Sixty-two artifacts from various First Nations, Inuit, and Metis communities will be finally returning home to Canada, a century after being collected by missionaries and sent to Rome.
Around 100,000 objects were collected and sent by missionaries to be a part of the Vatican Missionary Exhibition of 1925.
“These items, they’re not items, they’re our grandmothers and our grandfathers,” said author and storyteller, Tanya Talaga. “These are objects we’ve used in ceremony that were cared for by our elders and our ancestors for so long. To have them not with us, it really hurts.”
The artifacts are currently housed in the ethnological collection of the Amina Mundi Museum in Vatican City.
“There are artifacts from all over the world, from Indigenous nations and some of the little cards attached to our grandmothers and grandfathers say where they’re from but most of them do not … some don’t say anything as to their origins and as to how they got to the Vatican in the first place.”
Items to be returned to Canada are expected to include an Inuit kayak, masks, moccasins and etchings. An official list has yet to be released at this point.
Late Pope Francis promised to return the artifacts during a delegation visit that include elders, knowledge keepers and residential school survivors in 2022.
“Pope Francis has passed now but having met him, shook his hand and looked in his eyes, yes, the church is an institution and yes, there is a lot of terrible things in the past that some people did but I could see, in particular, in his eyes that he cared.” said Will Goodon with the Manitoba Metis Federation.
Pope Leo XIV is now fulfilling that promise, gifting the items to the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) who will work to transfer the artifacts to national Indigenous organizations and ensure they are return to their national of origin.
“I think it is also important to remember is that when the caretakers receive these artifacts that they talk to the nations that are appropriate … it would be a shame if there were groups that had no ties to the nation that then were given custody of these artifacts,” added Goodon.
The CCCB says it is committed to ensuring that the return of the items align with an Indigenous-led process.
“Things were destroyed, things were taken away from us and the fact the Vatican has this treasure trove, it’s only right that it comes back home,” said Talaga
The artifacts will arrive in Canada in early December and will be housed at the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, Que., until they can be transferred to their nations of origin.
