Kent Driscoll
Northern News Services

Spence Bay (Oct 28/05) - Nunavut has lost a leader and Taloyoak is in mourning.

Pat Lyall died on Oct. 24 and the ripples have touched every part of the territory.

Pat Lyall died on Oct. 24 at the age of 60. Lyall's brother Charlie said, "Fred had it pretty right on. He (Pat) always had a ready smile." - photo courtesy of Polarnet

Pat was one of the ubiquitous Lyalls of Taloyoak. There are 10 Lyall brothers and sisters, the sons and daughters of the late Nipisha and Ernie Lyall.

He is survived by his wife Leah and his children Ernie, Patricia and John.

Born on March 12, 1945, Pat was waiting for a flight to Edmonton the day he died. He began to experience chest pains at the airport in Taloyoak and died soon after.

"We have to cope. We have to be there for his kids," said Charlie Lyall, Pat's brother.

"We did a lot of fishing and camping together. He was an excellent hunter. He taught my son how to hunt and he never came home empty-handed as far as I can remember."

The Oct. 30 funeral was moved from the tiny Anglican church in Taloyoak, to the school gymnasium to accommodate the expected crowd.

"We are expecting a big crowd, from outside the community too. Our bishop will be there as well," said Anglican Minister Lucassie Nakoolak last week.

"We are all touched by his death, every person down to our kids. He was a compassionate person, willing to help anybody that needed it," said Nakoolak.

Pat was involved in numerous companies, boards and Inuit organizations, including the Nunasi Corporation, Co-op, Inuit Broadcasting Corporation (IBC), hunters and trappers association, and Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami fore-runner ITC.

Fred Elias knew Pat Lyall since the 1960s. The two attended residential school together and later worked together in the Kitikmeot Inuit Association. Elias remembered Lyall's love of the outdoors and his love of Inuit culture.

"He made long boat trips, down the Mackenzie. In the early '70s, he went from Cambridge Bay to Kugluktuk, back in the days when we thought a 20 horsepower engine was really fast," said Elias. "He mixed the traditional with modern knowledge. Back in the 70s he stayed at my place, he was a friend and we got along really well.

"He was a good friend, loved, approachable and never said a bad word about anyone."

"He was looked upon as a leader in the community and people respected him. I miss him most as a friend."

Friends is what Pat had a lot of.

"He wasn't just my boss, he was my friend," said Debbie Brisebois, the executive director of the IBC.

She has been with IBC for 25 years, and 20 of those were with Lyall.

"He was always there for people, professionally and personally," she said

"Pat was a strong advocate for Inuktitut language broadcasting, especially for children's programming."

Brisebois believes IBC owes its stability - over 25 years of broadcasting - to Lyall, who was the president for 20 years.

"Pat was the leader all along," said Brisebois.

When Nunavut was created on April 1, 1999, Brisebois credits Lyall for the IBC coverage in Inuktitut.

"Pat worked 24/7 to ensure that IBC got the resources to provide the coverage in Inuktitut. It was a huge struggle," said Brisebois.

"Pat was the first chairman of Northern TV Canada, the predecessor to APTN. That is something Pat was tirelessly lobbying for, to get that channel in the North."

His struggle to bring Inuktitut to the airwaves was never a surprise to his brother Charlie.

"The Inuit way of life - promoting and preserving it - was very important for him," he said.

Despite his accomplishments, Pat could be better remembered for his personal legacy.

"There is the humorous side, the caring side. He always provided fish and meat for the elders, but I think there is the cheeky side of him, too. He always had a ready smile," said Charlie.

Pat's "cheeky side" came out in a December 2000 News/North article about unidentified flying objects.

You can't tell how serious he was when he claimed to have seen four mysterious flying objects over the years.

One of his accounts was backed up by a number of eyewitnesses, including the pilots of the plane he was travelling in. It may have been true, or it may have been his ready wit.