Mr. Speaker, unfortunately today, I rise in this House to inform you about the passing of a respected elder from Fort Liard.

Mr. William Marie Bertrand was born to Marie Angel Timbre and Baptiste Bertrand in Maxhamish Lake on February 19, 1938. He passed away on July 9, 2018. The service was held in Fort Providence a week later.

William went to residential school in Yellowknife. Later, he went on to Fort Smith for his heavy equipment operator training.

William met the love of his life, Mary Jane Williams, in Fort Smith where she was working at a hospital on January 3, 1967. William and Mary Jane got married, and they had three children: Billy, Norma, and Floyd. William started working with the forestry as a tower person for a few years until Norma started kindergarten. He left his seasonal job and started working for the Hudson Bay. Later, he started working for Beaver Enterprises.

William loved to hunt and trap. He especially enjoyed being outdoors and loved spending his time with Mary Jane and his children at their cabin up the river or on the highway. He enjoyed entertaining his family and friends by playing his guitar. William was preceded by his parents, brothers and sisters, and his granddaughter.

The family would like to express gratitude for all the kindness and generosity bestowed at their time of grief. Your kind thoughts, deeds, and their attendance at the funeral services and cemetery were deeply heartfelt. The family would like to thank Father Sean for his spiritual leadership and guidance.

William is loved and will be greatly missed by his wife, children, his grandchildren, brothers, sister, and great-grandchildren, nieces and nephews. The residents and I pass on our condolences to the family. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.