Indigenous comedian, writer, speaker and broadcaster Candy Palmater died Saturday at age 53, his wife and manager Denise Tompkins confirmed on social media.
Palmater was a familiar personality on various television and radio shows across the country. He created and hosted the hit variety series “The Candy Show” on APTN. She also hosted “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 Saturday morning, Tompkins wrote that Palmater passed away suddenly at his home that morning.
“I have few words,” he said. “I will post information soon.”
The cause of Palmater’s death has not been revealed. However, the radio and television presenter revealed earlier this month on social media that she was in the hospital and had been diagnosed with EGPA (eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis), a rare disease that causes inflammation of the blood vessels.
Born in Point La Nim, New Brunswick, to a Mi’kmaq father and a white mother, Palmater’s journey into the entertainment industry was long and winding.
She began her career as a lawyer, graduating as a valedictorian from Dalhousie Law School before practicing labor and aboriginal law at a large corporate firm. For a decade, Palmater also worked for the Nova Scotia Department of Education as the director of Mi’kmaq Education.
It was only later in life that Palmater decided to leave his legal practice and pursue a career in entertainment.
“When asked to describe myself, I always say that I am a recovered homosexual lawyer turned feminist comedian, raised by motorcyclists in the wilderness of northern New Brunswick,” she told The Star in a 2016 interview. while he was about to launch his new CBC radio show.
In addition to broadcasting, Palmater was also an inspirational speaker who traveled the world to share her message of love, kindness, and self-acceptance.
“I am 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, they constantly tell you that you are not rich enough: not rich enough, not pretty enough, not thin enough … ”, he said in 2016. . “I think we are all more than enough, but they don’t tell us that often enough.”
Following reports of Palmater’s death, other broadcasters and comedians took to Twitter to express their condolences.
“Candy was a gift for comedy,” wrote actor and comedian Andrew Phung. “She was smart, funny, fearless, kind, just a total badass. Sending all my love to his family and friends. “
CTV’s “The Social,” where Palmater was a regular part-time co-host, also released a statement Saturday. “Today our entire team is mourning the sudden death of our good friend Candy Palmater, who always left us smiling a little more, laughing a little louder and thinking a little more critically about the world around us,” he said.
Palmater planned to publish his first memoirs in the spring of 2022.
With files from Donovan Vincent.
Reference-www.thestar.com