The Sunshine Coast has lost a leader whose public life spanned shíshálh Nation politics, municipal politics and regional district politics.
Former shíshálh chief Stan Dixon died this week at the age of 77 from complications of a serious stroke.
As well as terms as chief and band councillor, Dixon also served on Sechelt municipal council and on the Sunshine Coast Regional District board as a representative for Area C (which was absorbed by the District of Sechelt in the 1980s) and as director for the Sechelt Indian Government District.
Dixon will be remembered by many for his role in helping to achieve self-government for the shíshálh Nation as chief in 1986. He talked with Coast Reporter about that effort for a special feature on the 30th anniversary of the passage of the Sechelt Indian Band Self-Government Act.
“It was the only solution to our problems,” Dixon said. “We needed freedom.”
Current shíshálh Nation chief Warren Paull was a councillor at the time.
Remembering Dixon this week, Paull said he was “one of the greats of his time.”
“He was tenacious. He wouldn’t give up. He said this is the only way forward, we’re not staying under the Indian Act, we’re not going to stay wards of the Crown,” Paull said. “He believed that right down to the bottom of who he was. Without him, I don’t think it would have happened.”
Other politicians who worked with Dixon had similar memories to share.
Former Sechelt mayor Bruce Milne appointed Dixon as deputy mayor when they were elected together in 1996. It was Milne’s first term as mayor, and Dixon’s second on Sechelt council.
“I asked him to be the deputy mayor in large part because of his experience and deep knowledge of the community,” Milne said. “Even though he seemed larger than life, his contribution was perhaps even larger than many people would have recognized.”
Powell River – Sunshine Coast MLA Nicholas Simons said Dixon was part of a leadership group that recognized the inherent importance of self-government, and was prepared to take a position that wasn’t always supported by other First Nations because they knew it was in the best interests of the shíshálh people.
“He was an excellent communicator who had friends from all walks of life,” Simons said.
Gordon Wilson, who served as MLA for Powell River-Sunshine Coast from 1991 to 2001, and also sat on the SCRD board with Dixon, said in a Facebook post, “His wisdom, sense of humour and insight into the commonality that makes up our human condition made him a leader who managed to complete what many thought was impossible.”
Dixon, who also published Kahtou News in partnership with his wife Lori Dixon, began writing the memoirs of his political life in the early 2000s, and in 2008 published book one of K’watamus Speaks.
In the closing chapter Dixon wrote, “I ask you to respect others and love your country. In today’s world there is a lack of love and goodness in mankind.”
A traditional funeral will be held at the shíshálh Nation longhouse at 11 a.m. July 27. Dixon's family said the public is welcome.
Coast Reporter will have more coverage online and in print over the coming days.
