact:

Steve Robin­son
Direc­tor of Strate­gic Com­mu­ni­ca­tions
Ontario Insti­tute for Stud­ies in Edu­ca­tion
Tel: 416–978-0008
Mobile: 647–515-8752
steve.robinson@utoronto.ca