Opening Ceremonies May 17, 2023 at 12:00 pm
Our Keynote Speaker for the Opening Ceremonies is Chief Cadmus Delorme, Cowessess First Nation
Chief Cadmus Delorme, a Cree and Saulteaux, is the Chief of the Cowessess First Nation. Chief Delorme graduated from Cowessess Community Education Centre in 2000. He later moved to Regina to pursue a Bachelor of Business Administration and a Certificate in Hospitality, Tourism and Gaming Entertainment Management from the First Nations University of Canada (FNUniv), and a Master of Public Administration from the Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy. Recently, he has completed an Institute of Corporate Directors designation.
In 2012, Chief Delorme received the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal and the Platium Jubilee Medal, recognizing his student leadership and the hospitality he showed to King Charles III and his wife Camilla, Queen Consort, when they visited FNUniv. He was also named one of CBC Saskatchewan’s Future 40, which celebrates the province’s new generation of leaders, builders and change-makers under the age of 40.
In 2019, Chief Delorme was re-elected to a second term in office. Under his leadership, Cowessess First Nation has focused on economic self-sustainability for its nation and people and has moved forward on renewable energy, agriculture, efficiency in land use initiatives that have created both current and future business opportunities.
This past year, Chief Delorme faced one of the hardest moments as Chief when the Saulteaux and Cree First Nation made international headlines with the validation of potentially 751 unmarked graves near the former Marieval Indian Residential School. Shortly after, Cowessess made headlines again as the first First Nations to sign an agreement with Ottawa and the province that returns jurisdiction over children in care to the First Nation. Federal legislation overhauling Indigenous child welfare was passed in 2019 and came into force last year.
Chief Delorme lives with his wife Kimberly, brother-in-law, daughter and two son’s on Cowessess First Nation.
Closing Keynote May 18, 2023
Jean M Clinton BMus MD FRCP(C)
Clinical Professor McMaster University
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences
Dr. Jean Clinton is a Clinical Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences at McMaster, division of Child Psychiatry. She is on staff at McMaster Children’s Hospital with cross appointments in Pediatrics and Family Medicine, and an Associate in the Department of Child Psychiatry at Sick Children’s Hospital. She is a member on the MindUP Scientific Advisory Board as well as a MindUP for Families Advisor. She was a Fellow of the Child Trauma Academy, and is a Zero to Three Academy Fellow since 2013. She has been a consultant to children and youth mental health programs, child welfare, and primary care for over 30 years. Dr. Clinton was appointed as an education advisor to the Premier of Ontario and the Minister of Education 2014 – 2018.
Dr. Clinton is renowned nationally and internationally as an advocate for children’s issues. Her special interest lies in brain development, and the crucial role relationships and connectedness play. Jean champions the development of a national, comprehensive child well-being strategy including a system of early learning and care for all young children and their families. She is equally committed to ensuring that children’s and youths’ needs and voices are heard and respected.
Dr. Clinton has also authored her first book, Love Builds Brains which can be ordered online through Tall Pines Press, on Amazon and in book stores everywhere.