BONE COLLECTORS: 6.7 million Indigenous objects and human remains held in Canada museums #TRC

Canadian Museums Association Urges Repatriation of Indigenous Objects

The report estimates that 6.7 million Indigenous objects and human
remains continue to be held in Canadian institutions, most of which do
not have formal repatriation policies.

  

by
Jasmine Liu 

A display in the First Peoples Hall of the Canadian Museum of History in 2018 (via Wikimedia Commons)

A major new report
released on Tuesday, September 27 by the Canadian Museums Association
(CMA) calls for greater support and funding for Indigenous organizations
and museums as they pursue Indigenous “self-determination” at all
levels of governance. 

The CMA estimates that 6.7 million Indigenous objects and human remains
continue to be held in Canadian museums, with approximately 94% of them
held in eight institutions. The report finds that few museums have
formal repatriation policies and that even fewer of them are publicly
accessible. Currently, only one province, Alberta, has repatriation
legislation. The report also finds that although many museums showcase
Indigenous-related programming and say they value Indigenous engagement,
Indigenous curators and staff members are underrepresented, suggesting
that Indigenous professionals are often slotted into advisory roles.

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The report, entitled “Moved to Action: Activating UNDRIP in Canadian
Museums,” was commissioned as part of the nation’s response to Call to
Action 67, one of 94 calls to action issued in 2015
by the country’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). The TRC was
established to reckon with Canada’s history of Indian residential
schools, which forcibly separated Indigenous children from their
communities for purposes of assimilation.