William Ivan Clarke Wuttunee (Cree)

William Ivan Clarke Wuttunee (8 May 1928–31 October 2015), usually known as Bill Wuttunee, was a Cree lawyer, political organizer, author and residential school survivor from Red Pheasant First Nation in Saskatchewan. His life brought together professional achievement, advocacy for civil rights and a persistent concern with Indigenous independence. He helped establish the National Indian Council and became its first National Chief in 1961. His proposals for reform later divided opinion among Indigenous leaders. 1, 2, 3

Wuttunee’s academic and professional milestones occupy a significant place in Indigenous Canadian history. He earned his LLB at the University of Saskatchewan in 1952, becoming the fourth Indigenous Canadian to graduate with an LLB at a Canadian university. His admission to the Saskatchewan bar in 1954 made him Canada’s fourth university-trained Indigenous lawyer and its second Status First Nations lawyer. 4

Early life and education

Wuttunee was born on the Red Pheasant reserve near Cando, Saskatchewan, to James and Jane Priscilla Wuttunee. He grew up in a large family on a mixed farm where livestock and crops helped sustain the household during the Depression. Journalist and longtime friend Penney Kome described an upbringing that combined material resourcefulness with an interest in learning. His parents’ education and the intellectual life of the family formed an important background to his later ambitions. 1, 5

At twelve, he was separated from his family to attend residential school. In 1943, the family moved to Battleford, where he attended high school. A McGill scholarship followed in 1948, and he travelled to Montreal by freight train before returning to Saskatchewan to pursue law. 2

Legal practice and Indigenous political leadership

Wuttunee began practising with the Saskatchewan Government Insurance Office. In 1958, he joined the Saskatchewan Provincial Committee on Minorities under Premier T. C. Douglas. He consulted First Nations communities about voting rights. As counsel for the Federation of Saskatchewan Indians, he appeared before the Joint Committee of the House and Senate on Indian Affairs in 1959 and advocated recognition of First Nations as a third order of government. 2

Kome’s account adds a practical dimension to this advocacy: Wuttunee worked to extend electricity and telephone services to reserves. Political inclusion and improvements in everyday living conditions were connected in his work. He sought opportunities for Indigenous people to participate in public institutions while challenging the restrictions that shaped reserve life. 5

In 1961, Wuttunee co-founded the National Indian Council and became its first National Chief. His contribution belongs to the early development of national Indigenous political representation. The later National Indian Brotherhood, whose first National Chief was Walter Dieter in 1968, preceded the Assembly of First Nations formed in 1982. Wuttunee’s leadership of the earlier council was therefore part of a longer institutional history; it should be distinguished from leadership of the later AFN itself. 2, 6

The Klippert case and civil rights

Wuttunee moved to Calgary in 1963 and established a general practice, subsequently extending his work to Yellowknife. One of his most consequential cases was the defence of Everett George Klippert. Wuttunee challenged Klippert’s designation as a dangerous sexual offender and pursued the appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada. Kome’s later account, drawing on her conversations with Wuttunee, records his determination to contest the prospect of indefinite imprisonment. 1, 7

Klippert had admitted to consensual sexual activity with men and was convicted of gross indecency under the law then in force. A dangerous sexual offender designation subsequently exposed him to indefinite detention. On 7 November 1967, the Supreme Court rejected his appeal by three votes to two. Although the legal challenge failed, the decision provoked public criticism and contributed to pressure for reform. Changes to the Criminal Code in 1969 partially decriminalized private sexual acts between consenting adults aged twenty-one or older. Wuttunee’s advocacy thus formed part of a case whose significance extended beyond its unsuccessful courtroom outcome. Parks Canada designated the Klippert case a national historic event in 2025. 7, 8

Ruffled Feathers and political controversy

In 1971, Wuttunee published Ruffled Feathers: Indians in Canadian Society through Calgary’s Bell Books. The library catalogue describes it as a response to Harold Cardinal’s The Unjust Society and as an argument for integration and individual development rather than dependence on the reserve system. The book brought his reform proposals to a wider readership and placed him in direct disagreement with influential Indigenous leaders. 9

The University of Manitoba Press’s account of his work emphasizes that he favoured integration on Indigenous peoples’ own terms and supported many objectives of the federal government’s 1969 White Paper. His proposed ending of the Indian Act and reserve system was controversial. APTN’s report after his death recalled his criticism of chiefs’ dependence on government funding and stated that he had been banned from thirteen reserves. These reactions reveal how sharply his prescriptions divided opinion. 3, 10

His ideas continued to appear in academic debate. In a 2021 journal article, Lloyd Hawkeye Robertson invoked Wuttunee’s warning about impoverishment and increasing dependence on government support. That citation represents one scholar’s use of his argument rather than a consensus judgment on his proposals. 11

A more sustained reassessment appeared in 2025 with Still Ruffling Feathers: Let Us Put Our Minds Together, edited by his daughter Wanda Wuttunee. The collection brings together Indigenous scholars and leaders, includes a chapter explicitly offering a critical assessment, and reproduces excerpts from his earlier book alongside selected poetry. The collection places his ideas alongside competing perspectives. 3

Residential school redress and later life

In later life, Wuttunee contributed to residential school redress and reconciliation. Official minutes from the Independent Assessment Process Oversight Committee in September 2007 identify him among its confirmed members. This places him within the administration of a process responding to residential school claims, bringing his legal experience and survivor background to a major undertaking in redress. 12

In 2009, he joined the Indigenous delegation that met Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican. The Holy See’s communiqué of 29 April records that the Pope listened to the delegation’s experiences and expressed sorrow for the suffering caused by abusive conduct by members of the Church. Wuttunee’s participation linked his own experience of residential schooling with efforts to secure acknowledgment from an institution involved in that system. 1, 13

His personal life also included a continuing commitment to family and community. He and his first wife, Bernice, raised five children, and he and his later partner, Rose, had a son. Kome remembered his participation in Calgary’s Unitarian congregation, including healing circles, as well as his enjoyment of intellectual debate. Wuttunee died in Calgary on 31 October 2015, aged eighty-seven, leaving six children and an extended family. 1, 5

Legacy

Wuttunee’s legacy rests on several distinct contributions: his early entry into university-trained legal practice, his role in national Indigenous political organization, his defence of a man subjected to discriminatory criminal law, and his later participation in residential school redress. His writing adds a more disputed dimension. It challenged structures he believed constrained Indigenous independence while provoking opposition from those who rejected his proposed remedies. Read together, these achievements and disagreements show an influential figure whose commitment to change encompassed both collective organization and individual opportunity. 2, 3, 4, 7, 12

References

1. William (Bill) Ivan Clarke Wuttunee [obituary]. Calgary Herald [Internet]. 2015 Nov 5 [cited 2026 Oct 10]. Available from: https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/legacyremembers/william-wuttunee-obituary?id=42978071
2. University of Saskatchewan, College of Law. Remembering William (Bill) Ivan Clarke Wuttunee [Internet]. Saskatoon: University of Saskatchewan; 2015 Dec 1 [cited 2026 Oct 10]. Available from: https://law.usask.ca/about/articles/2015/remembering-william-bill-ivan-clarke-wuttunee-.php
3. Wuttunee W, editor. Still ruffling feathers: let us put our minds together. Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press; 2025. Publisher’s overview and contents available from: https://uofmpress.ca/books/still-ruffling-feathers [accessed 2026 Oct 10].
4. Indigenous Canadian Academic Milestones: A Timeline [Internet]. [place unknown]: [publisher unknown]; [date unknown]. Available from: https://indigenius-canada.wishartlab.com/pioneers/ (accessed 7 October 2026).
5. Kome P. In memoriam William Wuttunee 1928–2015. rabble.ca [Internet]. 2015 Nov 1 [cited 2026 Oct 10]. Available from: https://rabble.ca/indigenous/memoriam-william-wuttunee-1928-2015/
6. Assembly of First Nations. Our history [Internet]. Ottawa: Assembly of First Nations; [cited 2026 Oct 10]. Available from: https://afn.ca/about-us/our-history/
7. Kome P. Everett Klippert was represented by Western Canada’s first Indigenous lawyer. rabble.ca [Internet]. 2017 Dec 1 [cited 2026 Oct 10]. Available from: https://rabble.ca/indigenous/george-everett-klipperts-defence-lawyer/
8. Parks Canada. Klippert case, 1967 national historic event [Internet]. Ottawa: Parks Canada; 2025 Oct 22 [cited 2026 Oct 10]. Available from: https://parks.canada.ca/culture/designation/evenement-event/affaire-klippert-case
9. Wuttunee WIC. Ruffled feathers: Indians in Canadian society. Calgary: Bell Books; 1971. Catalogue record available from: https://search.worldcat.org/title/Ruffled-feathers-Indians-in-Canadian-society/oclc/617260 [accessed 2026 Oct 10].
10. APTN National News. Indigenous trailblazer William Wuttunee leaves lasting legacy [Internet]. Winnipeg: APTN News; 2015 Nov 2 [cited 2026 Oct 10]. Available from: https://www.aptnnews.ca/national-news/indigenous-trailblazer-william-wuttunee-leaves-lasting-legacy/
11. Robertson LH. The medicine wheel revisited: reflections on indigenization in counseling and education. SAGE Open. 2021;11(2):21582440211015202. doi:10.1177/21582440211015202.
12. Independent Assessment Process Oversight Committee. Oversight Committee conference call: September 17, 2007 [Internet]. 2007 Sep 17 [cited 2026 Oct 10]. Available from: https://www.iap-pei.ca/about/oc/pdf/oc-minutes-2007-09-17-eng.pdf
13. Holy See Press Office. Canada: communiqué of the Holy See Press Office [Internet]. Vatican City: Holy See; 2009 Apr 29 [cited 2026 Oct 10]. Available from: https://www.vatican.va/resources/resources_canada-first-nations-apr2009_en.html