After complex negotiations, the kayak and other Indigenous artifacts are finally set to return home, a powerful symbol for communities whose children suffered in Catholic-run residential schools.
The CCCB released a statement saying it has been “working closely with Indigenous Peoples on key issues of significance, including artifacts, many of which are currently in the care of the Vatican Museums,” and that it supports getting the artifacts back to their “originating communities.”.
It said the official announcement will come directly from the Holy See, likely in the coming weeks.
Most of the Vatican’s Indigenous collection remains in storage in the “Animus Mundi” ethnological section of the Museums.
After, then-prime minister Justin Trudeau, and later foreign minister Mélanie Joly, pressed the Vatican to bring the objects back to Canada during meetings in Rome.
Thread-embroidered gloves, attributed to the Cree from Canada's central sub-Arctic, are on display at the Vatican Museums, along with other Indigenous artifacts.
Academic researchers say the Vatican’s claim that the Indigenous materials were sent as “gifts” to the Pope ignores the coercive context of their collection. »