Condolences are pouring in after the passing of an advocate so passionate for the rights of Labradorians that he went to prison for it.
Jim Learning, a frequent caller to VOCM Open Line, was one of a group arrested and sent to the penitentiary after days of protests at Muskrat Falls.
It’s a tough time for NunatuKavut Community Council president Todd Russell, who served on the board of directors with Learning in the early 90s.
Russell recalls with fondness Learning’s insistence that the Labrador Flag be flown at the Labrador border. Russell says his friend cut the flagpole, drove hundreds of kilometers one way in his “less-than modern” truck and—with a few bags of cement and a number of Labradorians—raised the Labrador flag.
Learning, who had been ill for the past while, was 81.
Today we mourn the passing of Inuk Elder James G Learning. In the words of President Russell, he was "an advocate, a fighter, a liberator, an environmentalist, a man connected to the land & water, a knowledge holder & an Elder." You will be missed Jim. https://t.co/8eZFBIbv6m
— NunatuKavut (@NunatuKavut) April 17, 2020
Jim and myself got tangled up during our lobbying and protest to have the Labrador Flag flown at the border. Together we did accomplish our goal, and a lasting friendship was forged.
— Jordan Brown (@JordanLabCity) April 17, 2020
Goodbye old friend, Labradorians will always remember the mark you left behind when they look up as they cross that border into their homeland.
In his Memory the Labrador Flags at the Labrador Border and the Goudie Building in Happy Valley-Goose Bay will flown at Half-Mast.— Jordan Brown (@JordanLabCity) April 17, 2020
