Photo of the late Cpl. Paul Lagace in his niece's scrap book.

Image Credit: SUBMITTED/ Amy Leaf

A Kamloops man, and twenty-year veteran of the Canadian Armed Forces, dedicated his life to serving others right up until his death to cancer in June, 2020.

Paul Lagace worked tirelessly in several advocacy positions in his community, while pushing federal governments to properly fund benefits for war vets. 

“He had a way with people, he was an advocate for everyone, he mentored people and helped people on the streets access services,” said his niece Amy Leaf. “He was so caring. You could disagree with him but you couldn’t dislike him.”

During his life, Lagace served in the armed forces, served on UN peacekeeping missions in Canada, Europe and the Middle East, and even changed military law around common law marriages after suffering discrimination on his base.

Later in life he worked as a councillor at the Phoenix Centre and Kamloops Aids Society and finally as an executive director at Kamloops Immigrant Services until he retired. 

“His family is from a small community in New Brunswick,” Leaf said. “They didn’t have food and he was one of 12 kids. He saw the military as a way of escaping. His father was an alcoholic and it was a difficult early life for him. I think throughout his life he didn’t want that kind of hardship to happen to anyone else.”

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Lagace graduated high school in 1973 and enlisted in the Canadian Forces. He was sent to a base in Calgary before being sent abroad in 1976.

“He did a tour in the Middle East where he was part of the United Nations,” Leaf said, flipping through a scrapbook full of newspaper clippings. “He was almost killed for touching a wall he wasn’t supposed to touch in Jerusalem because he didn’t know better.

“He completed his air defense technical trade qualifications in 1978 and so was in air defense. Part of his career was in the secret services.” 

Leaf said her uncle went to serve in Germany at one point during his military career but she didn’t have any information on that stint.

“I remember when I was a kid visiting him when he was posted in North Bay, Ontario,” she said. “He ran and boxed, he was very into physical fitness and kept up his physical training in the military.”

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During his time in the military, around 1986, Lagace fell in love with a First Nations woman, Amy, but was prevented from having her live with him on the base because they were not legally married.

He also faced discrimination because of Amy’s ‘Indian’ heritage, both indecencies he fought to change for years which he wrote in detail about in his book “Bullies in Power” that was published in 2005.

“They discriminated against him and told him to leave his ‘Indian’ wife, it was quite severe,” Leaf said. “The articles are all in the scrapbooks I have. He fought for years until the military common law definition was changed and the discrimination was acknowledged at a human rights tribunal in 1996.”

A newspaper clipping of Cpl. Paul Lagace challenging a military housing policy in the 80s.

Image Credit: SUBMITTED/ Amy Leaf

In 1988, Lagace was posted at Mount Lolo in Kamloops before it shut down the same year, as one of the last serving members at that base.

He finished his military career at the North Bay base where he worked to complete a bachelor of arts degree majoring in sociology and psychology through open learning with UBC.

“He was quite proud of that achievement because he wasn’t a good student in high school,” Leaf said. “He received the governor general silver medal award for having the highest standing in the program.”

A newspaper clipping about Cpl. Paul Lagace winning a governor general's award for top education achievements.

Image Credit: SUBMITTED/ Amy Leaf

He then went to work at the Phoenix Centre as an addictions counsellor and after that the Kamloops Aids Society.

He became the executive director for Kamloops Immigrant Services in 2009 and worked for almost a decade there before retiring.

“He loved a challenge and when he started with the immigrant society he was ready to take the helm and help it do what it was meant to do, helping families coming in, being an advocate for them and making sure they had access to the services they needed.”

A big part of Lagace’s time was spent advocating for veteran affairs and what he called the government ‘clawback’ that unfairly reduced the pensions of vets, leaving many of them in a state of poverty. 

Lagace lost his six-year battle with cancer on June 29, 2020.

Leaf was among a handful of people allowed to be by his side during his last moments because of COVID restrictions.

“I wasn’t able to hold any service or funeral for him,” she said. “I have a lot of papers here I wanted to hand out and share with others about all he gave to others while he was alive. We couldn’t have a memorial service.

“We couldn’t honour him and he deserves all the recognition for his accomplishments and dedicated community service." 

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