Loss of Vuntut Gwitchin elder Joel Peter 'insurmountable'

The death of Vuntut Gwitchin elder Joel Peter is an "insurmountable" loss, according to hisrelatives and colleagues.

Peter died on Oct. 15 at the age of 76, said his nephew Jeffrey Peter.

Joel Peter was part ofthe last generationto be raised on the land speaking Gwich'in as his first language, his nephew said.

But Joel Peter also easily adapted to the English language and modern life.

Jeffrey says his unclebecame a mentor to him. His uncle was smart, humble, calm, spiritual, traditional and always genuine, he said.

He was most at home in the bush, Jeffrey said.

"Living out on the land, being out on the land, hunting, fishing and he was always happy to share his knowledge about those things," said Jeffrey.

"He would never brag about it. He would just show you by actions and that's the traditional Gwich'in way of teaching," he said.

Friend, uncle, mentor and teacher

Later in his life, Joel began working with the Vuntut Gwitchin heritage centre in Old Crow.

Family member Brandon Kyikavichik hadbeen close to Peter since his early childhood.

"We lost a friend. We lost an uncle, we lost a mentor, a teacher, we lost someone that we cherish very much," Kyikavichik said.

Kyikavichik said he and Peter worked together on heritage projects in Old Crow for the past 11 years.

Part of that work includedusing old recordings to recreate, down to the smallest details,what traditional life was like for previous generations.

Peter was a master speaker of Gwich'in, he said. The two of them could work together in almost any dialect.

Kyikavichik said it's an "insurmountable" loss to the community.

"We, right now, you know especially the people around my age group ... we're just scrambling right now.

"We are right on the very precipice of that transitional period that our elders foresaw decades ago and we're just scrambling trying to save our language, trying to draft laws, trying to protect our lands from development, trying to protect the caribou," he said.

Peter was part of every aspect of that, especially the language, Kyikavichik said.

A funeral service for Joel Peter will be held at St Luke's Anglican Church in Old Crow at 2p.m on Saturday.