Today has become a dark day in my life. I’ve just found out that a long time friend, colleague and thoughtful sage has passed away. Elmer Derrick, a hereditary chief of the Gitanyow People in the Gitksan Nation, has been a friend of mine before I even met him: he died this past weekend in Terrace BC.

I came across his story while researching safety stories for the Educators Program Package (EPP) which became the landmark curriculum program “Salmonids in the Classroom”. I can tell the whole story another time, suffice it to say that Elmer lost both parents and some siblings in a tragic fishing boat accident, while he was saved as he was riding in his Uncle’s boat travelling more or less in the same direction, on the same fateful stormy evening.

Elmer was then raised by his Grandmother until she felt that local schools were not serving him well and she sent him to a residential school near Edmonton. From there he attended the University of Alberta, gaining a B.Ed. degree before moving to Ottawa to work with the federal government. While there he obtained a journalism degree from Carleton University. After working in Ontario for the federal department of Indian Affairs he returned to western Canada and spent some time leading the Institute for the Development of Indian Government situated in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. It was in this position that a mutual friend, Dr. Owen Anderson, suggested I meet with Elmer. And so began a lifelong friendship — especially when Elmer found out that I knew about the tragedy at sea and had refrained from including it in the EPP.

Elmer returned home where he was involved in many community as well as commercial ventures. He had quickly re-learned his Gitksan Language so that he could take his seat with the other hereditary chiefs and elders at the Feast Tables, He was always looking for ways to improve the economic opportunities for his people and other Aboriginals. He invited me to come to his village of Gitanyow (Kitwancool) to establish the first Aboriginal Independent School (GIS) in 1986. Later he served on the board of the Port of Prince Rupert. In between, he was a constant promoter of the improvement in the interface between Aboriginals and others.

He also was a willing guest at classes of students, whether university, high school or pretty well any where. He was smart, he was erudite and he could tell his story with ease, with impact and with compassion.

Elmer had not been well recently but we were planning to get together later this autumn, perhaps for a football game in Vancouver. In the interim we talked a couple of times a month. His phone had gone silent when I called from Edmonton recently and I was a bit concerned. When his son Joe called me today while I was in meetings at Queen’s I was shocked. Elmer’s passing leaves a real void in the world, not just my life.

Elmer will be missed. But the world is better for him being among us for as long as he was.

g.w.