George CouchieRetired OPP officer George Couchie of Nipissing First Nation is this year’s inductee to the Nipissing District Human Rights Hall of Fame.

He will be honoured at the 27th annual Evening of Applause March 25th, at École secondaire catholique Algonquin. 

During a 33 year career in policing, Couchie spent much of that time training police officers, teachers, government employees and other professionals about the history of native people in Canada and the effects of residential schools on First Nations communities.

He retired in 2014, but continues to teach an experiential one-week course on the subject.

In a release, officials say Couchie also created a program called Walking the Path, for which he received an OPP Commissioner’s Citation, after approaching a local school 20 years ago about allow him to come in to the classroom and teach native children about self-esteem.

Since then he has trained many police officers how to deliver the program and it has been written in to the curriculum of the Nipissing-Parry Sound Catholic District School Board and has been translated to French.

Couchie has received many honours including an eagle feather from the community of Nipissing First Nation in 2005 and again in 2013, the Order of Merit of the Police Forces of Canada in 2013, the Queen’s Jubilee Award in 2012, a lifetime achievement award from the Union of Ontario Indians in 2007, a nomination for National Native Role Model in 1997 and an Ovation Award from the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services in 2008.

Students Who Make a Difference will also be honoured at the Evening of Applause event on March 25th, along with four anti-racism poster contest winners.  

There will also be four school performances on the theme of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, which is March 21 each year.

(Photo courtesy of Red Hawk Training and Consulting)