Ochapowace First Nation -
Ochapowace First Nation is in mourning following the unexpected death of Denton George, their chief of twenty years. He was only 58 years old.
George was elected to council in 1975 at the young age of 25. In 1989 the Elders of Ochapowace asked him to run for chief.
He was originally approached by Elders to run for council straight out of high school, but he wasn't yet old enough to run.
George was the longest-running Ochapowace chief, surpassing the 16-year run of Jack Ochapowace, who was chief from 1933 to 1949.
He once said he felt that leadership was in his blood. His grandfather Peter Watson was chief of Ochapowace from 1953 to 1955, and his uncle, Ivan Watson, was chief from 1959 to 1961.
George believed that his most important role as chief was to protect the rights of his people.
He once described how he felt about his role as leader.
"What is important to me is unity, working together. It's how you resolve a dispute. An analogy that I use is when the geese are getting ready to go south in the fall, they all practice and they get into this V formation. They are not following one another-they are all seperate and they fly in this formation. They always encourage the leader, and when the leader gets tired he drops back and somebody else moves in place.
"I say that's what we've got to learn from. When we're moving forward and we have a dispute, we resolve it and we don't fight and duck out of line and say 'I'm not going to be a part of this formation. So people are starting to understand that makes a lot of sense. You don't necessarily have to agree with the Chief or the leader. We'll get to wherever we're going eventually."
A wake was held Wednesday at the Kakisiwew school gymnasium at Ochapowace, with a funeral service the following day.
George leaves behind his wife, Beatrice, his two sons, Ernest and Albert and numerous family members.
