Staff writers
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Oct 02/00) - He was a man who captivated the nation and was, himself, captivated by the North.

The Right Hon. Pierre Elliott Trudeau, died Thursday afternoon in Montreal. He was 80 years old. His body lay in state over the weekend and this morning on Parliament Hill. A state funeral is planned for Tuesday in Montreal.

His passing resonated throughout the North where the flags of Canada, Nunavut and the Northwest Territories flew at half staff for a prime minister many will remember as the most influential leader of the last century.

One of the country's most colourful and often quoted politicians, Trudeau served as prime minister from 1968-79 and again from 1980-84.

Peter Kamingoak learned of the death of the man he considered his friend Thursday night, watching the evening news from his Kugluktuk home.

"I said a little prayer for him," said the Kamingoak, four years Trudeau's junior.

In the 1950s, when both were young men, Trudeau enlisted Kamingoak's help as an interpreter after completing one of the first recreational paddles of the Coppermine River. At the time, the community was little more than an encampment of four or five families living in caribou skin tents.

Kamingoak said Trudeau spent three or four days in the camp learning about the lives of the Inuit. When he departed, he left behind a promise.

"He said he was going to do something and he did. Look how we are today, living like kings, in nice warm houses."

Trudeau left similar impressions of hundreds of Northerners. His frankness and conviction are qualities Northerners have long valued, even when his opinions conflicted with Northern interests.

"He was somebody I always admired and had a lot of respect for," said premier Stephen Kakfwi. As a member of the National Indian Brotherhood, Kakfwi was often at loggerheads with Trudeau.

Kakfwi said Trudeau was never a great supporter of aboriginal rights.

"A lot of us, as aboriginal leaders and Northern leaders, probably went head-to-head with him on a number of occasions, but there's nobody that I know of who despised him or belittled his capacity to grapple with issues or tackle them head on."

Inuvialuit leader and former premier Nellie Cournoyea said the land was the focus of Trudeau's fascination with the North.

"Any conversation we had with him always related to the land and the country and people living on the land, not necessarily institutions," said Cournoyea.

Nunavut commissioner Peter Irniq remembers Trudeau as a friend to Inuit, a prime minster who sympathized with the aboriginal plight in Canada and believed in the idea of Nunavut.

"He had a great love for Nunavut," said Irniq. "His work as prime minister in aboriginal politics will have an everlasting impact.

"The patriation of the constitution in 1982 made it easier to work on aboriginal rights."

While Irniq was a member of the Inuit Committee on National Issues in the early '80s he met with Trudeau twice. But his strongest impressions came from his first meeting with Trudeau in Churchill, Manitoba in the winter of 1970.

"He was a striking man, a gentle man, who spoke from the heart," said Irniq.

"When he shook my hand he said he was happy to meet me, like a regular person."

Not all Nunavummiuts' experiences are directly political, however many have personal memories.

Lucasi Ivvalu of Iglulik easily remembers the former prime minister's visit to his north Baffin community in the early 70s.

"I remember thinking he would be distant, because he was a politician, but he wasn't, he wanted to talk to everyone and meet everyone," said Ivvalu.

"He was so warm and open hearted, he had time to have a conversation with me."