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Kawacatoose First Nation celebrates return of teepee cover stolen
over a century ago in emotional ceremony

   Laura Sciarpelletti
   | CBC News | Posted: August 29, 2026 3:22 PM | Last Updated: 22
   hours ago

   Artifact to stay in Kawacatoose for 4 days before moving to the
   Royal Saskatchewan Museum

   Image | Dustyhorn

   Caption: Kawacatoose First Nation Chief Cory (Okimow) Dustyhorn
   consulted with the Smithsonian Institution to secure the
   beautiful teepee cover his great-great-grandfather spent two
   years crafting. (Laura Gillis/CBC)
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   It was an emotional afternoon at Kawacatoose First Nation
   Friday. After a century-long absence, a stolen teepee cover has
   now been returned to its rightful owners.
   Members of Kawacatoose First Nation, located approximately 135
   kilometres northeast of Regina, shed tears as community members
   in regalia led drumming and singing on the powwow grounds where
   the teepee cover was unpacked and raised for ceremony.
   "It means a lot to us," Kawacatoose Chief Cory (Okimow)
   Dustyhorn told CBC. "I know it does, I know it does."
   Cory's great-great-grandfather Sîpiskwêsîkan, also known as
   Dustyhorn, spent two years crafting the ornate teepee cover. Up
   until recently, no family member had seen it since 1926.
   But in recent years, the First Nation learned the teepee cover
   was in Washington, D.C., in the Smithsonian collection.

   Image | teepee

   Caption: (Radio-Canada)
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   Cory, a few of his family members and Indigenous studies
   professor Andrew Miller from the First Nations University of
   Canada recently made the 29-hour drive south to retrieve the
   special artifact from the National Museum of the American
   Indian.
     * Teepee cover stolen 100 years ago finally being repatriated
       to Sask.

   Yolanda Dustyhorn, another one of Sîpiskwêsîkan's great-great
   grandchildren, said seeing the teepee cover returned to where
   it was created on Friday was deeply emotional.
   "I can't describe the way I feel. I feel, like, so honored and
   proud and to be a Dustyhorn and the teepee coming home to our
   community. Words can't even describe how I'm feeling right
   now," said Yolanda.

   Image | dustyhorn teepee cover

   Caption: (Submitted by Andrew Miller)
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The journey home

   After meeting representatives of the Smithsonian at the
   National Museum of the American Indian and gathering the teepee
   cover, Cory and the rest of the group started the long journey
   back home.
   He said the First Nation could not have been more eager to have
   the long-lost artifact back where it belongs.
   Cory said he got "text after text" and "call after call" from
   people in his community, asking how far away the travelers were
   with the treasured teepee cover as they drove back up north. He
   told CBC he kept them updated the whole way back.
   "They kept on telling me that 'we're crying already, we know
   it's getting closer. Moshum is getting closer," Cory said.

   Image | NMAI N11780 Dustyhorn tipi.tif

   Caption: (Submitted by Andrew Miller)
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   He said they call the teepee cover "moshum," which means
   grandfather in Cree, because to them it feels like the
   grandfather who had it stolen from him a century ago is
   returning home to his people.
   At the ceremony Friday, the chief told the community he laid
   tobacco down at every stop they made along the journey "to ask
   for a good day."
   Miller, the professor who was part of the repatriation journey
   to the U.S., said the teepee cover has important symbolism to
   the Kawacatoose First Nation.
   "It's connected to ceremony that at that time was criminalized.
   And that led to, I think, a loss of a loss of a lot of things:
   pride, language, ceremony, identity. They're all connected,"
   said Miller.
   The teepee cover will stay in Kawacatoose for four days before
   it's taken to the Royal Saskatchewan Museum in Regina.

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