A few weeks ago a precious gift was found at the Perry Post Office during a deep cleaning, a "Dear Santa" letter written by three-year-old Majik Francis in December 1995. His mother, Cyril Francis of Sipayik, was on her way to her swearing in as a tribal councillor but had time to run to the post office beforehand. "The post office found it and knew I'd want it," she says. "I immediately started crying," when she saw what it was.
      Dute and Cyril Francis lost their son, Majik, to a canoe accident in November 2015 when he was 23. The letter, a gift from the past, was written by the youngster with the help of his father, Dute, and lists all sorts of things that a little boy would love to have Santa put by the tree, including a pair of black ice skates, many puzzles, coloring books and crayons, and a "choo choo train set (a red one)." The youngster went on to explain that he would "be good at home and at daycare. I'll listen to my parents. I will stop biting my fingernails." While the handwriting is that of Dute transcribing his son's words, the signature is all Majik's.
      "When you lose someone that is close to you, you lose a part of you. It's a cellular loss," Majik's mother explains. "I read it [the letter]. It sounded just like him." She adds, "He is always with me. I feel his presence. We were really, really close" and did everything together.
      The letter joins the many memories of Majik that the family, including Majik's young son, has to remember him by. Cyril made a recording of herself reading the letter and explaining where it came from. "I sent the audio-clip to my daughter. It was a tearjerker for her, too."
      She adds with a tone of wonder about the letter, "It was there all this time" and made its way back to family at just the right moment.