David Ahenakew, a former Saskatchewan aboriginal leader who was stripped of the Order of Canada for calling Jews a "disease'', has died after a long battle with cancer.

Ahenakew died in hospital yesterday in Shellbrook, about 150 kilometres north of Saskatoon. Last year, Ahenakew was acquitted of a hate crime charge over remarks he made about Jews to a reporter in 2002. He offered a tearful public apology for his comments, but it did little to quell the public outrage. He was 76.