Elijah Smith

Elijah Smith was a Southern Tutchone elder born in Champagne, Yukon. Volunteering for the Canadian Army in World War II, Smith served six years overseas in England and France. Returning home to find that Indigenous veterans were denied the rights and voting freedoms they had fought for, Smith became an uncompromising activist for Indigenous sovereignty.

In 1973, as founding chairman of the Yukon Native Brotherhood, Smith traveled to Ottawa with a delegation of Yukon chiefs to deliver Together Today for our Children Tomorrow directly to Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. This historic petition catalyzed modern Aboriginal land claims and self-government agreements across Canada. He was made an Officer of the Order of Canada.