The following is an article from the Winter 1998 issue of Native Americas,
published by the Akwe:kon Press at Cornell University. For more information
on how to stay informed of emerging trends that impact Native peoples
throughout the hemisphere visit our website at
http://nativeamericas.aip.cornell.edu.

Repatriation Forum Held in Vancouver
By Nicolasa I. Sandoval

Representatives from more than 50 Native nations in Canada and the United
States convened at the University of British Columbia's First Nations House
of Learning in Vancouver for a forum on repatriation. The event,
co-sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of the
American Indian and the University of British Columbia's Museum of
Anthropology, marked the first forum to gather First Nations and museum
professionals for a discussion of repatriation issues. As national and
provincial Canadian law does not govern repatriation of human remains and
sacred objects from museums to First Nations, the forum offered an
opportunity for First Nations peoples to share their experiences and
exchange information with Native peoples from the United States who are
involved in repatriation processes.

The subject of repatriation was addressed in a 1992 task force report
sponsored by the Assembly of First Nations and the Canadian Museums
Association titled, "Turning the Page: Forging New Partnerships Between
Museums and First Peoples." The task force, charged with presenting
recommendations for ongoing working partnerships between museums and First
Peoples, decided not to endorse repatriation legislation. The report
recommended that repatriation activities involving First Nations in Canada
be accomplished through negotiation. Now, as dozens of First Nations in
British Columbia are in treaty negotiations, a discussion of repatriation
experiences is of particular relevance.

Representatives from the National Museum of the American Indian, the
University of British Columbia's Museum of Anthropology, Royal Ontario
Museum, Canadian Museum of Civilization and the Royal British Columbia
Museum offered information on their respective repatriation policies and
answered questions from First Nations representatives about repatriation
procedures. A portion of the conference devoted to ceremonial care issues
stressed that protocols are determined at a community level.

Gloria Cranmer Webster (Namgis) discussed her personal experience of
repatriation activity in Canada before the task force report and prior to
treaty negotiations. Cranmer Webster recounted her Kwakwaka'wakw community's
efforts to bring seized potlatch materials home from the museums that held
them. In 1975, Canada's National Museum of Man agreed to return potlatch
materials in its holdings, with the caveat that a museum be built to house
and display the collection. As a result, two museums were built, one at Cape
Mudge, the other at Alert Bay. Later, potlatch materials housed at the
National Museum of the American Indian were repatriated. Cranmer Webster
emphasized that the attempt to bring the potlatch materials back home was an
exercise of political rights and not for the purpose of reintroduction to
cultural use. "They came back as symbols of our cultural history," Webster
said.

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