Saulteaux-Ojibway activist Leona Freed was the first to bring the idea of modernized treaty annuities into a public forum in her presentation to the Senate Standing Committee on Aboriginal Peoples in 1999.

     Leona has long been a powerful voice for ordinary First Nations people, which has earned her both condemnation from some FN political leaders and a standing ovation from parliamentarians in the House of Commons. She was the driving force behind outraged FN women from more than 300 bands who, in 1998, were demanding an end to band council corruption and abuses in their communities.

     Leona was the national voice for the First Nations Accountability Coalition, with support from the Reform Party, and her fearless condemnation of FN political leaders drew international media coverage. However, her message on modernized annuities was lost in the outcry over her criticism of FN leaders.

     Leona is the daughter of Chief Rufus Prince of the Long Plains FN in southern Manitoba. Prince was a founding director of the Manitoba Indian Brotherhood and fronted one of the first successful Supreme Court of Canada (Prince and Myron v The Queen,1964) cases on Indigenous hunting rights.

Leona Freed, 2018

Leona Freed, at the Senate in Ottawa to make a presentation on behalf of the First Nations Accountability Coalition, March 2, 1999. Canadian Press