Remembering Eddie Dillon, Inuvialuit leader from Tuktoyaktuk

Inuvialuit and others across the N.W.T. are mourning the loss of a long-time leader and community builder, Eddie Dillon.

His death was announced on the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation's (IRC) website Monday.

Dillon was the chair of the Tuktoyaktuk Community Corporation and the secretary-treasurer of the IRC's board of directors.

He was also a member of the committee that negotiated the first land claim agreement north of 60. The Inuvialuit Final Agreement was signed in 1984 and described by the IRC as a ground-breaking achievement that still affects the lives of everyone who lives and works in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region, stretching across the Western Arctic.

"This loss is very difficult and our thoughts are now with the family.  We all prayed for his continued health and just benefited from Eddie's guidance during the IRC board meeting in April. IRC hoped to continue to rely on his strength, integrity, and sharp political and business acumen for much, much longer," said Duane Smith, IRC chair and CEO, in a statement posted on the IRC's website.

'Everything comes down to housing'  

"Eddie Dillon demanded results and concrete details for the benefit of all Inuvialuit and never shied from the really tough discussions, then ensured in the end we all came together.  He reminded us of our responsibilities, what was most important and to face our challenges as one."

Dillon was a big proponent of education and trying to ensure students had an opportunity to continue learning after graduating high school.

He was also keenly aware of the challenges in his community, including the need for more full-time jobs, improved access to internet — and climate change.

Tuktoyaktuk is especially sensitive to climate change, with the community's coastline collapsing into the sea.

"The community believes that once we let the erosion take over, we are going to lose the harbour totally so our objective is to protect as much as we can," he said in an interview with CBC last year in Tuktoyaktuk, N.W.T.

But first and foremost, there was one issue he said that was the most pressing.

"Throughout the North everything comes down to housing, it's a bigger issue."