Pelican Lake elder lived a full life and left a long legacy

Jacob Bill + Sons was the culmination of a life of working on the land. When he first began logging, as Jimmy tells it, Jacob used horses and hand cut the trees in a very physically demanding job.

“He told us about his life was when he was growing up and all that. It was hard, hard and not an easy life, what he went through,” said Jimmy.

But Jacob persevered, walking on foot to earn an income trapping, hunting, logging. Later, he also began farming, making bales.

As time went on, he had people working for him in his logging business but was still using horses to haul the logs out of the bush near Chitek Lake.

“He had farmland – he started cutting, making fields on his own with that to have land to seed.”

Jacob was named a Senator for the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (FSIN) and kept that role until his passing on September 21, 2025 six months after celebrating his 101st birthday on March 9.

Last year, the FSIN helped Jacob celebrate his 100th birthday and marked the importance of a century of life and experience.

Jacob Bill celebrated his 100th birthday last year with members of the FSIN. (Facebook/FSIN)

“We know that each birthday celebrated is not merely a personal milestone but a testament to the resilience of a community. A continuum of life experiences, a testament to the struggles and triumphs that shape a collective narrative. Elders are the revered storytellers and guardians of wisdom, and the living libraries of ancestral knowledge. They are the connections to cultural roots that anchor a people,” said the FSIN on their social media page.

Jacob gave his time to the Office of the Treaty Commissioner as well, advising them on projects like the book, ‘Treaty Elders of Saskatchewan: Our Dream is That We May One Day Be Clearly Recognized as Nations’ (Harold Cardinal, Walter Hildebrandt).

That was 25 years ago, when Jacob was a mere 76 years old. He was the last surviving person to be interviewed by the authors.

The OTC acknowledged Jacob’s passing with a statement regarding his contribution to their work on the importance of treaties to Saskatchewan’s Indigenous people.

“In the book, kêhtê-aya Jacob Bill talks about the Treaties as ‘kihci-asotamatowina’ or as ‘sacred undertakings,’ noting that “When one makes a sacred promise to the Creator … such an undertaking is a grave matter, and it is to be feared in the event of a breach.”

In his final interview with OTC last year, he told interviewer Abel Charles simply that “from this Treaty, all life comes from it.”

The OTC went on to say that while Jacob will be greatly missed, his teachings and knowledge will live on, as will the Indigenous people on whose behalf he spoke.

A highlight of Jacob’s life was a visit to England where he spoke in front of Queen Elizabeth II about the importance of treaties.

Jacob has left a more tangible legacy in his descendants, as well.

Jimmy said that at 60, he is the youngest surviving child but has four brothers and a sister who are also still living, while four have already passed away. His partner passed away 23 years ago.

Jacob left 54 grandchildren, 153 great-grandchildren and 66 great-great-grandchildren.

His service was held on Sept. 23 at the Pelican Lake First Nation band hall and he was laid to rest in the Pelican Lake First Nation Cemetery.

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susan.mcneil@pattisonmedia.com

On BlueSky: @susanmcneil.bsky.social

by Susan McNeil

Pelican Lake elder lived a full life and left a long legacy

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