Robert Feagan, left, poses with Joseph Tetlichi’s wife, Glenna Tetlichi and Joseph Tetlichi. (Photo: Robert Feagan)
The son of a former member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police has surprised a Gwich’in family in Fort McPherson, Northwest Territories, by returning a pair of snowshoes made in the 1950s.
The snowshoes had been made by John Tetlichi. He had given them as a gift to police officer Hugh Feagan, who had been transferred to Aklavik for work.
He thought he was brilliant, said Robert Feagan, the former policeman’s son, now 95. Before going to Aklavik, […] he bought snowshoes from a store in Edmonton. When he arrived in Aklavik, he realized that they were horrible.
People in the community directed him to John Tetlichi, known for making the best snowshoes in the area.
My father used them for years, to make dog tracks when there was a lot of snow, said Robert Feagan.
Return a family heirloom
Hugh Feagan, who now lives in Ontario, recently decided it was time to return the gift he received more than 70 years ago.
He called his son who had the pair of snowshoes in his possession and asked him to contact John Tetlichi’s family.
“He loved these snowshoes, but he also realized that they were probably even more valuable to the Tetlichi family, and that’s why he wanted them to go back to where they came from,” adds Robert Feagan.
It was the son of John Tetlichi, now deceased, who received the racquets from Robert Feagan.
I didn’t even know that [mon père] made snowshoes, said Joseph Tetlichi, who for a moment believed that Robert Feagan had the wrong family.
“I lived on the land for 20 years, trapping and hunting with him, and he never made snowshoes in front of me,” he adds.
As an act of reconciliation
Words cannot express how Joseph felt receiving the snowshoes from Robert Feagan, who traveled to the Yukon, where Joseph Tetlichi lives today, to deliver the family heirloom.
I see it [comme un acte] of reconciliation, he said.
Joseph Tetlichi says he remembers Hugh Feagan, and that the former police officer once told him that one day he would return all the gifts he received during his time in the Beaufort Delta to their owners.
“I get emotional when I think about it, because a lot of people receive gifts from First Nations and many don’t use them for the right reasons,” adds Joseph Tetlichi.
This person wanted to do the right thing and for me, that is a form of respect, says Joseph Tetlichi.
Although they are from another era, Joseph Tetlichi says they are still solid and “you would think they were made yesterday, so it’s amazing.”
With information from Tessa Vikander and Hilary Bird
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