(Toronto) Artifacts belonging to a Cree chief of the 19e century who was known as a peacekeeper will be returned to his descendants in a ceremony at the Royal Ontario Museum.
The Toronto Museum will transfer a pipe and bag that belonged to Chief Poundmaker to members of his family.
Pauline Poundmaker, or Brown Bear Woman, led efforts to repatriate her great-great-grandfather’s possessions and sacred objects from collections held in Canada and abroad.
A number of the leader’s personal effects were taken and kept in museums after the North West Rebellion in 1885 – the same year Poundmaker was convicted of treason. He had served seven months in prison before dying shortly after his release.
Parks Canada last year returned a ceremonial staff believed to have belonged to Chief Poundmaker and to be displayed at the museum named in his honor in Saskatchewan.
According to Pauline Poundmaker, the fact that more and more institutions decide to hand over the artifacts demonstrates their willingness to remedy past prejudices against Indigenous peoples.
“It’s a nice change to have different relationships and write a different story,” she said.
“This will be a historic shift, with these artifacts being returned not only to First Nations peoples, but to other Indigenous peoples around the world. »
The bag is to be put on display at the Chief Poundmaker Museum and the ceremonial pipe will be kept safe by the museum.
The Poundmaker family is working to bring home all of Chief Poundmaker’s personal artifacts. There would be about 20 other items spread across North America and Europe; the family is also about to repatriate two other objects.
The Royal Ontario Museum temporarily closed its gallery dedicated to First Peoples art and culture last year to work with Indigenous museum professionals and make significant changes to its exhibit.