TIMMINS - A Kashechewan man is being reunited with traditional regalia he sold years ago to help him return home.
When the Cochrane Trading Post closed in 2015, the regalia was among the Indigenous items donated to Northern College to display. The Timmins school announced today — National Truth and Reconciliation Day — that the clothing has been returned to Paul P. Wesley.
While the college shared part of the story of the items in a news release, Wesley hopes to share more of his story at the annual pow wow in Timmins in April 2025.
Wesley sold the regalia for a modest amount to help get enough money to go home to Kashechewan.
“It's been so long ago since these years and we cried out when we saw the regalia we had made years back with my wife Ruby. My wife and I have been married for 44 years now and raised five children. We had danced in the pow wows as children, in the pow wow trails, and one day we were determined to come home for the summer pow wow but we had no way so we had to find a way. When we parted with the regalia, we were feeling we have lost a great treasure we both made,” he said in a news release.
Now 65 years old, he has 26 grandchildren and seven great grandchildren.
"Recently me and my wife ran into our regalia and we both cried and now it is returned," he said.
"Back when we started making the regalia for me to wear for my journey to dancing for the Creator in giving thanks to him for me to find my identity. The colours on the regalia symbolize where I am today. My mentor/teacher called me Sky Bear and he's a loon clan and colours mean so much to me in how we met in the early '80s. The great dipper up there in the sky symbolize my soul name Sky Bear and this is why we see the stars on the regalia."
The other items donated to the college at the time were a 19-foot totem pole, an 18-foot birch bark canoe, handmade snowshoes, an Inuit Kulutuk, as well as carved items and clothing from Indigenous cultures in the region.
Northern College senior vice-president of academics Dean Lessard said the school was grateful to receive the items.
“However, it is now time to do our part to ensure, where possible, that items are returned to their rightful owners in respectful recognition that Indigenous culture and cultural items are not museum pieces intended for display," he said.
The college says returning the items is part of its commitment to the 94 Truth and Reconciliation calls to action. Action 67 calls for the review and repatriation of Indigenous cultural items.
“As an Indigenous focused institution, we understand that Truth and Reconciliation is more than a concept, it is something that requires action and dedication on all of our parts,” said Shane Polson, Indigenous services and initiatives manager. “This is a small gesture in a much larger effort, but each step towards Truth and Reconciliation makes a world of difference.”
