Delbert Guerin
A memorial service will be held today (May 16) for former Musqueam Indian Band Chief Delbert Victor Guerin Sr., who passed away on Sunday. Guerin, who worked as a log salvager, commercial fisherman and longshoreman, is known nationwide for a precedent-setting legal case over leasing land to the Shaughnessy Golf and Country Club that ultimately held the federal government accountable for failing to protect the interests of the Musqueam.
“It is a sad time for our community as we mourn the loss of a great leader for the Musqueam Nation and a true warrior for all First Nation people,” said Chief Wayne Sparrow in a press release announcing the 10 a.m. funeral service at the Musqueam Community Centre, 6777 Salish Drive. “Delbert dedicated much of his life to making sure our rights were acknowledged, and we owe it to him and our future generations to keep this vision alive.”
Guerin also served as a member of the National Indian Brotherhood (the precursor to the Assembly of First Nations), Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs and was a founding member of the Nauts’amat Tribal Council.
He is survived by his wife, Frances, his five children, two adopted nephews and three grandchildren.
Bud Osborn
A memorial service will also be held today for Downtown Eastside poet and activist Bud Osborn, who died last week at the age of 66 after being hospitalized for pneumonia and a heart condition. Osborn was a founder of the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (VANDU) and Insite, Canada’s first legal safe injection site.
He was also the author of five books including Hundred Block Rock, which refers to the 100 block of East Hastings where the memorial will take place outside Insite beginning at noon.
Osborn combined his poetry, activism and membership on the Vancouver Richmond Health Board to insist that hundreds of drug overdoses in the DTES were a health emergency.
“I credit him with being able to change the way people perceive drug users,” said Vancouver East MP Libby Davies in a prepared statement.
People will then march to Oppenheimer Park for food and readings of Osborn’s poetry between 2 and 4 p.m.
