Bill Wilson, hereditary leader and father of former Cabinet Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould, died.
Wilson-Raybould announced his death on social networks and said that his father’s life was “a life of leadership and struggle to achieve changes.” The cause of death was not revealed.
The hereditary chief Kwakwaka’wakw once faced former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau in heated constitutional conversations in the 1980s and, finally, helped achieve titles of indigenous lands and rights in treaties enshrined in the Constitution.
On one occasion, Wilson told Trudeau that his daughters, Jody and Kory, one day they would become first ministers.
BC Chief Bill Wilson tells Pierre Trudeau at a 1983 Constitutional Conference on native issues that his preteen daughter, Jody, wants the Prime Minister.
Wilson was born in 1944 in like, BC, according to the Canadian encyclopedia, and was a lawyer and graduated from the University of BC in 1973.
According to the Canadian Lawyers Association, Wilson was the second indigenous person to graduate from the Law Faculty in British Columbia.
He was also involved with indigenous rights groups such as the Union of Indian Chiefs of British Columbia (Ubcic) and the top of the first nations (FNS).
The hereditary boss Kwakwaka’wakw was from the first Kwakiutl nation, located in the northeast of Vancouver Island.
His daughter Wilson-Raybould served in the cabinet of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as Minister of Justice and Fiscal General and briefly as Minister of Vetarans Affairs.
“He taught us well and we tried to honor everything he gave us by continuing with his work,” said Wilson-Raybould in X, formerly known as Twitter.
Our beautiful and beloved father, grandfather, husband of Bev and hereditary boss, hemas kla-lee-lee-kla (Bill Wilson), died tonight surrounded by love and this glorious sunset … (1/2) pic.twitter.com/quautczh4c
In a publication on social networks, Ubcic sent his condolences to Wilson’s family and the first nation.
“The UBCIC is deeply saddened when they learn about the death defender of indigenous titles and rights, Bill Wilson,” he wrote. “He dedicated his life to our fight and played a decisive role in the creation of the UBCIC and the [First Nations Summit]”
