Oldest Manitoban dies at 111

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This article was published 17/12/2017 (3065 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The oldest known Manitoban has died.

Elder Sarah Harper, who lived her 111 years on Bunibonibee Cree Nation hundreds of kilometres north of Winnipeg, died Saturday night.

Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak Grand Chief Sheila North Wilson, who has known Harper all her life, shared the news online. In a statement Sunday afternoon, she offered condolences to Harper’s family, many of whom attended the centenarian’s final birthday last August.

“(Harper) was a lady full of compassion,” North Wilson said. “She was a gift to the generations of her family that were able to know her. It was an honour to celebrate her long life.”

North Wilson was among the dozens who descended on Bunibonibee on Aug. 24 to celebrate Harper’s 111th birthday. The joyous affair featured local band Raven Hawk playing a medley of country and western songs, while well wishers gathered round to hear Harper tell the secret to living a long life.

“She says to be happy and keep a smile on your face,” said Rose Knott, Harper’s granddaughter. Knott translated her grandmother’s words from Cree for the gathering.

“I’m very happy to still be here,” Harper said. “I’m glad they are here to celebrate my birthday.”

At the birthday bash, Bunibonibee Chief Timothy Muskego described Harper as a “pillar of support, especially for the community’s children and youth.”

Indeed, Harper was a constant through so much of Manitoba’s history.

“In reflecting on the history of our communities, our treaty regions and on the history of Manitoba, Canada and the world, it is amazing what (Harper) has lived through,” North Wilson said in August. “At the time of her birth, Manitoba was the ‘postage-stamp province’ and the great majority of what is now northern Manitoba was part of the Northwest Territories.’”

Harper, who was born Aug. 24, 1906, was the oldest Indigenous person in Manitoba, and believed to be the oldest person in the province. She was also, according to Wikipedia’s list of Canadian supercentenarians, the third-oldest person in Canada.

Her life is featured in author Gerald Kuehl’s book Portraits of the North. Kuehl, who met with Harper in 2003, told the Free Press via email in August that Harper’s “dark intelligent eyes” stood out to him.

“She has much wisdom from now over 110 years of experience and reflection,” he said. “She was raised in the traditional lifestyle of her people and did not attend residential school. She lived through very tough times with her people, a period when, as she said, ‘It was always difficult getting enough to eat.’”

Harper’s death will have a broad impact, North Wilson said.

“The ripples from losing an elder with the knowledge collected over such a long life will be felt throughout the north,” she said. “Manitoba has just lost a great woman who was a bridge to her traditional way of life and language.”

Premier Brian Pallister offered his well wishes online Sunday.

“Saddened to hear of the passing of Sarah Harper,” he wrote on Twitter. “Our sincere condolences to her family, friends and the community.”