Internationally renowned leader dies at 49

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Sam Bull, St., a First Nations statesman and lawyer, died Dec. 12 while in office and serving his beloved First Nations people as the executive director for the Confederacy of Treaty 6 First Nations, an organization he co-founded. The 49-year-old politician was felled by a stroke and complications associated with diabetes and kidney disease.

Hundreds braved sub-zero temperatures to attend his Dec. 16 funeral at the Goodfish Lake Cultural Centre. Floyd Stern and Reverend Don Watt officiated, employing both traditional and modern United Church rituals and observances.

Raised on the Goodfish Reserve, at which he later served as chief for nine years, Bull was one of only a few educated Aboriginal people of his time. He attended Ashmont High School, Alberta College in Edmonton and completed a law degree at the University of Victoria, B.C.

He grew up with his culture around him, but more especially Native politics. This was primarily due to the influence of his father, Chief William bull, who often had Sam travel with him. It was that same influence which spurred Sam into the political arena.

Some of his earlier involvements were as a student counselor for the Alberta Vocational Centre, as a probation officer and two years in Ottawa with a youth project. He returned to Alberta and was elected chief at Goodfish around the same time that the late Eugene Steinhauer served as chief of Saddle Lake. The two of them worked together for the Indian Association of Alberta, with Bull as its vice-president. His wife, Linda, recalls the high regard he had for Steinhauer who, "never did anything for himself, but for his people."

At one point, Bull operated a school bus service, then a concrete business at his home reserve. He was always well organized and loved reading, said his wife, who also admired his ability to function in both Native and non-Native worlds. In like manner, he was a "does". To Linda, it was a quality that really dominated during her husband's lifetime.

"He would make things happen," she said. "He was very action-oriented." He would see a need, investigate it, talk to others about it, then "go for it," she explained.

In the early 1980s, when Canada was trying to repatriate the constitution, Bull headed up a delegat5ion of Alberta chiefs who traveled to London, where they expressed their concerns about the effects repatriation would have on their people. He also embraced treaty interest and lent support to First Nations delegates at the constitutional talks in Ottawa.

Outside the political arena, this gentle family man loved to hunt with his boys and attended sweats, fasts and sun dances. He was also active in the Native ministry.

His health problems took root in the early '70s, with the complications of his diabetes flaring up about four or five years ago. In his last two-and-a-half years, he was on dialysis.

In the later stages of his life, he was focusing much of his efforts on the bilateral process for self-government and cam from that school of thought in which he was convinced that First Nations matters are a responsibility of the federal government and should not, therefore, be transferred to provincial jurisdiction.

Over the years, Bull and his wife were very active on an international lever. At various stages, one or both of them would travel to foreign countries, where they would speak and promote cross-cultural understanding and awareness. In face, he did a lot of international work, such as cultural exchanges between Treaty 6 and the Mapuches of South America. He was part of the 500 years campaign of Indigenous peoples of the Americas, and worked with Ecuador and Guatemala. One of their aims was to correct "the twistery of the past," explained Linda.

This fall, he and his wife did a joint presentation before a world peace conference in Tokyo. Their emphasis was directed at global environmental issues like the protection and preservation of life forms on this planet.

Bull leaves to mourn his wie, Linda, Sons Sam Jr. and Russell, and daughters Crystal and Julie.