MPPs at Queen’s Park are remembering an Indigenous leader from northwestern Ontario.
Both Greg Rickford and Sol Mamakwa spokes at Queen’s Park Monday to remember the life of Steven Fobister Sr. from the Grassy Narrows First Nation.
Mamakwa says Fobister was both a chief of Grassy Narrows and a Grand Chief of Treaty Three.
“He was a tireless advocate and a fighter for Grassy Narrows and the Anishnawbe people and the teacher of younger generations,” says Mamakwa.
“I sat across the table from Steve Fobister 15 or 20 years ago as a young lawyer taking his instructions,” says Rickford. ” If he was unwell, you’d never know it. He was a testament not only to his community, Treaty 3 and the Anishnawbe people of northern Ontario; he set a standard for leadership, one I think that we should all be clear on.”
Fobister passed away last Thursday at the age of 66 from complications due to mercury poisoning.