GRASSY NARROWS FIRST NATION, ON — A funeral service for the late Steve Fobister, a community activist and former Chief of Grassy Narrows First Nation, will take place Tuesday.
Fobister passed away in hospital in Kenora on Oct. 11 at the age of 66.
Born in Dryden, Ontario, he also served as Grand Chief of the Anishinaabe Nation in Treaty # 3 territory.
Current Treaty 3 Ogichidaa Francis Kavanaugh calls Fobister "a tireless advocate" for his people, having brought awareness of the need to protect the environment and to address systemic racism in the justice and health systems.
In 2014, he embarked on a hunger strike to bring attention to the impact on his people of mercury contamination in the English-Wabigoon river system.
Fobister ended the protest when he was able to meet with Ontario's minister of aboriginal affairs, David Zimmer, and received assurances that the issue of mercury contamination would be addressed.
