Raven Thundersky, indigenous health advocate, dies at 50

A Manitobaindigenous woman who advocated for victims ofasbestos-linked cancers has died.

Fifty-year-oldRaven Thunderskywas founddead in her home on Christmas Eve.She had been sick with lung cancer for over 10 years.

Thundersky was involved in the call for an inquiry intomissing and murdered indigenous women (MMIW), but was perhaps most vocal onhealth issuesfaced by people living in homes withasbestos-containing insulation.

ThunderskybelievedZonoliteinsulation might have been responsible for her illnessand those of at least five other family members who died of cancer. Zonolitecontains the fire-resistant mineral vermiculite.

Ithas been used in homes for decades in Canada and may contain traces of asbestos. The federal government eventually invested $360,000 into removing Zonolite from military homes in Manitoba, but only years after it first encouraged the use of the product in homes.

From 1977 to the mid-1980s, homeownerswho installed products including Zonolite in their home were eligible for grants under the federal government's Canadian Home Insulation Program.It was used inThundersky'sfamily home onPoplar River First Nation in northern Manitoba.

Thunderskycalled for an inquiry into the use and safety ofZonolitein 2008.

• Manitoba woman calls for inquiry into Zonolite insulation

U.S.-basedW. R. Grace and Company, the chemicalcompany behind the product,proposed to pay $6.5 million to settle a lawsuit from Canadian homeowners.Thunderskysaid at the time she thought that figure was"an insult to families."

In the years that followed, Thundersky'scondition worsened but she continued to beinvolved in the MMIW movement. Her own sister, Barbara Keam,was found beaten to death on Norway House Cree Nation inthe early80s.

• MMIW: The case of Barbara Keam

One of Thundersky's daughters, 23-year-oldRaven-Dominique Gobeil,said the fact that Canada is finally getting an inquiry into MMIW is a result of the grassroots efforts of people like her mother over the past decade.

"They've helped shed more light to make missing and murdered what it is now," Gobeil said.

Thundersky never sharedtoo many details about the nature of herillness with her children, Gobeil said.

"She kept a lot of things pretty private about it,"Gobeil said, adding her mother's positive spirit stuck around until the very end.

"Even when she was sick, she was enjoying life," Gobeil said."She was like, 'You know what? I know it's coming, but I'm going to spend time with my children.' We went and we visited her everyday until she died. I remember the last thing she did was smile."

A GoFundMe page has been started to help Megan Butler, another of Thundersky's daughters, cover travel costs associated with coming from British Columbia to Manitoba for her mother's funeral.

Thundersky's funeral will take place Dec. 31 at 10 a.m. at Eternal Grace Funerals in Winnipeg.