SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Tom Eagle, a well-known and highly respected aboriginal and veteran's advocate, died Tuesday. He was 77.

Yellowknife veteran Tom Eagle leads a parade of First Nations and Inuit performers, veterans, aboriginal elders and Canadian Armed Forces into Menin Gate in Ypres, Belgium during a visit with his wife Muriel in 2005. - NNSL file photo

Eagle, born Thomas Norbert Eagle, moved to Yellowknife with his family in 1971 as a sergeant with the Canadian Armed Forces. He was to have a profound affect over the city and the Northwest Territories over the next 38 years.

Eagle, originally from the Tootinawaziibeeng Ojibway First Nation near Dauphin, Manitoba, wore many hats and was involved with many causes. He was best known locally for his involvement with the Tree of Peace Friendship Centre, for which he was the executive director twice from 1979 to 1984 and again from 1986 to 2002. The centre offers a wide variety of programs for aboriginal residents.

Roy Erasmus, who served on the board of directors at the Tree of Peace during Eagle's tenure as executive director, said his booming voice and military demeanour made him sometimes appear gruff, but he was a tireless and dedicated worker.

"He was a guy who worked really hard to help aboriginal people," said Erasmus.

"He was instrumental in getting native friendship centres around the North going."

After his arrival in Yellowknife, Eagle became chair of the Northwest Territories/Yukon Friendship Centre Association, through which he took part in establishing friendship centres in Fort Smith, Fort Simpson, Hay River, Fort Providence, Rankin Inlet, and Behchoko.

On the national stage, Eagle served with the National Association of Friendship Centres, including a term as president. Before coming to Yellowknife, from 1968 to 1969, Eagle acted as Metis chief spokesperson with the Federal Housing Task Force, and two years before that he was the chief organizer during the formation of the Manitoba Metis Federation. He was involved in forming the National Indian Brotherhood, known today as the Assembly of First Nations. He recently completed a three-year term on the National Seniors Advisory Council of Canada.

Erasmus said he last saw Eagle at the assembly's annual general meeting in July where he was a part of the NWT delegation that came to select a new leader. His image graces the poster promoting the event, where he is dressed in his Armed Forces uniform.

Before retiring from the Tree of Peace in 2002, one outstanding goal remained. Eagle was trying to convince the city to set aside land on 49 Street so the friendship centre could be re-built into a bigger facility, but it wasn't easy.

"Eventually calmer heads prevailed, and it rolled out as it was supposed to," said Mayor Gord Van Tighem.

Eagle was also behind the push to rename 49 Avenue by city hall and the Joint Task Force North headquarters as Veterans Memorial Drive, which was done in 2005. He wanted to take it one step further, extending it and making a memorial loop around Jackfish Lake and to Old Airport Road, according to Van Tighem.

"He had a vision of that as a veteran's memorial trail," said Van Tighem.

"He and I talked about that many times, and I know as we move forward with (Smart Growth plans) that will probably become a reality."

His involvement with veterans, much like his work with aboriginal people, was vast. Eagle was 19 when he joined the Armed Forces, after which he served oversees as a NATO peace keeper in Germany and Cyprus.

He fought long and hard over the years for recognition of the contribution made by aboriginal veterans. In 2006, he called on the federal government to apologize for the discriminatory treatment endured by aboriginal soldiers returning home from war.

The year before, Eagle and his wife Muriel joined aboriginal veterans and their families on a journey to France and Belgium to call home the spirits of First Nations people who died in the First and Second World Wars.

Muriel said her husband of 54 years, a past chairman of the First Nations Veterans Association of Canada, was deeply moved by the experience. He insisted to Veteran's Affairs Canada, before leaving for Europe, that memorial services for Canadian soldiers who lost their lives overseas have an aboriginal component.

"He there was nothing to do with the aboriginal people in this agenda, so he said, 'I want to see something or else I will personally get up on stage and speak my language,'" said Muriel.

"Two days later he got a new agenda ... Even (Queen Elizabeth II) said something about the aboriginal people in her speech."

Muriel said Eagle remained very active until just last summer when he started feeling ill.

He was working on an autobiography before he died.

He is survived by his daughters Bertha, Eleanor, Margaret, and sons Brian and Raymond, plus two brothers and one sister. He also had 10 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

His funeral service takes place this Saturday at 2:30 p.m., at St. Patrick High School.