Leonard Flett is a Cree status member of the Big Trout Lake Ontario First Nation. Originally from Cumberland House, Saskatchewan and Shamattawa, Manitoba, he has an extensive 42-year background with the Hudson’s Bay Company and the North West Company, retiring as vice-president in 2005. He has been recognized by the Aboriginal community with the bestowal of a National Aboriginal Achievement Award in 2002, by the province of Manitoba with the Order of Manitoba in 2012, and by Canada with the induction into the Order of Canada in 2004. He is also a recipient of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee medal.