(Montreal) Wrestler-turned-politician-Mohawk activist Billy Two Rivers has died aged 87.
Posted at 12:52 p.m
The Mohawk Council of Kahnawake announced his death in a statement Monday.
Born in Kahnawake on Montreal’s South Shore, Billy Two Rivers rose to fame as a professional wrestler in the 1950s. He spent almost a quarter of a century in the wrestling arenas in Canada and abroad before turning to politics.
First elected to Kahnawake’s Mohawk Council in 1978, he served ten consecutive terms through 1998. The Mohawk Council said Monday that he was an influential leader during the 1990 Oka Crisis and served as the “right arm” of the Kahnawake Grand Chief served Joe Norton.
The council states that Billy Two Rivers remained active in his later years. He has appeared in several films and television shows while also being a strong advocate for promoting the Mohawk language, the council says.
In 2017 he had reached an amicable agreement with singer Van Morrison; Mr. Two Rivers accused him of using his photo on an album cover without his permission.