'We miss him dearly:' Friends and family mourn longtime broadcaster Roy Goose

Well-known northern broadcaster and elder Roy Goose is being remembered as a leader with a bit of a mischievous side.

Known for his sense of humour and knowledge of Inuvialuit language and culture, Roy worked at CBC North in Inuvik, N.W.T., for decades. He died late last week after a battle with cancer.

"We miss him dearly," said his cousin Louie Goose. "It's just like Roy, though.... He actually was born a day and a year before I was and it just seemed like all our lives Roy was always ahead of me and and sort of paving the road for me, and I really appreciate it."

He recalled a story from their childhood, sitting in the cool creek in their caribou clothes so they could get saturated in the summer's heat.

"Our parents we're not happy with that, but Roy always got me to do stuff like that," Louie said.

"He was very mischievous."

Roy spent his fair share of time behind a microphone, occasionally hosting radio shows such as CBC's Tusaavik — a Inuvialuit language afternoon show. 

Loren McGinnis, a former host of CBC's The Trailbreaker in the N.W.T., said Roy generously shared many stories, photos and jokes in addition to his Inuvialuktun language.

They even feasted on a very special meal as he toured McGinnis around Inuvik and the Delta, picking up food in different places: vegetables grown in Inuvik, caribou harvested in the Delta, whale meat from the Beaufort Sea, fish caught in Kittigazuit Bay and bread baked in Tuktoyaktuk.

"Quyanainni for showing me a thing or two that I'll carry with me," McGinnis wrote in a Facebook post.

Always on the search for information

Roy was a trained linguist, and he honed his craft of simultaneous translation when he travelled south to Ottawa or even at U.N. events in Washington, D.C.

Roy once told McGinnis a charming, yet complicated, story after finding out he was a distant relative of Mitchell Sharp, who was a federal cabinet minister under prime ministers Lester B. Pearson and Pierre Elliott Trudeau.

"Roy showed up at an international forum looking like the wild young Inuvialuk man he was: wiry frame, denim on denim, hunter's hands, wild hair — I can picture it. Handsome son of a gun, I bet," said McGinnis. 

"But Mitchell Sharp said the look wouldn't do at the meetings. Roy had a generous take, that Sharp wanted him to be well-oiled to leave the right impression and have his voice heard. But there's another side to that story where it was Roy being asked to fit into another person's culture and values. Roy and I acknowledged that tension."

Sharp sent his assistant out with Roy to outfit him, and Roy later said he felt like a million bucks after a lavish lunch paired with a fine suit, haircut, shave and Italian leather shoes. Roy sent McGinnis the photo of him in that very suit years later.

Those who knew him said Roy had a peaceful nature about him, and a deep love for his family, even on his constant searches for more knowledge.

His friend Dennis Allen said whenever they were together Roy would always come up with tidbits of information.

"It would just stop you in your tracks. It's like, 'Where do you know that from, Roy?' And he said he either read it or he experienced it because he had a really, really exciting life too," Allen told CBC's The Weekender.

Roy joined the military out of high school, and also worked on the railroad. He was not only a journalist and broadcaster, but a photographer and ambassador. 

"He worked in a lot of different capacities that brought them all over the North and he met all kinds of interesting people," said Allen. "So, you know, sitting with him was never a boring moment."