Indigenous Talking Stick - Towards the Light

Handcrafted by Ilnu artisan Dave Verreault-Thisselmagan, this talking stick is a commemorative piece dedicated to the memory of Indigenous children sent to residential schools, particularly those who never returned to their families.

Every material, color, and detail has been chosen to tell a passage: from memory to light, from absence to spiritual presence, and from silence to voice.

The orange fabric pays tribute to the story of Phyllis Webstad, whose orange shirt was taken from her upon her arrival at the St. Joseph Mission residential school in 1973. Her testimony is at the origin of the Orange Shirt Day movement. 

The spirit of the object

Towards the light was conceived as a staff of memory and passage.

The strips of orange fabric represent the children torn from their families by the residential school system. They honor those who returned, those who carried this story throughout their lives, and those who never made it home.

Their ends have been covered in gold. In the artistic intention of this work, gold represents the sun, the light, and the passage of the lost children to a world where they can finally find peace.

This movement from orange to gold gradually transforms pain into light, without erasing what happened.

Symbolism

The white wolf fur holds a central place in the work.

The wolf was chosen by the artisan as a symbol of family, protection, loyalty to one's kin, and the bond between generations. Here, it becomes the symbolic guardian of the children who were separated from their families.

The white adds a second dimension to the work: that of peace, light, and the spiritual world.

The white feathers evoke the passage to the spirit world. The gold-tipped feathers, meanwhile, were intended as symbolic wings: a way to accompany the lost children on their journey and to restore to them, through this work, what had been taken away—the possibility of being reunited with their own.

The talking stick ultimately carries an essential intention: to remember and to allow the voice to continue to circulate.

For reconciliation cannot begin without truth, without memory, and without listening.

Materials

• Natural wood
• Moose hide
• White wolf fur
• Orange fabric
• Gold finish applied to the ends of the fabric
• Natural white and gold feathers
• Beads in shades of orange, white, and gold
• Hand-assembled throughout

A unique creation

This piece is not a mass-produced reproduction.

It is a unique artisanal work, created specifically for the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and bearing the artisan's artistic vision.

The natural irregularities of the wood, leather, feathers, and fur are an integral part of the work, making every detail impossible to replicate exactly.

Handmade in Quebec by an Ilnu artisan.