- by Michael McLuhan
On Friday morning August 4th at 1 AM, Bill Proud left us. We are the poorer for it. The few words allowed here will barely scratch the surface of how much Bill contributed to our community. Stricken with Parkinsons in his later years, he refused to let the condition slow him down. He continued to gather and sell mushrooms at the Farmers Market in Owen Sound. Many are not aware of his other accomplishments, his lasting contributions to our community, his other life.
His social activism has deep roots here. He ran locally for the NDP in the 1977 provincial election and in 1979 federally.
Bill was dedicated to advocating for social justice, equality and peace. For decades he tirelessly fought violence and discrimination with peaceful protests, the dissemination of information. He was an active member of countless organizations and spearheaded many local campaigns that addressed social issues in our community and globally.
Through peaceful protests, letter campaigns, promoting fair research and uniting people in solidarity, Bill Proud created public pressure for peace and justice, often resulting in policy changes and the provision of services.
Since the day of the 1989 massacre of female engineering students in Montreal, Bill advocated for the elimination of violence against women. He volunteered his time to the Women’s Centre, the White Ribbon Campaign and the Take Back the Night movement. With the Women’s Centre, he served on their board for over a decade.
Bill was also a longtime supporter of Indigenous rights and justice in Grey Bruce, advocating against discrimination and supporting services that facilitate communication, peace and safe spaces for all. Following a dispute between native and non-native fishers in 1995, Bill co-founded the Neighbours of Nawash group. In the late 1990s, Bill helped to found what is now known as the M’Wikwedong Indigenous Friendship Centre. In support of his nomination for the Peace Medallion (which he received) in 2012, David McLaren wrote: “During the so-called ‘fishing wars’ of the mid-1990s, he and the Neighbours demonstrated their belief in a peaceful and equitable solution to the dispute over the fisheries. He helped to organize forums to educate the public about Native rights in general and Nawash and Saugeen rights to the Bruce-Grey fishery in particular.
He was one of the people who rallied to protect a Native fisherwoman (Yolanda Jones) and her daughter from a loud, boisterous and potentially dangerous crowd who descended on the Owen Sound Farmers’ Market one day in the summer of 1995. One of the men in the crowd threw a garbage bag with a rotting salmon carcass at Ms Jones. Bill and others formed a ring around the woman’s stall to prevent anything more serious from happening.
When four young Native men were beaten and stabbed in an alley behind the Professional Building later that summer, Bill helped to lobby for a full investigation and a proper prosecution. Without the Neighbours’ help it is very likely that there would have been no convictions in what, to us, looked like a vicious hate crime.
By the end of that summer, First Nations fishermen had lost some 20 kilometres of nets to vandals who went out into the Bay and cut their nets. One fisherman’s boat was burned to the waterline. Again Bill was active, this time in helping to raise money to assist the fishermen who had suffered the loss of their nets or damage to their boats.”
There is so much more that could be said, so much more that he did. He never shied from standing up for what he believed to be right and just, for a world free from violence.
Marilyn Struthers wrote (also in support of Bill’s 2012 Peace Medallion nomination): “I have known Bill Proud for perhaps 35 years. Over that time Bill and I have been involved in groups of citizens who have taken on sexism in the Miss Teen Georgian Bay pageant, fishing rights for First Nations, political campaigning for the NDP and women's right to live safely in their homes. I have known Bill as an activist, as a board member, and as a volunteer. Mostly I have known Bill as someone who would always be there to see what was needed when it was possible that injustice was taking place or the caring way that our community usually works might be threatened.”
I was proud to call Bill a friend and prouder still that he considered me to be one of his as well.
On October 12th, at 11 AM, a memorial service will be held for him at Brian E. Wood Funeral Home in Owen Sound.
