Arthur Manuel: Sept. 3, 1951 - Jan. 11, 2017
Arthur Manuel was born into Indigenous activism. Working with the seeds his father, George, first sowed in the 1970s in the early days of Canada's Indigenous rights movement, the tireless B.C. aboriginal leader was on the front lines of the international fight for aboriginal title and self-determination right up until he drew his last breath. "Art went into hospital on Jan. 5 and went from talking about organizing his next meeting to being on a respirator," said his spouse, Nicole Schabus, a law professor at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, B.C. "He was sending people messages about the February meeting on the very day he went into the intensive care unit. He had been in North Dakota at Standing Rock just a couple weeks before that. He didn't know how sick he was." Those who have worked alongside Mr. Manuel during a lifetime of Indigenous activism were in awe of his commitment, strategic thinking and persistence, says Indigenous policy analyst and lon...