Pat Alfred laid to rest in Alert Bay
By Malcolm McColl
Pat Alfred died in an accident on the Inside Passage off a smaller island in the choppy hypothermic waters beside Vancouver Island. Near midnight January 7th his herring boat was hauling in a catch and sank in an odd twist that sent the netload of herring into a panicky swim. This ball of fish took off and pitched the loaded vessel onto its side so fast nobody wore the safety suits.
Alert Bay mourns the loss of Namgis Elder Pat Alfred (right).
When his crewmates struggled each man for himself to gain a way out of the deadly situation, Pat Alfred, esteemed Namgis Elder, lifelong fisherman, important First Nation Canadian citizen, waved them away to their own salvation, and his body was found the next day on the shores of another Inside Passage isle. The family and 400 mourners laid him to rest January 12th in Alert Bay, BC.
The ship called the Westisle was a 23 metre seign boat owned by Canadian Fishing Co. working on the short herring opening around Gabriola Island. The crew was mostly from the Alert Bay, B.C. community of First Nation members, including the Elder who always believed in the work of the commercial fishery in Coastal First Nation communities. Pat Alfred was known as a man who was in and of himself able to preserve a vestige of a formerly prosperous occupation.
In his life as in his passing things changed under his feet, and the traditional ways of his people as gregarious and successful commercial fishers collapsed along the coast. The west coast of today operates at no better than 40 percent of the peak in the 1980s and its former self, with now certain species apparently disappearing. This was first and foremost among the concerns of Pat Alfred, for he had fished these waters throughout his life of 70 years and worked on the political issues to make sure this lifestyle could continue.
It is a very nice life to those who have seen it by visiting Alert Bay. Pat Alfred’s hometown is a beautiful Pacific island that contains people expert in many arts and industries. Indeed, to the Alfred family is one of them leading in the containment of First Nation culture at the meeting place of two worlds. Namgis people will tell of places where traditional ways and the entirety of culture reside essentially untouched. For people from Alert Bay the name Kingcome Inlet is synonymous with preservation of their lives. This is what they are fighting for against industry. It is their home and nobody else’s native land.
These are important facts you learn sitting in the carving shed with the offspring and close relations of Pat Alfred. These are things they learned from Pat Alfred. The town of Alert Bay, BC, hosted hundreds for his funeral and the community will furthermore host a traditional gathering Potlatch in Pat Alfred’s honour.
The potlatch will probably last a couple of days and play host to a couple thousand people in the beautiful Alert Bay Big House that was unveiled in 1999. At that event the abilities of the Alfreds to portray a thriving culture will no doubt stand out as a living testament to the life and times of Pat Alfred.