Len Marchand, the former Liberal MP and senator who was the first status Indian elected to Parliament, has died at age 82.

Marchand was recently admitted to a Kamloops, hospital with kidney problems and died today.

He was born in Vernon, was the first status Indian to graduate from a public high school in the community and was one of the first aboriginal students to enrol at the University of British Columbia.

He was elected to represent Kamloops-Cariboo in 1968, at the height of Trudeaumania, and held cabinet positions including minister of state for small business and environment minister, before the Liberal government’s defeat in 1979.

He was appointed to the senate in 1984, and retired in 1998.

Marchand is survived by wife, Donna Parr, daughter Lori Marchand and son Len Marchand Jr.