(Facebook/ Harold Johnson)

By Nigel Maxwell

Respected leaders

Acclaimed Sask. author passes away

Feb 9, 2022 | 6:08 PM

The province’s literacy and law communities are mourning the loss of Harold Johnson.

Johnson, who had been diagnosed with stage four lung cancer, passed away Wednesday.

According to a statement by family on Johnson’s personal Facebook page, the storyteller, trapper, father, brother, husband, and uncle was surrounded by his loved ones.

Johnson was among the invited speakers at the 12th annual Northern Justice Symposium. (File photo/ paNOW Staff)

The statement indicated there are no plans at this time for a funeral service, and arrangements for a celebration of life will be communicated in the coming months.

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“We ask that everyone gives our family some time and space to grieve,” the statement said.

Johnson, who is from Montreal Lake Cree Nation, published 11 books, including Firewater: How Alcohol is Killing My People (and yours), which would earn him a nomination in 2016, for a Governor General’s Literacy Award.

Johnson’s book, Clifford, was shortlisted for two Saskatchewan Book Awards, including the University of Saskatchewan Non-Fiction Award and the Rasmussen, Rasmussen and Charowsky Indigenous Peoples’ Writing Award.

A picture taken of Johnson in 2016. (File photo/ paNOW Staff)

After spending some time with the Royal Canadian Navy and later working as a logger, trapper and miner, Johnson returned to university as an adult, completing his education in law with an masters degree at Harvard.

For the first few years of his career, Johnson worked as in-house council for a major trade union before moving back home to start a private practice in La Ronge. He started working for the Crown in 2008.

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nigel.maxwell@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @nigelmaxwell