Garnet Angeconeb, a residential school survivor and staunch advocate for other survivors has died.
He was 68.
“Garnet was an inspiring leader and a great friend who dedicated much of his life to helping Indian Residential School Survivors on their path to healing,” said a statement from executive at Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN), an organization that represents 49 First Nations in northern Ontario. “Since this sad news, our thoughts and prayers have been with his family and friends. May the Creator guide him on his Spirit Journey.”
According to NAN, Angeconeb was a leader and mentor who dedicated much of his life to helping residential school survivors get and stay on a healing path and who spoke up about the horrors of the residential school system long before it was widely acknowledged.
Friends and family remember how Garnet showed them how to “turn anger into a voice for justice. His legacy is a roadmap to guide us towards reconciliation,” according to the statement from NAN.
A wake was held on Monday in Sioux Lookout, Ont., with a service being held on Tuesday.
Originally from Lac Seul First Nation, he left his community at age seven and attended the Pelican Falls Indian Residential School from 1963 to 1969.
He completed secondary school in Sioux Lookout and graduated from the University of Western Ontario in 1982 with a diploma in journalism.
Angeconeb served as executive director of the Independent First Nations Alliance.
A promoter of Indigenous languages, he developed Wawatay Radio Network coverage for northern and remote First Nations and was a founding editor of Wawatay News.
Elected councillor of the Town of Sioux Lookout in 1985, he was the first Indigenous person to be elected in that role.
In 2002 he received the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Award and in 2012 he was awarded the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Award for his community contributions.
In a statement Nishnawbe Aski Nation said, “Garnet refused to be silent at a time when the horrors of the Residential School system were not widely acknowledged. He was pivotal in the movement to secure compensation for IRS Survivors and the historic apology from the Government of Canada in 2008.
“Garnet showed us how to turn anger into a voice for justice. His legacy is a roadmap to guide us towards reconciliation.”
