The Review, mercredi 17 septembre 2008

Maggie Wertwyn, spouse of recently deceased Aboriginal activist Yvan St-Jean stood beside her partner’s mourning fire on their Ettyville property near Bourget on Sunday evening. The fire was lit 10 days earlier in keeping with the aboriginal tradition for the death of a war chief. The fire was kept burning day and night during that period by friends and loved ones who placed a log on the fire with each prayer. Wertwyn says the two feathers in her hands (photo at right) were brought to the aboriginal centre by a Riceville resident who said they fell from the sky moments after St-Jean’s fatal crash there on September 3. Wertwyn says she was given the feathers by Aboriginal spiritual leader Sunny James Edwards who led the special ceremonies in St-Jean’s honour on Sunday afternoon. “He told me these represented what Yvan was all about; truth and courage, said Wertwyn, adding that she is determined to continue St-Jean’s work of establishing an aboriginal cultural centre in Prescott Russell.
PHOTOS JEAN SARRAZIN



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