CHRIS FOULDS
Kamloops This Week
An Okanagan Indian Band member who attained national office has died.
Len Marchand, the former Liberal MP and senator, died Friday at age 82 in Kamloops.
The Vernon-born Marchand was the first status Indian elected to Parliament and given cabinet posts. Before that, he was one of the first aboriginal students to enrol at UBC.
And he first status Indian to graduate from a public high school in Vernon — although he also attended residential schools in 1949 and 1950.
As MP for Kamloops, Marchand served in Pierre Trudeau's government as minister of state for small business.
He was later appointed as a senator.
Look for more in the Morning Star.