Margaret Labillois remembered as a 'quiet leader,' LG says

Lt. Gov. Graydon Nicholas is remembering Margaret Labillois, the first woman to be elected chief of a New Brunswick First Nation, as a "quiet leader" and an inspiration to many people in the province.

Labillois of Eel River Bar First Nation, near Dalhousie, died on Friday at the age of 89.

Nicholas met Labillois in 1974 as a young lawyer working for the Union of New Brunswick Indians. He says Labillois was the chief of Eel River Bar and asked him to help her with a claim in her community.

"She took a risk with me and that's how we got to know one another really well," Nicholas said.

"She had great confidence in me so I was always very grateful to her for that."

Nicholas said Labillois became a leader in her community because she saw injustices and inequities for aboriginal people and wanted to do something to improve the future.

He says as the first female chief in the province people had high expectations of her.

"I think she more than surpassed those expectations ... I always found her leadership to be a very quiet leadership in the sense that she would say, 'OK, this is what we want to achieve, this is what we should do and let's do it,'" he said.

Nicholas also holds an important distinction. He is New Brunswick's first aboriginal lieutenant governor.

Labillois is an inspiration to future generations

Nicholas says Labillois believed firmly in her language, her culture and her tradition and she has successfully passed those beliefs on to her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.

"It was always wonderful to have somebody that confident — almost like exuding an inspiration for all of us," he said.

He says that inspiration came in part from her actions, such as her education at Lakehead University, where she was a graduate in aboriginal languages.

"She's also a great example ... about the importance of education, about the importance of acquiring as much knowledge and wisdom as you can so when you go out and advocate for the rights of your people you have a very firm basis to do it," Nicholas said.

Nicholas is remembering his friend as a woman who respected and loved people and wanted them to work together to overcome injustices.

"Her guidance, her knowledge, her wisdom, I think will always be appreciated and sadly missed, because a person of that magnitude, a person of that personality, has now left for another world," he said.