Canada 150: Chief Dan George’s powerful indigenous-rights speech, 50 years later
VANCOUVER — Leonard George remembers the first time he heard his father, Chief Dan George, deliver his moving and prophetic speech on indigenous rights, “A Lament for Confederation.”
It was 1967 and the acclaimed actor and former Tsleil-Waututh chief was set to speak at Canada’s centennial celebration in Vancouver. His wife had urged him to write something about what the day means to First Nations, says Leonard.
When his soliloquy was ready, he stood in the family’s living room and read it aloud.
“We all applauded because it was so beautiful and so powerful,” says Leonard, 70.