Born and raised in Ktigaaning (Garden Village), Scott is the youngest of eight siblings of his parents Ben McLeod and Vita Young. Scott graduated from Sir Sandford Fleming College in the Fish and Wildlife Technician Program. Scott is a father of three adult children, Mishomis of two boys, and an avid musician. Scott has also run a successful construction business on Nipissing First Nation (NFN) for over twenty years.
Scott was first elected to Nipissing First Nation Council in 2003 where he carried the Natural Resources portfolio. Scott was very instrumental in creating our first fisheries management plan and the NFN Fisheries Law. In 2015, Scott was elected as Chief of NFN where he has maintained that role successfully for three consecutive terms. During his nine-year tenure as Chief, Scott has led NFN’s growth, generating our own source revenues through award-winning businesses such as Nipissing Miller Construction, Mnogin Greenhouse, Nbisiing Power and the development of Bineshii Business Park.
He also led his community through uncharted waters of the COVID-19 pandemic establishing health and safety protocols and bringing in much needed vaccines to protect our vulnerable and Elders of NFN.
Scott played a key role in the establishment and implementation of our NFN Fisheries Law and advocated changes to provincial fishing regulations which single-handedly changed the trajectory of a collapsing walleye fishery in Lake Nipissing into a recovered fishery that provides an abundance of subsistence, ceremonial and commercial resources for the people of NFN.
Since 2015, Chief Scott McLeod has played a key role of influence amongst the 21 Robinson Huron Treaty Chiefs to successfully reach a $10 billion dollar Annuity Claim settlement and he continues to work to get this settlement to our communities while preparing for negotiations in the “Go Forward” settlement.
More recently, Scott has taken a lead role with the Chiefs of Ontario and the Assembly of First Nations in advocating against Bill C-53 and protecting First Nation Rights and jurisdictions in our respective territories against false claims and assertions of Indigenous identity.
Scott previously sat as the Indigenous Advisor to the Great Lakes Fishery Commission and currently sits as the Chair of the Inland Fisheries working Group to the Assembly of First Nations, Chair of B’Maakonigan and the Lake Huron Regional Chief of the Anishinabek Nation.
Scott continues to, and will always be, a strong advocate for all issues affecting all Nipissing First Nation members, both on and off reserve.
