Georges Sioui

Polyglot, poet, essayist, song-writer and a world-renowned speaker, Georges Sioui became, in 1991, the first Canadian Amerindian to receive a Doctoral Degree in History.  He has held numerous academic positions and, with his four brothers, initiated and directed the celebrated Sioui Case (Supreme Court of Canada, 1990). He is Full Professor of Aboriginal Studies, History and Religious Studies at the University of Ottawa, Canada.

Sioui was born in Wendaké (Village-des-Hurons), Quebec, in 1948, and received both his MA (1987) and his Ph.D. (1991) in History from Laval University. Prior to returning to do graduate studies in 1982, Sioui was Officer of Literature and Communications and Editor of the Tawow magazine for the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development. He was responsible for the creation and implementation of governmental policies in matters of preservation and development of Aboriginal cultures in Canada. He has also worked as Assistant-Director General and Corporate Secretary of the Cree Board of Health and Social Services of James Bay, in Chisasibi, Quebec.

Georges Sioui’s projects and employment have consistently been based in the Amerindian/Aboriginal/Inuit community. His writings on Indigenous philosophy, history and education have appeared in numerous journals, magazines and books, continent-wide and abroad.

From 1992 to 1997, Dr. Sioui was Associate Professor of Indian Studies and Dean of Academics of the Saskatchewan Indian Federated College, at the University of Regina. From January 1999 to December 2000, he was President of the Institute of Indigenous Government in Vancouver. During 2003, he was Head of Research of the Indian Claims Commission, in Ottawa. In January 2004, he became the Coordinator of the newly-created Aboriginal Studies Program at the University of Ottawa.

Sioui is the author of three landmark books: Pour une histoire amérindienne de l’Amérique. Essai sur les fondements d’une morale sociale (Laval University Press, 1989), translated as For An Amerindian Autohistory (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1992); Les Wendats: Une civilisation méconnue (Laval University Press, 1994) translated as Huron Wendat: The Heritage of the Circle (University of British Columbia and Michigan State University Presses, 1999, short-listed for Governor General’s Award); and Histories of Kanatha / Histoires de Kanatha (University of Ottawa Press, 2009.)

Links:

Review of Huron Wendat: The Heritage of the Circle by Theodore Binnema

Response to Binnema by Georges Sioui