Funeral service held for chief

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Standing Buffalo Dakota First Nation members, as well as friends and associates from across the province and the Sioux nations, gathered at the school gymnasium Nov. 26 to say their last goodbyes to a father, a friend, and a chief.

Mel Isnana, the chief of the First Nation for the past two decades, died suddenly Nov. 20, four days after his 48th birthday and five days after he was re-elected in the band's most recent trip to the polls.

Chief Isnana and his wife Stella were walking across the Regina Exhibition Park that Wednesday night on their way to watch one of Mel's favorite pastimes, the Agribition rodeo, when he suddenly collapsed. He was pronounced dead at the nearby Pasqua Hospital.

Family members would not confirm or deny earlier media reports that he had died of a massive heart attack. As of press time, the result of the autopsy had yet to be released.

Born on the Standing Buffalo Dakota First Nation on Nov. 17, 1953, Isnana got his education at Lipton School and at Bert Fox comprehensive high school, graduating in 1978. He later received a two-year diploma in administration from the University of Regina in 1993.

Isnana was first elected to band council in 1978, serving two terms before being elected chief in 1981. At the time of his election, Isnana was the youngest chief in the band's history and one of the youngest chiefs in Saskatchewan.

As chief, Isnana and several councils oversaw many improvements on Standing Buffalo, including the building of a school with gymnasium, health clinic, store, administration office, pow-wow arbor, street lighting, natural gas installation, the first Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation-built homes on the reserve, and the reserve's fire department. As well, the band saw the construction of Lakeview Lodge, a 40-bed personal care home that employs 15 people.

At various times, Isnana was appointed to the Touchwood Qu'Appelle Health District board, the Saskatchewan Indian Federated College board of governors, the University of Saskatchewan board of governors, and was at various times also chairman of the board of the Fort Qu'Appelle Indian Hospital and the New Dawn Valley Centre.

Isnana first rose to prominence within the FSIN in the early 1980s. As an executive member of the FSIN council, Isnana in 1981 pioneered the organization's first policy manual on child and family services, the first step in overturning the provincial social services' department's policy of sending children in the system to non-Aboriginal homes off-reserve.

As well,in 1981, he was part of an Assembly of First Nations group which lobbied the British House of Lords against patriating the Canadian Constitution.

Chief Isnana was one of several guest speakers at a United Nations conference on Indigenous people held in Geneva, Switzerland in 1998.

In 1991, Isnana worked with other leaders from the Sioux nations of North America in hosting the first Dakota/Nakota/Lakota summit. During the 10th anniversary meeting of the Sioux nations, held at Standing Buffalo in August 2000, a Dakota Elder from Pine Ridge, S.D. gave the chief the traditional name Tatanka Duta Mani (Red Walking Buffalo).

Last year, Isnana made one of his first forays into non-Aboriginal politics as the Liberal candidate in Regina Qu'Appelle during the 2000 election. He finished third with 5,067 votes, about 18 per cent of the total votes cast in the riding during that election.

Isnana also served as general manager of the Qu'Appelle Valley Hockey League's Standing Buffalo Bulls for a number of years.

After a request from league commissioners, Isnana and other Standing Buffalo band members helped found the team in the fall of 1996, keeping senior hockey alive in the Fort Qu'Appelle district after the Fort Falcons folded.

As general manager, Isnana saw the Bulls win three consecutive QVHL titles in 1998-99, 1999-2000, and 2000-01. The Bulls also won the Saskatchewan Hockey Association Senior A title in 2000.

In 1988, Chief Isnana was part of a Saskatchewan trade mission to Mexico.

Isnana and his family members also farmed on the reserve.

Isnana was predeceased by parents William and Theresa Isnana, as well as his brothers William Jr. and Lloyd Sr.

Isnana is survived by his wife of 29 years, Stella, sons Marcel, Rodney, Mel Jr. and Troy, daughter Lynette, brothers Frank, Clifton and Lorne, sisters Maxine and Freda, as well as several grandchildren.

After a funeral, Chief Isnana was buried at a ceremony at the Standing Buffalo cemetery on Nov. 27.