Governor General Adrienne Clarkson has stripped David Ahenakew's membership in the Order of Canada from him.

The move, announced Monday, comes after Ahenakew's conviction Friday on a charge of wilfully promoting hatred.

The 71-year-old former native leader had referred to Jews as "a disease" and justified the Holocaust.

Ahenakew said Friday that he would not appeal his removal. The order's advisory council told him that he could resign voluntarily or contest the revocation.

"... the Council considers that his actions have brought disrepute to the Order," said a news release announcing that Clarkson had signed what is called a revocation ordinance, which takes effect immediately.

Ahenakew was granted the honour in 1978 for his work on native issues.

After his conviction and $1,000 fine by Provincial Court Judge Marty Irwin in Saskatoon, Ahenakew lashed out at news conference.

"First Nations people have never received a fair trial in Canada's judicial system,'' he said.

"The jails of our country are full of our people. My case was as much about racism against First Nations as it was about alleged racism against the Jewish community.''

While he spoke, Ahenakew wore his Order of Canada lapel pin.

Noting he'd been asked to return his award even before his trial was complete, Ahenakew said.

"This, of course, was the direct result of the pressure put on the (Governor General's) advisory committee by some of the Jewish community, including a letter-writing campaign and the lobbying by the Canadian Jewish Congress."

Ahenakew got in trouble following a speech to a group of native leaders at a Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations meeting in December 2002 in which he made anti-Jewish remarks.

During a follow-up interview with a newspaper reporter, he said: "The Jews damn near owned all of Germany prior to the war. That's how Hitler came in. He was going to make damn sure that the Jews didn't take over Germany or Europe.

"That's why he fried six million of those guys, you know. Jews would have owned the God-damned world. And look what they're doing. They're killing people in Arab countries."

The former chief of the FSIN and the Assembly of First Nations claimed at his trial his blood sugar was up that day and that his diabetes medication had been changed.

Only one other person has been stripped of the Order of Canada since it was created in 1967 to honour outstanding Canadians. Alan Eagleson lost his after the former head of the NHL Players' Association was convicted of fraud.