news | Thursday January 30, 2025

In Memoriam: Chief Bill Wilson, 1944–2025

We are deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Kwakwaka’wakw Hereditary Chief Bill Wilson. Father to Kory Wilson and Jody Wilson-Raybould and husband to Bev Sellars, former Chief and Councillor of the Xat’sull (Soda Creek) First Nation in Williams Lake, Wilson was a lifelong defender of Indigenous Rights. Wilson was one of the founders of the BC First Nations Congress (now the First Nations Summit). Some of his personal story and prose are included in Sellars’s Price Paid: The Fight for First Nations Survival. Wilson’s work, words, and activism were instrumental in enshrining Indigenous Title to Land and Treaty Rights in the Canadian Constitution. We extend our condolences to his loved ones and all who are mourning this terrible loss.