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CAPP-Canada Leadership

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Co-Chair

Dr. Cecil Chabot

Dr. Cecil Chabot is a Catholic scholar whose work explores the interconnections between Indigenous, Catholic, Western, and other histories and cultures and seeks to bring them into deep dialogue on fundamental questions: what does it mean to be human and to live well in relation to a human and other- than-human world? Grounded in the primary discipline of history, this focus is informed and enriched by interdisciplinary work in cultural anthropology, literature, and philosophy as well as diverse professional, non-profit, community development, leadership development, public history and public policy experience. 

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Co-Chair

Dr. Danielle Morin

Dr. Morin obtained her BSc (Mathematics) and MSc (Statistics) from the Université de Montréal, and a PhD (1989) in Statistics from McGill University. During her graduate studies, Professor Morin lectured in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at both McGill and Concordia Universities. In 1988 she joined the Faculty of Commerce and Administration of Concordia University. Her major academic interests are business statistics and multivariate statistics, which she has taught in the Undergraduate Program, MBA Professional and Executive Programs, the MSc and the Joint PhD Program.

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Emeritus Chair

Peter O'Brien

Peter O'Brien is commercial lawyer in private practice and company director. He was founding Chair of the CAPP-Canada group. 

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Episcopal Councillor

Archbishop Christian Lépine

Archbishop Lépine has had many years of experience as a pastor and teacher. Ordained a priest in 1983, at Saint-André-Apôtre Parish, he began his priestly ministry at Saint-Joseph-de-Mont-Royal before departing for Rome to study philosophy at the Gregorian University from 1986 to 1989. Upon his return to Montreal, he was appointed parish assistant at Notre-Dame-des-Neiges and pastor of Saint-Joseph-de-Mont-Royal. He ministered there until 1996, when he became the director of Jean-Claude Cardinal Turcotte's secretariat.

In 1998, he was called to Rome, where he worked for the Secretary of State and then for the Congregation for Divine Worship. In 2000, he returned to Montreal and was appointed a director of the Grand Séminaire de Montréal, a mandate that he fulfilled up until 2006. From 2006 to 2012, he was pastor of Purification de la Bienheureuse-Vierge-Marie and Notre-Dame-des-Champs parishes. Throughout his various activities, Most Rev. Lépine taught philosophy and theology for some twenty years at the Grand Séminaire de Montréal. He was also gave regular talks on Catholic Social Teaching for members of CAPP-Canada.

Ordained a bishop on September 10, 2011 by Jean-Claude Cardinal Turcotte, he was appointed Episcopal Vicar to Family and Youth as well as Director of the Pastoral Liturgy Service. Finally, on March 20, 2012, Pope Benedict XVI appointed him archbishop of Montreal.

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Co-Founder & Canadian Co-Chair

Graydon Nicholas

The Honourable Graydon Nicholas, Order of New Brunswick and Order of Canada, was the 30th Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick from 2009 to 2014, becoming the first aboriginal person to hold this office. He was also the first aboriginal person in Atlantic Canada to earn a law degree and to be appointed a Provincial Court Judge. He was Chair of Native Studies at St. Thomas University, NB, from 1989-1991 and is currently Endowed Chair of Native Studies at the same institution. He worked with the Union of NB Indians as legal counsel, Chairman of the Board and President of the Union of New Brunswick Indians from 1974-1988. He was a member of the Aboriginal Council of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) from 1998-2004. In 2015 he was appointed to the Knights Board of Directors and now serves as a Supreme Warden. He is a member of Tobique First Nation (Wolastoqey Nation).

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Co-Founder

Scott Lyons

Scott Lyons, PhD, is Associate Professor of English at the University of Michigan where he has also directed the Native American Studies program. The author of X-Marks: Native Signatures of Assent and editor of The World, the Text, and the Indian: Global Dimensions of Native American Literature, Scott teaches courses on American literary history, modern Catholic fiction, and critical theory. His current book project is a study of violence, desire, and mimesis in Native American literature and mythology. He is a member of the Leech Lake Ojibwe Nation.

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Co-Founder & Secretary

Maria Lucas

Maria Lucas is a Black-Métis woman whose heritage inspired her to study Indigenous-Crown relations in a historical and political context in her undergraduate degree, which she completed at the University of Toronto. In her studies, she discovered the unique legal framework that informs Indigenous peoples’ relationship with the Crown and she came to understand that the law is key to reconciling this relationship. As a result, she was prompted to pursue law school. She completed her Juris Doctor at the University of Ottawa with a specialization in Aboriginal law and Indigenous legal traditions in April 2019.

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Co-Founder & American Co-Chair

Damian Costello

Damian Costello holds a Ph.D. in theological studies from the University of Dayton and specializes in the intersection of Catholic theology, Indigenous spiritual traditions, and colonial history. He is an international expert on the life and legacy of Nicholas Black Elk and the author of Black Elk: Colonialism and Lakota Catholicism. Costello served as the academic advisor for a forthcoming network television documentary on Black Elk and is currently the vice-postulator for Black Elk's cause for canonization in the Catholic Church. His work is informed by five years of ethnographic work on the Navajo Nation.

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Co-Founder

Cecil Chabot

Cecil Chabot is a former Advisor for Indigenous Relations with the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, and has also worked on Indigenous relations, history and policy in senior roles with Indigenous, non-profit, academic, and federal government organizations, as well as a commission of inquiry. He is currently a SSHRC Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at Concordia University’s School of Community and Public Affairs, where he is also a Part-Time Faculty Member in the First Peoples Studies Program. His intellectual journey stems from, and remains grounded in, a life-long relationship with the subarctic James Bay Cree.

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