Tŝilhqot’in Nation ancestral items repatriated by Museum of Vancouver

60 Tŝilhqot'in ancestral belongings have been returned to the Tŝilhqot'in Nation from the Museum of Vancouver (MOV).

The items were repatriated by the Tŝilhqot'in National Government (TNG) and the MOV after a delegation of elders, youth, children, Women's Council members and former Tŝilhqot'in leaders travelled to Vancouver in February to bring the items home.

Some of the belongings are now on display at the TNG Dasiqox office in Williams Lake. They include 29 qatŝ'ay (coiled root baskets), 29 lithics, one birch bark knife sheath and one pair of snowshoes made from wood, rawhide and sinew.

"Our people, particularly our youth, have taken immense pride in the strength of our people represented in the baskets," said Nits'ilʔin (Chief) Joe Alphonse. "These objects are an amazing showcase of the strength of the Tŝilhqot'in people."

TNG and MOV will continue working together, developing an exhibition to honour the MOV's role in caretaking these objects and to recognize successful collaboration.

"Our staff understands that we are only acting as caretakers of the belongings in the collection, that the stories and knowledge that animate them resides with the families and communities from which they originate," said Sharon M. Fortney who curates the museum's Indigenous collections.

"Our goal is to build strong relationships with the communities we engage with, and we do that by recognizing their cultural autonomy."

The MOV has scheduled an exhibition for the spring titled The Work of Repair: Redress and Repatriation and will feature a section celebrating the repatriation of Tsilhqot'in belongings.