Lawyer and champion for First Nations reconciliation, Paul Chartrand is set two give two lectures on the legal and constitutional path to reconciliation with First Nations people.
Paul made his name in Canada, working on legal and constitutional cases that lead to major steps forward for First Nations people in Canada and America; eventually taking on a role as a Professor of Law, from which he is now retired.
This includes his work on: Canada’s First Ministers’ Conferences on Aboriginal Constitutional Reform in the 1980s, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in Geneva between 1985 and 2007, the American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, 2015, Canada’s Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples 1991–96 and more.
Paul’s lectures in Brisbane and Toowoomba will focus on the legal, constitutional and political effects of the watershed Constitutional amendment in Canada in 1982, which recognised and affirmed the existing aboriginal and treaty rights of the aboriginal peoples of Canada.
Australia and Canada share core principles as democracies with shared colonial histories, including an aspiration for reconciliation with their respective First Nations peoples.
This aspiration means both nations can learn from each other’s accomplishments and mistakes in this area.
Paul will conduct his first seminar session in Toowoomba on 20 February 2025 at the USQ Toowoomba Campus. For this session, register here.
The second session will be on 26 February, on UQ’s St Lucia Campus. For further information and RSVP, please email: j.corrin@law.uq.edu.au
Share this article