RIP Tyrone Tootoosis

Cree cultural icon Tyrone Tootoosis died at his home near Duck Lake, Saskatoon. Tootoosis, who was 58, died early Sunday morning, February 12th of colon cancer. He was at his ranch near Duck Lake, Sask., which he shared with his wife, University of Saskatchewan professor Winona Wheeler. Tootoosis was a key figure in the Indigenous performing arts, but also in Cree linguistics and history. Like his father, Wilfred, Tootoosis spent tens of thousands of hours sitting with elders, recording their stories. Tyrone was born on Poundmaker Reserve, Saskatchewan, Canada in 1959. He was the nephew of Native American film and TV actor Gordon Tootoosis who died in 2011 at the age of 70. Tyrone appeared in one Euro-western the U.S., Canadian, German co-produced television film ‘DreamKeeper’ in the role of Whirlwind Dreamer.