Former FSIN chief pays tribute to Brian Mulroney

A state funeral is being held Saturday for former prime minister Brian Mulroney.

Tributes have been pouring in from colleagues and friends since Mulroney’s passing on Feb. 29 at age 84.

One of those colleagues is Roland Crowe, a former chief of both the Piapot First Nation and the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (FSIN).

He said Mulroney’s death is a terrible loss for Canada.

“I remember discussing with him our 1992 agreement on treaty land commitment,” said Crowe. “He said ‘Chief, while I’m prime minister, I am going to make good on the commitment we made to Cree-Indian people, and after waiting 117 years, we’re going to fulfil that treaty commitment.’

“I will never ever forget that day.”

Crowe said he really enjoyed working with Mulroney.

“He was a very, very kind man,” said Crowe. “Whether people liked it or not, he’s done what I figured was best for the country, and especially us as treaty Indians.”

Crowe said one story about Mulroney stands out to him more than the others.

“I remember a couple of days before the prime minister coming in, there was a guy by the name of Michael Jackson, who was the protocol officer,” said Crowe.

“He insisted that I don’t wear jeans (and) that I should wear something else other than jeans. I resisted, and then I remember when (Mulroney) was getting up to speak, he said, ‘I see Chief Crowe in his usual dress, but I tell you, his jeans were pressed.’ ”

Crowe said he was extremely saddened when he found out about Mulroney’s death.

“I still have difficulty with it,” said Crowe. “We lost a very honourable prime minister and a very decent human being.”

Crowe said the two of them were very close when they worked side by side.

“When you got into the back rooms with Prime Minister Mulroney, he was very very serious and honest, yet kind of had a humour to him,” said Crowe. “It made him a very pleasurable person to work with.”

Crowe said he will forever have respect for Mulroney.