First Nation beader creates medallion for National Hockey League’s top draft pick

By Sam Laskaris

TORONTO – Though she was on vacation at the time, Crystal Kimewon decided to take on a rush-order job.

Kimewon, a member of Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory, has worked on several projects for the Toronto Maple Leafs in recent years. She agreed to take on another recent project when a Toronto Maple Leafs’ employee came calling. Kimewon, who has lived in Toronto since 2019, said she was asked to bead a medallion for a potential Indigenous player that the Toronto Maple Leafs were considering selecting in the National Hockey League (NHL) draft, held June 26-27 in Buffalo, New York.

Kimewon created that medallion. But it wasn’t until July 20, when the Toronto Maple Leafs released a social media post, that she found out her medallion was presented to Gavin McKenna, the first overall pick in this year’s draft.

McKenna, who lives in Whitehorse, is a citizen of Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in First Nation.

“I just knew the draft was coming up,” Kimewon said. “And there was a potential Indigenous player [that the team would draft]. I didn’t know it was for Gavin though. They kept it very hush-hush.”

Kimewon, who also works as a tattoo artist, said she’s told Toronto Maple Leafs’ representatives in the past that due to a hectic schedule, she needs plenty of advance notice for projects. And despite the late request this time around, she agreed to create the medallion.

“The majority of that was beaded in Jamaica,” she said. “I was on vacation in Jamaica.”

Now that she is aware she beaded a medallion for McKenna, who is projected to become an NHL superstar, Kimewon is over the moon.

“I’m still kind of in a state of, I guess, awe and shock,” she said. “It’s a pretty big deal. A lot of people are making a pretty big deal about it.”

Kimewon said her Instagram account has been inundated with messages since the Toronto Maple Leafs released a video of McKenna receiving the medallion.

“People who are close to him or from his community or his Nation have definitely reached out and just thanking me for the gesture, for the gift,” she said. “It’s special. People are crying about it.”

Kimewon said she has worked on various projects for the Toronto Maple Leafs the past four years. That includes making beaded medallions for all team players in honour of one of the club’s annual Indigenous Celebration Game.

“They’ve contracted me for a lot of work,” she said. “I’ve done sweetgrass pins for them and beaded hats. And if they’re gifting medallions to Indigenous dignitaries throughout the year, they’ll reach out. But I feel like this tops it. Beading a medallion for the whole team though was a pretty big deal, too.”

Though she knew she was making a medallion for a player with Indigenous ancestry, Kimewon said she never made the connection it would be for the top pick overall in the draft.

“I go by the thought, the less I know the better; otherwise the nerves might have been a little too high,” she said. “Had I known that, I might have blinged it out a little bit more.”

Kimewon said she was introduced to Toronto Maple Leafs’ reps several years ago by Marian Jacko, a fellow Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory citizen, who is the president of the Little Native Hockey League (Little NHL) tournament and the first Indigenous person on Hockey Canada’s board of directors.

Kimewon said she does consider herself a Toronto Maple Leafs’ fan.

“They’ve given me a jersey with my name on the back and the Indigenous logo,” she said. “So, I’m adopted in, and I guess maybe an extended family member of the team. I have done a lot of work with them over the past four years.”