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Mi’kmaq Grand Chief Ben Sylliboy dies at age 76

FILE - Mi'kmaq Grand Chief Ben Sylliboy is seen on the left, next to Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould and Morley Googoo, regional chief for Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, at a meeting of Atlantic MPs and First Nations chiefs in Wolfville, N.S. on Thursday, Aug. 10, 2017. Sylliboy died on Thursday afternoon in hospital. Andrew Vaughan/ The Canadian Press

A man being described as the Dalai Lama of the Mi’kmaq nation has died in Cape Breton at the age of 76.

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Mi’kmaq Grand Council Grand Chief Ben Sylliboy of Waycobah First Nation died yesterday afternoon at the Cape Breton Regional Hospital.

READ: Acknowledgement of Mi’kmaq territory coming to Nova Scotia classrooms

Waycobah Chief Rod Googoo says Sylliboy was the spiritual leader and head of state of the Mi’kmaq nation stretching through all of Atlantic Canada as well as Quebec and parts of Maine.

WATCH: Leaders in the Nova Scotia Mi’kmaq community meet with politicians for the second annual Chiefs Summit

READ MORE: National Aboriginal Day celebrated in Halifax

He says Sylliboy was a friend and mentor and his death leaves a big void.

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