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11 May 2011
A commemoration
An idea was brought forth by one of Tiger’s many friends, to organize a commemoration to reminisce of Tiger’s contributions to the Gitxsan cause. In the last few years of Tiger’s life he was mad at the world, mainly the Gitxsan world, and to compound this, he suspected people who should be closest to him to have sugared his gas tank. I was a lifetime friend of Ralph and understand his trials and tribulations. In spite of it all, he did not dwell on the negative, and quite the opposite, he never had a dull moment.
Tiger was employed by the Gitxsan Hereditary Chief ’s office during the Delgamuukw years. He was a fundraiser and always there to speak to any audience. In the mean time, some people were of the opinion that Tiger was living high of the hog and had an account in the Cayman Islands. There was a time no funding came into the Chief ’s Office because we were in court with the government. This meant Tiger was on what was called Unemployment Insurance until it ran out. He still did his duty and went to gatherings to give the state-of-the-nation talks to get support. Tiger felt that he had to shoulder on like everyone else. To do that, he started to run up his credit card. Right up until he passed on, he still never caught up with his maxed out credit card.
Overall he was not too happy; his dignity was hurt as he had to rely on a couple friends to pay his light bill and cover the damage of his sugared gas tank. He and I were very much in the same boat, and I could not help him much. Tiger gave of himself, though there was nothing left to give. I hear some people talk loud in the media and trashing their fellow man, and I often ask, what did you do? Most of the time, no one responds to ignorance because ignorance will always be there. The commemoration for Tiger will happen in Kispiox … no dates yet, since it is still in the idea stage.
In any case, work goes on. The only thing one can try to do is to do the right thing. What else can you do but do what you believe is right.
Art Wilson
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