Erik Nielsen remembered as decorated WWII veteran, political dynamo

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WHITEHORSE, Yukon - Family and friends of a former deputy prime minister in Brian Mulroney's Conservative government have paid their final respects to the man remembered as a decorated Second World War pilot and the dynamo who drove the effort to enfranchise Canada's First Nations people.

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The Canadian Press

Nielsen

Erik Nielsen, who died at the age of 84 at his home in Kelowna, B.C., last month, would have balked at the kind of outpouring of affection he received.

"Dad was essentially a very private person," Rick Nielsen said of his father, who was the elder brother of comedian Leslie Nielsen.

Known as "Yukon Erik," Nielsen served as the territory's MP from 1957 to 1987.

In a pre-recorded speech, former prime minister Joe Clark described Nielsen as a champion of First Nations people and of territorial independence.

"Erik Nielsen changed the history of Yukon, he changed the history of Canada and he changed it for the better," Clark said as about 200 people listened at Saturday's service at the Yukon Convention Centre.

Nielsen was the first politician ever to visit the far-flung community of Old Crow.

Kathie Nukon, a member of the community's band council, was 10 years old when Nielsen arrived and vividly remembers what he had with him.

"Erik brought a ballot box to Old Crow to tell the people about the voting process," said Nukon, who was Yukon Conservative MLA in the early 1980s.

"He let the people of Old Crow know of their democratic right to vote."

"When Erik spoke to the people of Old Crow, they listened and they always voted for Erik."

Tables laden with photos and mementoes chronicling Nielsen's life ringed the centre, including those which showed a fresh-faced man, looking carefree and proud in his Royal Canadian Air Force uniform.

Born in Saskatchewan in 1924, Nielsen began serving his country when he was just a teenager.

He flew 56 missions during the Second World War, including the D-Day mission, and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.

For more than 50 years, he carefully preserved two pieces of shrapnel which flew through his aircraft and lodged in his uniform during one mission.

Rick Nielsen recalled flipping through the meticulous flight log his father kept during his missions and asking him about the entries circled in red pen.

"He told me on these days, he lost crew members. No reference to names or details, just perfunctory red circles," he said.

Rick Nielsen said the marks were not of an unfeeling man but rather evidence of his pragmatism and his understanding at a very early age that "it is better to prepare for the next battle than it is to mourn the losses of the last."

Nielsen's reputation as a man who never spilled a political secret earned him the name "Velcro Lips" both in Parliament and in the media. But in his home riding, he was not above turning a potentially embarrassing question into a hilarious response.

Ken McKinnon, who served as Commissioner of the Yukon from 1986 to 1995, remembered Nielsen as a politician who was not afraid to make himself the brunt of a good joke. He recalled that during one of Nielsen's campaigns, a group of Liberals changed a sign reading "Erik" to "Erik pees in the bath."

Nielsen shot back with equal irreverence. "My opponents are not being truthful," McKinnon recalled Nielsen saying when asked about the defaced sign. "The truth of the matter is, I do not take baths, I take showers. Ergo, I pee in the shower."