Bryan Pearson remembers the passing of Gene Rhéaume

Eugène Rhéaume (left, wearing a muskrat parka), then the Progressive Conservative MP for the Northwest Territories, visiting Iqaluit (then called Frobisher Bay) in 1965 with John Diefenbaker, then the Progressive Conservative leader of the official opposition. “I am very saddened to hear this news and I would like to extend my personal condolences to the family of Eugène Rhéaume. The many contributions that Eugene made on behalf of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples and to all the Aboriginal peoples of Canada still lives on today,” Betty Ann Lavallée, the national chief of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples, said Nov. 2 in a statement. (PHOTO BY TED GRANT, OTTAWA)

It is with sadness that I have learned of the passing of Joseph Eugène Rhéaume, or Gene Rhéaume, the member of parliament for the Northwest Territories between 1963 and 1965.

Gene was born in Fort Norman, NWT on Dec. 12, 1932. His father was factor with the Hudson’s Bay Co. He died this past Nov. 1, at the age of 80 at his home in Penticton, B.C.

Gene was a member of the Native Council of Canada, now the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples, and was the third Métis member of Parliament after Louis Riel.

He first ran for the House of Commons in 1962, but lost to Isabel Hardie. In 1963 he defeated her and served until Nov. 8, 1965, when he was defeated by Bud Orange of the Liberals.

It was during this time that the very first Toonik Tyme was held in Iqaluit, in 1965. John Diefenbaker, the leader of the opposition at the time, agreed to be the first Honorary Toonik.

Diefenbaker arrived on a Nordair DC-4 with his wife Olive, his brother Elmer, and members of Gene’s staff, including Anne Mikidjuk Hanson, who was Gene’s secretary.

This photo shows Dief the Chief, as he was known, trying on a sealskin fedora that Inuk Ltd. had produced in our small plant in Apex.

Included in the photo is Gene in his muskrat parka, Annie Evaluardjuk, the wife of artist Henry Evaluardjuk, with their son Simon on her back and her son Josephee. The car in the background belonged to the USAF base commander and I am standing on the right.

Toonik Tyme was a huge success, due mostly to the fact that there was very little in the way of entertainment in those days, no television, no hockey. Toonik Tyme is now almost 50 years of old and is still going strong.

Gene leaves a loving family of sons and daughters and some very successful grandchildren.

Bryan Pearson
Iqaluit

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