B.C. Grand Chief Stewart Phillip undergoing kidney transplant | iNFOnews | Thompson-Okanagan's News Source
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B.C. Grand Chief Stewart Phillip undergoing kidney transplant

Grand Chief Stewart Phillip is getting a kidney transplant Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2021.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED

President of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs, Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, is undergoing kidney transplant surgery today after successfully finding a donor.

The former Penticton Indian Band Chief who spent 15 years as chair of the Okanagan Nation Alliance, went public with his search for a kidney donor in June, 2020. There were 6,000 responses to a website set up to find a donor. 

On Tuesday, Feb. 2, The Okanagan Nation Alliance put up a Facebook post wishing Phillip well.

“Please say prayers for our Grand Chief who will receive a kidney transplant tomorrow. Lim Limpt to his donor, his transplant team and all those who have supported him. He has given so much to his Syilx Nation and all Indigenous Peoples, we are so very grateful he is receiving this donation,” the post states.

Across four decades, Phillip has held multiple administrative positions with the Penticton Indian Band including band administrator, director of land management, education counselor, economic development officer and band planner and he spent 16 years as PIB Chief.

During a long career advocating for Indigenous people’s title and rights, Phillip has lobbied on Parliament Hill to defeat the First Nations Governance Act, stood with Elders of Treaty 8 against oil and gas development in the Peace River, burned referendum ballots with fellow chiefs in protest and has stood on the steps of the Legislature with 3,000 other people united under the Title and Rights Alliance banner.

In 2017, Grand Chief Stewart Phillip and his wife, Joan Phillip, were awarded the Eugene Rogers Environmental Award by the Wilderness Committee, an environmental non-profit organization. In November 2018, Grand Chief Phillip was awarded an honourary Doctor of Laws, honoris causa, from the University of British Columbia for his life-long advocacy and work.

— This story was originally published by the Times-Chronicle.

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