A family from Whitefish Bay First Nation received a helping hand from some locals after their pow wow regalia was stolen as they were passing through Sault Ste. Marie.
Although some of the stolen items remain unaccounted for, Rhonda White is tremendously thankful for all the people who stepped up to help her family recover most of what was taken.
“I’m grateful for what we were able to recover,” Rhonda said on Thursday, having just returned home after spending several days searching for these items in the Sault. “There are no words.”
Rhonda stopped at the Sault’s Quality Inn on Monday alongside her sister Mandy and mother Caroline, with the trio returning home from a pow wow that had just taken place in Wikwemikong Unceded Territory.
When the three awoke the next morning, they discovered that someone had broken into their truck and stolen three suitcases that contained all their jingle dresses, moccasins, beadwork and assorted jewelry.
Immediately following this discovery, Rhonda’s other sister Jocelyn jumped on social media to inform the broader public of this theft and asked for help in tracking down these invaluable items.
One of the many people who took notice of this original Facebook post was Batchewana First Nation resident Hill Sayers, who played a pivotal role in helping the White family navigate the city streets and find one suitcase containing all their jingle dresses behind an abandoned house.
“There’s just no words to express how grateful our family is to what this young woman was able to accomplish,” Rhonda said.
“She put herself out there by looking for these items that have sentimental value, that have been passed on (from generation to generation).”
Thanks to Sayers efforts, the White family has since found several other items that were taken, including Caroline’s moccasins and a beaded bag that belonged to Rhonda and Mandy’s late grandmother.
While several key items are still missing as of Friday afternoon — including two pairs of moccasins, a dance shawl, some earrings and a beaded barrette— Rhonda is holding out hope that these priceless family heirlooms will eventually turn up.
“It’s a lot to process, because you spend weeks, years working on your regalia to go dance,” she said. “And then losing it all … that’s the part we skipped, because we want to be hopeful that we’ll find it again.”
Anyone with information on the remaining stolen items can contact Jocelyn White over Facebook.
