May they rest in peace: those we lost in 2015

The people of the Kitikmeot region lost Mary Kilaodluk, 72, on Sept. 27. In this 2008 photo, Kilaodluk is dancing at feast organized by the Kitikmeot Inuit Association. (PHOTO BY JANE GEORGE)

Peter Murdoch, seen here in a photo from the early 1960s, died Dec. 9 in Montreal at the age of 86. Murdoch, a former Hudson’s Bay Co. clerk and government administrator, helped create Ilagiisaq, the Fédération des Co-opératives du Nouveau-Québec. (PHOTO COURTESY OF ILAGIISAQ)

Bob Kadlun of Kugluktuk, 61, a respected negotiator with Tungavik Federation of Nunavut, died Aug. 1. (FILE PHOTO)

Inuit leader Meeka Kilabuk, 64, a business woman and former president of the Qikiqtani Inuit Association, seen here in 2012 displaying one of her unique Inuit parka designs, died Nov. 7 in Ottawa. (PHOTO BY SARAH ROGERS)

• Nellie Angutiguluk, 29, of Nunavik, a homicide victim, died May 18 in the Côte-des-Neiges area of Montreal.

• Don Chart, 83, a veteran employee of the Northwest Territories Housing Corp. and well-known Iqaluit resident, died Nov. 30 in eastern Ontario.

• Marc Cornelissen and Philip de Roo, two travellers from the Netherlands, died April 29 while skiing on the sea ice about 200 kilometres north of Resolute Bay.

• Terry Fenge, 65, a highly-respected researcher, administrator and land claims consultant who played key role in negotiating the Nunavut Land Claims agreement, died Nov. 8 in Ottawa.

• Stuart Hodgson, 91, or “Umingmak,” who served as commissioner of the Northwest Territories between 1967 and 1979, died Dec. 18 in Vancouver. Hodgson played a vital role in developing a democratically accountable territorial government, laid the foundations for the NWT legislative assembly, and oversaw the first devolution of province-like powers from Ottawa to the territorial government — over education, local government, and economic development.

• Lucassie Ivalu, former president of the Baffin Regional Inuit Association and former mayor of Igloolik, died in mid-December.

• Mark King Jeffrey, 34, a notorious Iqaluit murderer, died June 29 at the Beaver Creek prison near Gravenhurst, Ont. while serving out a life sentence.

• Bob Kadlun, 61, the celebrated NLCA negotiator who in the 1980s and 1990s played a guiding role at the Tungavik Federation of Nunavut, died Aug. 1 at his home in Kugluktuk.

• Meeka Kilabuk, 64, the well-known Inuit leader, business person and women’s rights activist who served as president of Qikiqtani Inuit Association helped found Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, died Nov. 7 in Ottawa.

• Mary Kilaodluk, 72, a revered Cambridge Bay elder who revitalized drum dancing and traditional sewing in the Kitikmeot region, died Sept. 27.

• Manasie Kilukishak, 49, a respected hunter, Canadian Ranger and search and rescue volunteer, died July 5 while attempting to retrieve a snowmobile from the sea ice near Arctic Bay.

• Peter Murdoch, 86, the former Hudson Bay Co. clerk and government administrator who helped create the Ilagiisaq, the Fédération des Co-opératives du Nouveau-Québec, died Dec. 9 in Montreal.

• Sandy Oolayou, 44,of Iqaluit, a prolific hunter and veteran correctional worker with the Department of Justice, died April 7 near Ward Inlet after his snowmobile crashed through the ice while competing in the Toonik Tyme seal hunting contest.

• Ross Wyvern Peyton, 86, a versatile entrepreneur who lived in Pangnirtung for many years, died Oct. 19 at his home in Newfoundland.

• Simon Twyee, 76, a beloved Rankin Inlet elder, died of natural causes on the land Aug. 29 after he had gone out hunting on his all-terrain-vehicle.