Jerry Fontaine

Jerry Fontaine is an Anishinaabe politician in Manitoba, Canada. He was chief of the Sagkeeng First Nation from 1989 to 1998, led the First Peoples Party in the 1995 provincial election, and was an unsuccessful candidate to lead the Manitoba Liberal Party in 1998. He was the director of Indigenous Initiatives at Algoma University from 2004-2008.

Fontaine is the nephew of Assembly of First Nations leader Phil Fontaine.

Fontaine received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Manitoba in 1976. He first campaigned for the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba in the 1986 provincial election, contesting Lac du Bonnet as a Liberal. The Liberal Party was a weak electoral force in Manitoba during this period, and Fontaine received 959 votes (11.33%). The winner was Clarence Baker of the New Democratic Party.

Fontaine became chief of the Sagkeeng First Nation three years later, and led the community until 1998. During his tenure as Chief, Sagkeeng developed the First Nation's constitutional declaration. This declaration facilitated the Manitoba Hydro Accord, a process that enabled the community to mitigate erosion damages caused by Hydro development and enforce its jurisdiction over its traditional territory. The constitutional process mandated the First Nation's Law-Making Assembly to pass two important pieces of legislation in relation to the Hydro Accord: the Process Law and Conservation Law. He was a supporter of local gambling rights, and launched a private prosecution against the Pine Falls pulp mill in 1995 for violations of the Water Rights Act. By his own admission, he destroyed his Liberal Party membership in 1994 when the Canadian government of Jean Chrétien relaxed anti-pollution standards in the area near his community. Fontaine became a prominent spokesman for Manitoba's First Peoples Party (FPP) later in the year and was generally recognized as the nascent party's leader, although it is not clear if he held an official position.

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