The Brian Mulroney Institute of Government Sober Second Thinkers Speakers Series Presents
Balancing the Senate – Framing and Fostering an Ilnu Worldview
The Honourable Paul Prosper
Monday, February 24, 2025
7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Mulroney Hall 2032
The Honourable Paul Prosper
Senator Prosper’s talk will focus on his journey to help reconcile Indigenous and non-Indigenous perspectives in the Senate and leveraging his position to advance Mi’kmaq issues and priorities.
Sober Second Thinkers Speakers Series
As part of its mandate to initiate conversations around key policy concerns, the Brian Mulroney Institute of Government has launched the Sober Second Thinkers Speakers Series. In this speakers series, the Mulroney Institute invites sitting and retired Senators to give their reflections on their time in the Senate and to talk about the importance of sober second thought in an era of increased partisanship and divisions.
Over the course of one-to-two days at the university, visiting Senators will present a public lecture and engage with students. The series aims to involve students as well as the StFX campus and community at large, sharing Senators’ knowledge and insights as participant-observers in one of the nation’s central government institutions.
Biography: The Honourable Paul Prosper
The Honourable Paul Prosper is a Mi’kmaq lawyer with more than 25 years of experience in Indigenous legal issues ranging from project management to First Nation land use and occupation, and governance and community development. A lifelong advocate for the rights of the Mi’kmaq people, Senator Prosper is the former Chief of the Paqtnkek (Afton) Mi’kmaw Nation. In 2020, he was elected Assembly of First Nations’ (AFN) Regional Chief for Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, representing the collective interests of 17 Mi’kmaw First Nations in Newfoundland and Nova Scotia and over 600 First Nations across Canada.
Senator Prosper has served on several boards and committees, including the boards of the Atlantic Policy Congress of First Nations Chiefs Secretariat; the Atlantic First Nations Water Authority; and Mi’kmaw Kina’matnewey, as well as the Eastern Door L’nuk Lawyers Group, Ta’n Etli-tpi’tmk Association, and the AFN Chiefs Committee on Child and Family Services.
From 2010 to 2013, he taught Mi’kmaq governance and Aboriginal and treaty rights at Cape Breton University. In 2020, Mr. Prosper was inducted as a member of the Bertha Wilson Honour Society at the Dalhousie University Schulich School of Law in recognition of his exceptional service to the legal profession and community. He was also named Wika’paltultimk (Counsellor) for the L’nuk People by the Eastern Door L’nuk Lawyers Group in recognition of his outstanding service to Indigenous Peoples in the legal profession. He was named to the Senate in July 2023.
Senator Prosper holds a Bachelor of Laws from Dalhousie University and a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) from Cape Breton University.
Credit for photos: Senate of Canada