Billy Proctor Passes at 90

Roy Graham and Billy Proctor, 45 years friends

BC lost a treasure Tuesday night. Billy Proctor, a champion of wild salmon everywhere on the coast, passed away on May 13, 2025 by Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) after a short illness. Billy had lived his whole life in and around the Broughton Archipelago off the northeast coast of Vancouver. Billy’s life was chronicled in “Heart of the Raincoast”, “Full Moon, Flood Tide” and “Tide Rips and Back Eddies”.  He made his living as a  highliner (commercial troller) fishing the west coast of Vancouver Island, the Charlottes, Blackfish Sound, and Queen Charlotte Strait.

A few years ago, Billy built a museum in Proctor Bay on Guilford Island to showcase the treasures he had accumulated over the years, indigenous artifacts, old chainsaws, bottle’s scavenged from old logging sites and spoons and flashers from his time fishing. I always took my guests in to see him and always brought a pound of bacon as well.

In 2024, Billy received the Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Maritime Achievement. He leaves two daughters, Patti and Joanie and two grandsons.

Billy, may you have calm seas and the sun on your back, may your spoons always be shiny and your hooks sharp and never rusty.

Billy Proctor’s place (Photo: Joel Unickow)