Bob Watts - Reconciliation, Symbolic gesture or systemic change? Canada’s challenge

Tuesday, October 4, 2022

12:00 - 1:00pm EST | VIRTUAL

ABOUT OUR SPEAKER

Bob Watts 

Adjunct Professor, Queen’s University

Robert (Bob) Watts is an expert in Indigenous policy, negotiations, training and conflict resolution. Bob is the Vice-President of Indigenous Relations and Strategic Programs at the Nuclear Waste Management Organisation and an Adjunct Professor and Distinguished Fellow at Queen’s University, where he developed one the first graduate level courses on Reconciliation. Bob was recently appointed to Queen's University’s Board of Trustees.

Previously Bob was the Interim Executive Director of the Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, making recommendations regarding the Indian Residential School era and its legacy. He has served as the Chief of Staff to the National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations Phil Fontaine and Chief of Staff to National Chief Perry Bellegarde. In government he was an Assistant Deputy Minister in the Government of Canada and Senior Executive in Ontario.  

A Board Member of the Consensus Building Institute, Cambridge MA and the Indigenous Advanced Education and Skills Council, Bob is also Chair of the Gord Downie-Chaney Wenjack Fund and Chair of Reconciliation Canada. Bob is a recipient of the Indspire Award for Public Service and an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from McMaster University. He has taught, debated and lectured at many universities in Canada and the United States

Bob is from the Mohawk and Ojibway Nations and resides at Six Nations Reserve, Ontario. Bob carries and honours his Ojibway. Spirit Name, Kinoozishingwak (Tall Pine) and is a member of the Bear Clan.

He is a graduate of the John F. Kennedy School of Government (MPA'2001) and a Fellow at the Harvard Law School.