A bronze plaque honouring an Indigenous trapper and community leader from northern Manitoba was unveiled on Monday, September 30, 2025, by Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC), its conservation partners, family and friends.
William ‘Lupoo’ Cook was a resident of Opaskwayak Cree Nation until his passing in the early 2000s. Cook fished, hunted and trapped in the sprawling Saskatchewan River Delta, north of The Pas and became an active voice for conservation and local hunters.
“Billy cared about nature and his trapping heritage,” recalls Chris Smith, DUC's retired Head of Conservation Programming for Boreal, who first met Cook in the early 1980s when he was president of the local trappers’ association. “Billy became a key contact for us with guidance on what was important for the First Nations people.”