Wanting to give back to his community, Tyson Wesley has launched an initiative providing Indigenous children with reusable face masks.
Wesley is from Kashechewan First Nation and lives in Ottawa. Last week he launched Indigenous Face Masks, a business selling face masks featuring Indigenous art.
For every mask a customer buys, Wesley will send the same style mask to one of three communities on the James Bay coast: Attawapiskat, Fort Albany or Kashechewan.
“With the pandemic and all that’s been going on, we found there wasn’t a lot of (mask) choices and there weren’t a lot of kid sizes,” Wesley said about how the project started.
Masks are available in 15 designs created by Indigenous artists from across Canada.
“If you look at the website, it’ll show who the person is and the meaning of the art piece,” Wesley said. “They’re well-known artists.”
Since the initiative’s launch, 1,500 masks have already been sold, he said. Orders have come from across the country as well as the United States and overseas. They've even had an order from the Netherlands.
“People have been messaging along with their orders to say how great the initiative is," he said.
The response has been “overwhelming” and he didn’t expect to get so many orders in a short time, Wesley said, adding he’s looking to connect with other communities and organizations that may want a mask for children or families in need.
“We had to redouble our order for kids’ masks because of how much people have been buying,” he said. “We set the goal for 250 (masks) to the three communities. We may increase the amount we’re going to be giving to them. And we’re reaching out to the organizations in the region and asking (if they’re) interested in receiving a free mask from our initiative.”
Masks will be sent to Attawapiskat First Nation Education Authority’s wellness and care co-ordinator Christina Edwards, Fort Albany’s Deputy Chief Charlotte Nakoochee, and Kashechewan's Francine J. Wesley Secondary School counsellor Christine Head.
As the business is trying to keep up with the demand, Wesley said he thinks it will be an ongoing initiative.
“We’ll keep it as long as we can and as long as people need masks. We’re hoping to expand to more communities,” he said in a phone interview.
Wesley noted anyone can wear a mask with an Indigenous design and it’s not “exclusively to the Indigenous communities.”
To learn more about the initiative, visit indigenousfacemasks.ca.
