Ian MacKenzie, born in Toronto on December 11, 1934, died peacefully on April 8, 2025, in Powell River, BC. He is survived by his wife Paula Sampson, children John, Andrew, Douglas, T-Jay, Tori and Samantha and seven grandchildren. He was an adopted member of the Haida and Nisga’a Nations.
He and Paula moved to Powell River from Terrace in 2009. They joined Blueberry Commons Farm Cooperative as active members and were also involved in Climate Action Powell River and Friends of Louis Riel.
Ian, retired after seven decades of ordained ministry in the Anglican Church of Canada, enjoyed camping, golfing and fishing along the Sunshine Coast. A Dalhousie University graduate, he received a divinity degree at King’s College in Halifax, a master’s at Union Theological Seminary in New York and an honorary doctorate from Vancouver School of Theology.
His ministry was shaped entirely by Indigenous justice activism. In the 1960s, after helping organize the Trinity College Conference on the Canadian Indian, he was elected president of the Ontario Indian-Eskimo Association. He helped found the Indian Ecumenical Movement, which laid the groundwork for National Indigenous Peoples Day. He worked for the Dene in the Northwest Territories and helped those forming the Council of the Haida Nation. He was a voting member of the Nisga’a Tribal Council for 21 years during their treaty negotiations.
In educational endeavours, Ian was a founding director of Rochdale College and the Nishnawbe Institute in Toronto, founding director of the Indigenous Studies Centre at Vancouver School of Theology and founding president of Wilp Wilxo’oskwhl Nisga’a, the Nisga’a Nation university college.
Ian’s memorial service will be at St. David and St. Paul Anglican Church on May 13 at 1:30 pm. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to the qathet General Hospital Foundation.
