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First Nation in northern Ontario to put its cultural artifacts on display
First Nation in northern Ontario to put its cultural artifacts on display

CBC

time11-07-2025

  • General
  • CBC

First Nation in northern Ontario to put its cultural artifacts on display

Indigenous artifacts will be on display at a new exhibit at Sagamok Anishnawbek thanks to an ongoing project with the University of Toronto and the Ojibwe Cultural Foundation. Allen Toulouse, a historical researcher from the First Nation located along the north shore of Lake Huron, said community members have been learning to catalogue cultural artifacts discovered in the region. "We're at a point now where we think we can really tell a story with this now," he said. "And we have this exhibit coming up this week where we're finally able to share some of the artifacts from this project and put them on display here in Sagamok." Toulouse said some of the artifacts found in the area date as far back as the Woodland period, which predates first contact with European settlers and reveal a much larger village than previously thought. There are also artifacts from the Fort La Cloche fur trading post, which was established in the late 1700s and operated for about a century on shores of Lake Huron. Toulouse said the artifacts range from stone tools to musical instruments — like small mouth harps — and even pottery. "Pottery is my new favourite one. If it's something that Ojibway peoples for a while weren't even associated with," he said. Toulouse said the exhibit will also include current artisans. "We gave them an idea. We said, 'Could you do an art project based on the Fort La Cloche artifacts?'" he said. "And they have brought us some really great examples of their artwork." Toulouse said the goal with the exhibit is to help the community share its heritage. "We've held it individually, we've all hung on to it," he said. "We're all putting the story together of what Sagamok is and in a greater sense, what the local Indigenous story is."

Canada's Governor General calls for Hudson's Bay artifacts to be returned to Indigenous communities
Canada's Governor General calls for Hudson's Bay artifacts to be returned to Indigenous communities

CTV News

time20-06-2025

  • Politics
  • CTV News

Canada's Governor General calls for Hudson's Bay artifacts to be returned to Indigenous communities

Canada's first indigenous Governor General, born to an Inuk mother and an English father who managed the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) outpost in Nunavik, located in northern Quebec, insists any indigenous artifacts the company has in its possession need to be returned. 'These are things that belong to the people,' Mary Simon told CTV News Chief Anchor and Senior Editor Omar Sachedina on the grounds of Rideau Hall in Ottawa. Sachedina visited that Quebec outpost in 2021 as part of a profile of Simon before she was installed as Governor General. 'I hope that by discussing (this) with the Hudson's Bay Company that this can happen,' she said. 'For instance, at the Vatican … there's a process going on whereby certain artifacts will be returned to Canada. There should be a process involved to see how it can be brought back.' Earlier this year, a court ruled that Canada's oldest company can prepare to auction off more than 4,000 artifacts and pieces of art. HBC has been facing pressure from The Congress of Aboriginal Peoples, the Assembly of First Nations and the Assembly of Manitoba Chief to halt the sale of art and artifacts that have cultural and historical significance to Indigenous communities. Simon spoke to Sachedina on the eve of National Indigenous Peoples Day, outside The Heart Garden, where local students on Saturday will write messages to honour the struggle, sacrifice, and courage of residential school survivors. Ten years after the release of the 94 Calls to Action in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, only 13 have been realized. Gov. Gen. Mary Simon Gov. Gen. Mary Simon (left) and Omar Sachedina in an interview with CTV News ahead of National Indigenous Peoples Day. (CTV News) 'Looking at it from an indigenous viewpoint, everything is slow,' she said. 'I always think about the layers of what this all means in terms of making lives better for people, and I try to look at it in a more comprehensive way, but clearly there's a lot more work to do.' One such area is confronting denialists who downplay the horrors endured in the residential school system, despite the more than 6,700 testimonies of survivors collected by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. 'It's not made up. Denialism needs to be addressed,' Simon said. 'I think one of the ways in which we need to do this as a country is to put it into our education system.' Simon – who was an advocate for indigenous rights before stepping into her current position – admits to the occasional challenges of now serving in a role that must be kept apolitical. Ottawa is pushing legislation to fast-track infrastructure projects, which is attracting criticism from some indigenous groups who insist it tramples on their rights. Some are even calling on the Governor General to delay or deny that legislation. Bill C-5, which House Speaker Francis Scarpaleggia split into two separate votes on Friday, is expected to pass in both votes in the House of Commons and will ultimately need to be granted royal assent by the Governor General to become law. No Governor General has ever refused royal assent. Sachedina asked if Simon sometimes feels a clash between her identity as an Indigenous person and the Governor General. Gov. Gen. Mary Simon Gov. Gen. Mary Simon (left) and Omar Sachedina have a conversation ahead of National Indigenous Peoples Day. (CTV News) 'It's not so much a clash,' she said. 'I struggle with those issues as an individual, as a person, as a human.' Simon says Prime Minister Mark Carney has conveyed that he's going to 'consult Indigenous people in the economic development of the country.' Simon's duty to Canada and the Crown was on display recently during a Royal Visit from King Charles III, who delivered the speech from the throne in which he said, 'The Truth North is Indeed Strong and Free.' Even though the role of the monarch is not political, and the speech lays out the government's agenda, it's likely Buckingham Palace poured over every word given the state of heightened tensions between Canada and the United States. 'I think the North is strong and free. It has always been strong and free,' Simon said. 'To provide a message in a throne speech to the international community, saying our Canadian North is too strong and free is appropriate.' Simon, who is entering her final year as Governor General – unless her term is extended – says the focus in these last months of her term will continue to be reconciliation. While she acknowledges there has been a certain pushback against diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, she believes the conversation is ultimately progressing. 'There will always be times when things are difficult,' she said. 'I try to talk about hope because hope is not just for the future; hope is today.'

‘Everybody feels the loss': Northern Sask. wildfire evacuees return home to La Ronge
‘Everybody feels the loss': Northern Sask. wildfire evacuees return home to La Ronge

CTV News

time12-06-2025

  • General
  • CTV News

‘Everybody feels the loss': Northern Sask. wildfire evacuees return home to La Ronge

There are mixed emotions in La Ronge, Saskatchwan as some evacuees returned to a home while others returned to ruined remains. Allison Bamford reports. Thousands of evacuees started returning home to Northern Saskatchewan today, after raging wildfires forced them to flee more than a week ago. Fires levelled several houses and cabins in areas surrounding La Ronge. Within the townsite, two businesses were lost - Robertson Trading and Rona next door. 'I'm still in the process of processing, if that makes sense. I drive by here everyday. I find it hard to believe,' said Scott Robertson, co-owner of the fur trading company. 'Everybody feels the loss.' Wildfire Scott Robertson stands in front of the rubble where his family trading post once stood. The trading company was a cultural pillar and popular tourist attraction in the community for nearly six decades. It closed permanently last year when Robertson retired. He made sure to still open the doors periodically when demand called for it. Inside, Robertson housed about 100 furs and countless Indigenous artifacts, artworks and clothing -– items that told the history of the fur trade, settlers and Indigenous peoples. 'I always felt that this town should have some kind of an art gallery, a cultural center. And so we hoarded all kinds of stuff, hoping one day, somewhere, somehow, that would evolve,' he said. 'By doing that, by keeping all of our eggs in one basket, it turns out to be a gigantic mistake.' wildfire A photo of Robertson Trading before it burned down. The day after officials issued a mandatory evacuation order, a stray ember set fire to Rona, Robertson said. He watched from the parking lot across the street as his building went up in flames next. 'I'm just taking it one day at a time. We're not going to resurrect this building. I can't see it happening,' he said. Besides losing the business that's been in his family for the last 56 years, Robertson came close to losing his cabin. Flames surrounded the property as Robertson's brother fought with a single pump to save the building. But their sister's property about 100 metres away could not be saved. 'Happy to be home' About 7,000 residents from La Ronge, Air Ronge and the Lac La Ronge Indian Band were allowed to go back into their communities as of Thursday morning. A mandatory evacuation order was issued on June 2. Maggie Roberts kissed her doorway as she walked back into her house. 'I'm just happy to be home that's all I can say,' Roberts told CTV News. 'My house is still here (and) my truck.' Roberts didn't know what she'd see coming home, after she heard the fires were just up the hill from her house. 'We're good friends with the doctor who lives up the hill, so he was taking care of the place,' she said. La Ronge mayor Joe Hordyski stayed behind to help his community. 'I made it perfectly clear that I would not allow our firefighters to defend our community without me being there to support,' he said. Power and utilities are running in the area. The emergency department is open, and the rest of the community's healthcare services will be available in the coming days. Schools will reopen next week. But the mayor said it won't be a complete return to normal. 'There's still going to be fire activity happening. There are choppers still putting things out, and there's activity to the south of us,' Hordyski said. 'We've been reassured that the community will be safe. And we didn't want to prolong the evacuation.' The Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency is on the ground to support the repatriation. Mental health resources are also available.

The Vatican has held sacred belongings for a century. Now their Indigenous owners want them back
The Vatican has held sacred belongings for a century. Now their Indigenous owners want them back

CNN

time29-05-2025

  • General
  • CNN

The Vatican has held sacred belongings for a century. Now their Indigenous owners want them back

Inside Vatican City, the home of Pope Leo, lies a vast collection of Indigenous artifacts that some people say shouldn't be there. The collection includes thousands dozens of colonial-era objects, including a rare Inuvialuit sealskin kayak from the western Arctic, a pair of embroidered Cree leather gloves, a 200-year-old wampum belt, a baby belt from the Gwich'in people and a beluga tooth necklace. They are relics of a time of cultural destruction, critics say, taken by the Roman Catholic Church a century ago as trophies of missionaries in far-off lands. Pope Francis promised to return the artifacts to communities in Canada as part of what he called a 'penitential pilgrimage' for abuses against Indigenous people by the Church. But several years on, they remain in the Vatican's museums and storage vaults. Indigenous leaders are now urging Pope Leo to finish what Francis started and give the artifacts back. 'When things were taken that weren't somebody else's to take, it's time to return them,' said Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak, the National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations. Calls to repatriate the artifacts began gaining steam in 2022, when a group of First Nations, Inuit and Métis delegates visited Rome for long-awaited talks with Pope Francis about historical abuses at Canada's church-run residential schools. While there, the delegates were given a tour of some of the Vatican's collection and were astonished to see treasured relics stored thousands of miles away from the communities who once used them. 'It was quite an emotional experience to see all of these artifacts – whether they be Métis, First Nations of Inuit artifacts – so far away,' said Victoria Pruden, President of the Métis National Council, which represents the Métis Indigenous people of northwestern Canada. Following that visit – and Francis's subsequent trip to Canada, where he apologized for the Church's role in residential schools – the late pontiff pledged to return the relics. Leo, who held his inaugural mass on May 18, has not yet commented publicly on the issue. Vatican Museums did not respond to questions from CNN about whether it plans to repatriate the artifacts. How the artifacts came to be in the pope's possession requires a trip back to the era of Pope Pius XI, who led the Catholic Church from 1922. Pius was known for promoting the work of missionaries, and in 1923 sent a call out to orders worldwide to gather evidence of the church's vast reach. 'He said: Send in everything related to Indigenous life. Send in sacred belongings. Send in language materials. Send in Indigenous people, if you can manage it,' said Gloria Bell, an assistant professor of art history at McGill University. 'There were thousands of belongings stolen from Indigenous communities to please the greed of Pope Pius XI,' said Bell, who documented the exhibition in her book 'Eternal Sovereigns: Indigenous Artists, Activists, and Travelers Reframing Rome.' The church's collection of Indigenous artifacts was compiled at a time when the cultural identity of Canada's Indigenous people was being erased. The Canadian government had made it compulsory for Indigenous children to attend residential schools – boarding schools largely run by the Catholic Church designed by law to 'kill the Indian in the child' and assimilate them into White Christian society. In these schools, Indigenous children were not allowed to speak their language or practice their culture and were harshly punished for doing so. Thousands of children died from abuse or neglect, with mass graves still being found decades after the last residential school closed in 1998. Even as this injustice unfolded, their cultural belongings and artifacts were being displayed in the 1925 Vatican Mission Exposition, a 13-month long exhibit promoting the Church's influence around the world, which drew millions of visitors. The Vatican has claimed the artifacts were gifts to the Pope. But Bell says that's a 'false narrative' which doesn't consider the context in which the objects were acquired. 'This acquisition period was a really assimilative period in Canadian colonial history,' Bell said. The artifacts were never returned. A century later, many of the cultural objects and artwork remain at the Vatican, either in storage or on display at the Vatican's Anima Mundi Ethnological Museum. While it's not known exactly how many Indigenous artifacts are in the Vatican's collection, the number is in 'the thousands,' Bell said. Indigenous leaders told CNN they don't have a full inventory of what sacred items are housed there. Laurie McDonald, an elder from Enoch Cree Nation who grew up on an Indigenous reserve in Maskêkosihk, Alberta in the 1950s and 1960s, knows what it's like to have your culture taken from you. 'We were forbidden as a nation to use our cultural regalia, our cultural tools, or our medicines, and if we were caught, we were reported to the Indian agent,' said McDonald, referring to the Canadian government official responsible for assimilation policy. McDonald was just 11 years old when he was forcibly taken from the home he shared with his grandmother and sent to Ermineskin Indian Residential School, one of Canada's largest residential schools. Two weeks in, he tried to escape, but became caught on a barbed wire fence and a staff member ripped him off, leaving scars. In 2022, McDonald returned to the site of his former school to witness Pope Francis's historic apology on behalf of the Catholic Church. 'I am deeply sorry,' Francis said, looking out over the land of four First Nations. 'I humbly beg forgiveness for the evil committed by so many Christians against the Indigenous Peoples.' Pope Francis's apology on behalf of the Catholic Church was deeply meaningful for many Indigenous peoples in Canada. But reconciliation is a long process, and Indigenous leaders say they hope Leo will continue what Francis started – first and foremost, by returning the artifacts. McDonald said the objects represent stories and legacies which should have been passed down generations. 'Those may have been simple stuff to you, but to us, they were very, very important,' he said. During his visit to Canada in 2022, Francis said local Catholic communities were committed to promoting Indigenous culture, customs, language and education processes 'in the spirit of' The United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, according to CBC. Article 12 of UNDRIP says Indigenous peoples have the right to use and control their ceremonial objects, and states shall endeavor to return them. Asked again in 2023 about repatriating the Indigenous artifacts, Francis told reporters aboard his plane, 'This is going on, with Canada, at least we were in agreement to do so.' He invoked the seventh commandment – 'thou shall not steal' – in expressing his support for restitution. In recent years, museums around the world have increasingly returned items in their collections that were stolen or potentially acquired unethically to their countries of origin. Last year, new regulations came into effect in the US requiring museums and federal agencies to consult or obtain informed consent from descendants, tribes or Native Hawaiian Organizations before displaying human remains or cultural items. In 2022, Pope Francis returned three fragments of the Parthenon sculptures to Greece in a move he described as a 'gesture of friendship,' according to the BBC. However, a 2024 investigation by Canadian newspaper the Globe and Mail found that the Vatican had not returned a single Indigenous-made item to Canada in recent years, except for a 200-year-old wampum belt which was loaned to a museum in Montreal for just 51 days in 2023. Pruden, of the Métis National Council, said Francis 'really moved things forward by embracing (UNDRIP).' She and other Indigenous leaders hope to soon see the artifacts returned. 'What a beautiful homecoming it would be to welcome these gifts that were made by our grandmothers and our grandfathers,' Pruden said, calling the objects 'very important historical pieces that have a story to tell.' Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney discussed the return of the artifacts in a meeting with Canadian Catholic Cardinals in Rome this month ahead of Leo's first mass, Jaime Battiste, a member of parliament who was also at the meeting, told the Canadian Press. Woodhouse Nepinak said it's 'an uncomfortable and tough issue, but it has to be done.' 'You want to right the wrongs of the past. That's what we want to do for our survivors, for their families, for the history of what happened here and to make sure that the story never dies out.'

The Vatican has held sacred belongings for a century. Now their Indigenous owners want them back
The Vatican has held sacred belongings for a century. Now their Indigenous owners want them back

CNN

time29-05-2025

  • General
  • CNN

The Vatican has held sacred belongings for a century. Now their Indigenous owners want them back

Inside Vatican City, the home of Pope Leo, lies a vast collection of Indigenous artifacts that some people say shouldn't be there. The collection includes thousands dozens of colonial-era objects, including a rare Inuvialuit sealskin kayak from the western Arctic, a pair of embroidered Cree leather gloves, a 200-year-old wampum belt, a baby belt from the Gwich'in people and a beluga tooth necklace. They are relics of a time of cultural destruction, critics say, taken by the Roman Catholic Church a century ago as trophies of missionaries in far-off lands. Pope Francis promised to return the artifacts to communities in Canada as part of what he called a 'penitential pilgrimage' for abuses against Indigenous people by the Church. But several years on, they remain in the Vatican's museums and storage vaults. Indigenous leaders are now urging Pope Leo to finish what Francis started and give the artifacts back. 'When things were taken that weren't somebody else's to take, it's time to return them,' said Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak, the National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations. Calls to repatriate the artifacts began gaining steam in 2022, when a group of First Nations, Inuit and Métis delegates visited Rome for long-awaited talks with Pope Francis about historical abuses at Canada's church-run residential schools. While there, the delegates were given a tour of some of the Vatican's collection and were astonished to see treasured relics stored thousands of miles away from the communities who once used them. 'It was quite an emotional experience to see all of these artifacts – whether they be Métis, First Nations of Inuit artifacts – so far away,' said Victoria Pruden, President of the Métis National Council, which represents the Métis Indigenous people of northwestern Canada. Following that visit – and Francis's subsequent trip to Canada, where he apologized for the Church's role in residential schools – the late pontiff pledged to return the relics. Leo, who held his inaugural mass on May 18, has not yet commented publicly on the issue. Vatican Museums did not respond to questions from CNN about whether it plans to repatriate the artifacts. How the artifacts came to be in the pope's possession requires a trip back to the era of Pope Pius XI, who led the Catholic Church from 1922. Pius was known for promoting the work of missionaries, and in 1923 sent a call out to orders worldwide to gather evidence of the church's vast reach. 'He said: Send in everything related to Indigenous life. Send in sacred belongings. Send in language materials. Send in Indigenous people, if you can manage it,' said Gloria Bell, an assistant professor of art history at McGill University. 'There were thousands of belongings stolen from Indigenous communities to please the greed of Pope Pius XI,' said Bell, who documented the exhibition in her book 'Eternal Sovereigns: Indigenous Artists, Activists, and Travelers Reframing Rome.' The church's collection of Indigenous artifacts was compiled at a time when the cultural identity of Canada's Indigenous people was being erased. The Canadian government had made it compulsory for Indigenous children to attend residential schools – boarding schools largely run by the Catholic Church designed by law to 'kill the Indian in the child' and assimilate them into White Christian society. In these schools, Indigenous children were not allowed to speak their language or practice their culture and were harshly punished for doing so. Thousands of children died from abuse or neglect, with mass graves still being found decades after the last residential school closed in 1998. Even as this injustice unfolded, their cultural belongings and artifacts were being displayed in the 1925 Vatican Mission Exposition, a 13-month long exhibit promoting the Church's influence around the world, which drew millions of visitors. The Vatican has claimed the artifacts were gifts to the Pope. But Bell says that's a 'false narrative' which doesn't consider the context in which the objects were acquired. 'This acquisition period was a really assimilative period in Canadian colonial history,' Bell said. The artifacts were never returned. A century later, many of the cultural objects and artwork remain at the Vatican, either in storage or on display at the Vatican's Anima Mundi Ethnological Museum. While it's not known exactly how many Indigenous artifacts are in the Vatican's collection, the number is in 'the thousands,' Bell said. Indigenous leaders told CNN they don't have a full inventory of what sacred items are housed there. Laurie McDonald, an elder from Enoch Cree Nation who grew up on an Indigenous reserve in Maskêkosihk, Alberta in the 1950s and 1960s, knows what it's like to have your culture taken from you. 'We were forbidden as a nation to use our cultural regalia, our cultural tools, or our medicines, and if we were caught, we were reported to the Indian agent,' said McDonald, referring to the Canadian government official responsible for assimilation policy. McDonald was just 11 years old when he was forcibly taken from the home he shared with his grandmother and sent to Ermineskin Indian Residential School, one of Canada's largest residential schools. Two weeks in, he tried to escape, but became caught on a barbed wire fence and a staff member ripped him off, leaving scars. In 2022, McDonald returned to the site of his former school to witness Pope Francis's historic apology on behalf of the Catholic Church. 'I am deeply sorry,' Francis said, looking out over the land of four First Nations. 'I humbly beg forgiveness for the evil committed by so many Christians against the Indigenous Peoples.' Pope Francis's apology on behalf of the Catholic Church was deeply meaningful for many Indigenous peoples in Canada. But reconciliation is a long process, and Indigenous leaders say they hope Leo will continue what Francis started – first and foremost, by returning the artifacts. McDonald said the objects represent stories and legacies which should have been passed down generations. 'Those may have been simple stuff to you, but to us, they were very, very important,' he said. During his visit to Canada in 2022, Francis said local Catholic communities were committed to promoting Indigenous culture, customs, language and education processes 'in the spirit of' The United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, according to CBC. Article 12 of UNDRIP says Indigenous peoples have the right to use and control their ceremonial objects, and states shall endeavor to return them. Asked again in 2023 about repatriating the Indigenous artifacts, Francis told reporters aboard his plane, 'This is going on, with Canada, at least we were in agreement to do so.' He invoked the seventh commandment – 'thou shall not steal' – in expressing his support for restitution. In recent years, museums around the world have increasingly returned items in their collections that were stolen or potentially acquired unethically to their countries of origin. Last year, new regulations came into effect in the US requiring museums and federal agencies to consult or obtain informed consent from descendants, tribes or Native Hawaiian Organizations before displaying human remains or cultural items. In 2022, Pope Francis returned three fragments of the Parthenon sculptures to Greece in a move he described as a 'gesture of friendship,' according to the BBC. However, a 2024 investigation by Canadian newspaper the Globe and Mail found that the Vatican had not returned a single Indigenous-made item to Canada in recent years, except for a 200-year-old wampum belt which was loaned to a museum in Montreal for just 51 days in 2023. Pruden, of the Métis National Council, said Francis 'really moved things forward by embracing (UNDRIP).' She and other Indigenous leaders hope to soon see the artifacts returned. 'What a beautiful homecoming it would be to welcome these gifts that were made by our grandmothers and our grandfathers,' Pruden said, calling the objects 'very important historical pieces that have a story to tell.' Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney discussed the return of the artifacts in a meeting with Canadian Catholic Cardinals in Rome this month ahead of Leo's first mass, Jaime Battiste, a member of parliament who was also at the meeting, told the Canadian Press. Woodhouse Nepinak said it's 'an uncomfortable and tough issue, but it has to be done.' 'You want to right the wrongs of the past. That's what we want to do for our survivors, for their families, for the history of what happened here and to make sure that the story never dies out.'

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