Mi’kmaq Grand Chief Ben Sylliboy of the Waycobah First Nation in Inverness Co. has died.
He was 76.
Sylliboy died of natural causes at Cape Breton Regional Hospital Thursday afternoon.
He was elected as a Waycobah band councillor in 1970, serving in the position for nine terms.
Former Grand Chief Donald Marshall, who was ill at the time, asked Sylliboy to take on the role as interim grand chief in 1992, which he held until his death.
There are no funeral arrangements; friends say members of the Mi’kmaq nation will mourn Sylliboy’s death for one year.
Photo credit: Mi’kmaq-Maliseet Nations News (www.mmnn.ca)