One of Indigenous Canada’s most important leaders announced his retirement from politics on this date in 2017. A one-time National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, Matthew Coon Come was also the Grand Chief of the Grand Council of the Crees for more than 20 years.
"On behalf of my family, l want to thank our Cree people of Eeyou Istchee for giving me the privilege and honour to represent our Cree Nation for this long," he said in making his retirement announcement, adding “May God continue to bless our (Cree) Nation.”
An Officer of the Order of Canada and National Aboriginal Achievement Award recipient, his remarkable accomplishments are too numerous to sum up in this space. You can, however, read more about Coon Come at Historica’s Canadian Encyclopedia at this link: https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/matthew-coon-come
Arthur Milnes is an accomplished public historian and award-winning journalist. He was research assistant on The Rt. Hon. Brian Mulroney’s best-selling Memoirs and also served as a speechwriter to then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper and as a Fellow of the Queen’s Centre for the Study of Democracy under the leadership of Tom Axworthy. A resident of Kingston, Ontario, Milnes serves as the in-house historian at the 175 year-old Frontenac Club Hotel.