SHEGUIANDAH—A Sheguiandah man is hoping to bring his mother home for her funeral after she passed away in Mexico and is fundraising to make this happen.
“I’m doing better today, considering the circumstances,” stated Frazer Whiteduck of Sheguiandah. “My mother, Brenda Whiteduck, liked to travel south for the winter every year because of her age (61) and she had arthritis pretty bad and couldn’t usually take the cold. She had a bad accident when she was in her 30s and had several surgeries on her ankle. She still had screws in her ankle so it would bother her being in cold weather.”
“She talked to us, her family, the day before she was supposed to fly back to Canada,” said Mr. Whiteduck. “She had talked to myself and my sister and my aunts about coming back and was making plans for what she was going to do when she got here.”
Mr. Whiteduck explained his mother had travelled to Mexico to see her partner and best friend, Rueben, who lives in Mexico. She had been in Mexico visiting Rueben for three weeks. They would often take turns visiting the other in Mexico and Canada.
Mr. Whiteduck pointed out his sister, Whitney Sky Whiteduck lives in Pikwakanagan First Nation near Ottawa, with their father.
“I had just sent my mom a bunch of pictures of the family and my kids, her grandchildren,” said Mr. Whiteduck. They include two boys, Loz, who is nine, Nodin, who is eight, and a girl, Niibii, who is six. “My mom was a very proud grandmother and the kids liked to call her Gwannie. They all loved her.”
The doctor’s findings indicated that Brenda Whiteduck died of lung complications, said Mr. Whiteduck. “As I mentioned, she liked to spend the winters down south. But this past winter she had spent time here, in fact she was home for New Year’s. It was really nice to have her here, she hadn’t spent a winter at home for a long time.”
Brenda Whiteduck passed away on the evening of May 1, said Mr. Whiteduck, who has been taking care of her beloved dogs, Nietta and Aguila.
“Our fundraising goal on GoFundMe is $10,000,” said Mr. Whiteduck. “We have to get my mom home from Mexico and get her vehicle from Toronto. No, she hasn’t been cremated yet (which is another cost the family has to endure).”
As of last Friday, “we have received donations of between $5,000-6,000,” said Mr. Whiteduck.
“We have received a lot of donations from Pikwakanagan. My mom had married my father there and knew a lot of people in the community,” said Mr. Whiteduck.
“My mom was born in Little Current and raised in Sheguiandah,” said Mr. Whiteduck. “She was always in good shape, hustling and bustling here and there. She was an entrepreneur. She owned Big Jake’s Company Store, a powwow craft vendor business which featured items like beads and native crafts and was known for her fantastic sage. She was a very well-known craft person on the powwow trail.”
Donations can be made via www.gofundme.com/f/brenda-whiteduck
