George Manuel, OC (February 21, 1921 – November 15, 1989) was an Aboriginal leader in Canada. In the 1970s, he was chief of the National Indian Brotherhood (known today as the Assembly of First Nations).
Manuel was born to Maria and Rainbow in 1921, on the Secwepemc territory of the Shuswap people. Maria later married Louie Manuel and George took his last name. He was first educated at the Kamloops Indian Residential School, but contracted tuberculosis and was transferred to an Indian TB hospital on an Indian reservation near Chilliwack, British Columbia. It was there that Manuel met the woman who would become his first wife, Marceline Paul, a Kootenai woman from St. Mary's Indian Band. Together Manuel and Paul would have six children.
Unfortunately, Manuel's developing responsibilities as a political leader began to be a growing strain on his marriage. He was elected chief of the Neskonlith Indian Band. In 1959, following the death of his mentor Andy Paull, Manuel was elected head of the North American Indian Brotherhood. Soon after, he and Marceline separated. Not long after this, the federal Department of Indian Affairs hired Manuel for a position with the Cowichan Tribes government at Duncan. Manuel worked as a Community Development Officer, and increased the awareness of problems and conditions the Cowichan people were experiencing.