Yukon who is who

Michael Smith, Sahwkuni (1946 – 2017)

Mike Smith was raised in a traditional way in the Lake Laberge area by his grandparents. He attended school in Whitehorse, and universities in British Columbia and New Mexico.¹⁾ In 1983, he worked at the Whitehorse law firm of Cable, Veale, Cosco, Morris and Smith and earned his law degree in 1984.²⁾ He was a chief negotiator during the process of land claims and self-government agreements process. He was co-chair of the Assembly of First Nation’s Chiefs Committee on Languages and was appointed as the Yukon’s representative on the AFN Chief’s Committee on Education.³⁾

Mike Smith was a chair of the Council of Yukon First Nations, chief of the Kwanlin Dün First Nation for three back-to back terms from 2003 to 2011, and the Yukon Regional Chief for the Assembly of First Nations starting in 2012. He will be deeply missed in the Yukon and Canada.⁴⁾