An Oral Historian's Perspective on the Name "Little Bear Skin"
As related to the editor by Eric Nystrom

Question: What does the name Little Bear Skin mean, as it was applied to the John Richards McKay family?

Answer: You know how a family is like a band or a tribe, where the whole thing is named for the ancestor, the one who begins it? That name, Little Bear Skin is a name that someone gave your ancestor. A little bearskin refers to the skin of a little bear, if its mother was killed before it was born. They would take it, dry and powder the insides, and replace them in the cured skin. It was viewed as a sacred object. The powder was used to resuscitate a person.
The object was passed on to a worthy descendant, on and on as long as there was someone worthy to receive it. When there is no longer a worthy descendant, it can be given to an outsider. If there is no one worthy, it will be returned to the earth.

Obviously this was seen as a powerful totemic object. I wonder why John Richards received it. I thought at first it was because he had gone away and come back, but there were several returned sons in the Assiniboine basin. Why John Richards McKay had been gifted in this way remains an open question.
The Editor