Beloved Indigenous comedian and broadcaster Candy Palmater has died at age 53
Indigenous comedian, writer, orator and broadcaster Candy Palmater died on Saturday at age 53, her wife and manager Denise Tompkins confirmed on social media.
Palmater was a familiar personality on various radio and television shows across the country. She created and hosted the hit variety series The Candy Show" on APTN. She also hosted the The Candy Palmater Show" on CBC Radio One and was a part-time co-host on CTV's daytime talk show The Social."
In a tweet posted on Saturday morning, Tompkins wrote that Palmater passed away suddenly at home earlier that morning.
I have few words," she stated. I will post information soon."
Palmater's cause of death has not been disclosed. However, the television and radio host revealed earlier this month on social media that she was in hospital and had been diagnosed with EGPA (eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis), a rare disease that causes blood vessel inflammation.
Born in Point La Nim, New Brunswick to a Mi'kmaq father and a white mother, Palmater's path into the entertainment industry was long and winding.
She started her career as a lawyer - graduating as class valedictorian at Dalhousie Law School before practising labour and Aboriginal law at a large corporate firm. For a decade, Palmater also worked for the Nova Scotia Department of Education as director of Mi'kmaq Education.
It was only later in life that Palmater decided to leave her law practice and pursue a career in entertainment.
When I'm asked to describe myself, I always say I'm a gay native recovered lawyer turned feminist comic, who was raised by bikers in the wilds of northern New Brunswick," she said to the Star in a 2016 interview as she was about to launch her new CBC radio show.
In addition to broadcasting, Palmater was also an inspirational speaker who travelled around the globe to share her message of love, kindness and self-acceptance.
I'm very interested in loving kindness, and the notion of self-acceptance. I feel like every time you open a magazine, watch a movie, turn on the television, you're constantly being told you're not enough: not rich enough, not pretty enough, not thin enough ..." she said in 2016. I think we're all more than enough, but we're not told that often enough."
Following reports of Palmater's death, fellow broadcasters and comedians took to Twitter to express their condolences.
Candy was a gift to comedy," wrote actor and comedian Andrew Phung. She was smart, hilarious, fearless, kind, just a total badass. Sending all my love to her family and friends."
CTV's The Social," where Palmater was a regular part-time co-host, also released a statement on Saturday. Today our entire team is grieving the sudden passing of our good friend Candy Palmater, who always left us smiling a bit bigger, laughing a bit harder, and thinking a bit more critically about the world around us," it read.
Palmater was set to publish her first memoir in the spring of 2022.
With files by Donovan Vincent.
Joshua Chong is a reporter for the Star's radio room based in Toronto. Reach Joshua via email: jchong@thestar.ca