Ken Swampy, a member of the Sagkeeng First Nation, is both the founder of the Indigenous Shoreline Mobile Museum and the author of its source material, Walking the Shores. His work centers around discovering artifacts along the shoreline, resulting in a unique collection that may be difficult to fully comprehend.
Swampy’s quest for his three rare masterpieces began during his childhood, while he was under the care of his grandparents. His grandfather, a commercial fisherman, instilled in Swampy a deep love for fishing that would last a lifetime. As a result, Swampy spent much of his free time exploring the shores near his reserve.
“I kept finding all kinds of stuff there,” said Swampy. “The first thing I tried to look for was an arrowhead.”
The first item he found, however, was a crystal spearhead, his rarest artifact. This crystal comes from before the Bering Strait was frozen, and people had to wait for that ice to cross over again. The glacier marks on it are visible under UV light.
“It’s been passed on and carried until they started washing out the Aboriginal people in Canada, then it got lost,” he said. “Then, I found it. It was meant for my path.”
Soon, Swampy found out that the crystal spearhead was a healing stone. So, he put it underneath his pillow. “The energy from the crystal helped me write my book.”
He began writing his book about all of his artifacts and the stories behind them in 2020. Right now, he is doing all the necessary research to send his book to his publisher in British Columbia, Emily Fraison.
Fraison has been working with Swampy for about two years now. “She’s so interested in my story. Once in a while, when I had a hard time getting on, I’d give her a call,” he shared. “What also kept me going was carrying my crystal with me.”
Swampy corresponds with researchers, including geologists and many anthropologists located in Winnipeg to learn about the stories behind all of the artifacts he finds. These individuals are so knowledgeable that it usually only takes around a day to get results, and word of mouth between the researchers benefits the process. As for his crystal spearhead, Swampy is still trying to get some testing done by the Museum of Toronto.
After writing his book, he realized how many items he really had from the shore and figured he might as well create a museum.
“I’ve got artifacts that the rest of the world doesn’t even have. It took me 25 years to develop everything I’ve got.”
Swampy hopes to have his museum located in Sagkeeng First Nation in the future. In the meantime, he has been visiting schools and teaching children that history can be found anywhere along the shores.
He recently visited Lower Fort Garry for the first time to share his collection and tell its stories.
“It was beautiful,” he said. “There were so many people that were praying on my crystal spearhead. They could all feel the energy that comes out of that crystal.”
A big part of what interests him about his collection is the abundance of arrowheads and scrapers he’s collected, which are evidence that Indigenous people were on the land.
Alongside his crystal spearhead, he has two more extremely rare artifacts: clay sculptures crafted naturally by the shore and a titanium rock that has in it seventeen elements, according to a Winnipeg geologist.
“Those are my three masterpieces,” said Swampy.
As he works to find funding to continue to work with his artifacts, he is also setting up a registered trust fund for children with disabilities in the Sagkeeng First Nation in hopes of giving them the opportunity to succeed in their dreams. Donations are accepted alongside the future sales from his book and clothing company.
This clothing company is another aspiration of Swampy’s; he wants to create a collection based on the beauty of Walking the Shores and his crystal spearhead.
Record Photos by Brett Mitchell
