Fontaine receives another award

Phil Fontaine has been selected by the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business and Sodexo Canada as this year’s recipient of the Award for Excellence in Aboriginal Relations. Fontaine, a member of the Sagkeeng First Nation, 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 age of 28. In the early 1980s 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. In 1997 he stepped on to the national stage where he was elected national chief of the Assembly of First Nations for an unprecedented three terms. The Award for Excellence in Aboriginal Relations is presented to a Canadian who has personally contributed, through his or her professional and voluntary commitments, to building bridges between Aboriginal people and Canada’s business community.