WIIKWEMKOONG—Kenneth Toulouse was a well-known member of the community of Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory (WUT) as a long-time manager of the Wiikwemkoong arena, known for his passion of cars and trucks, as well as for his scrapyard business.
“On December 6, 2019, cancer took my dad just before the holidays,” said Joni Shawana, one of Mr. Toulouse’s three children. “For his fourth-year memorial, with the help of my uncle, Gerald Toulouse, we are making use of stuff in my dad’s scrapyard to make Christmas decorations and display them in the yard. Before I start clearing the yard, I want to make this a tribute to my dad.”
“So far I have a tire tree, satellite star, hubcap tree, tire snowman, working on a tire Santa, scrap metal reindeer, old recycled couch cushion gingerbread man, scrap metal nutcracker and still going to work on other ideas,” Ms. Shawana told The Expositor in late November.
“I am originally from Wiky, but have lived in Toronto for 30 plus years,” said Ms. Shawana. “On this visit home I decided to take a little longer time here and to do this memorial display at the homestead.”
“I just felt this would be a new unique way to remember my dad,” said Ms. Shawana. “My dad was the arena manager for about 20 years, spending 16 hours a day over there. He also sponsored several hockey teams and players over the years. He was very smart in mathematics and many kids would bring their homework to the arena where he would help them out. He was also a scrap metal guy and before I was born, he opened KT Auto recycling cars.”
“My uncle Gerald, who has been my rock since dad passed away, was taking care of my dad for the last year of his life,” said Ms. Shawana. “I had asked him to take care of the yard as well and he did a really good job.”
She said the Christmas decoration initiative started with a tire Christmas tree and grew from there.
