A pair of reports from British Columbia detail the complex, expensive, resource-lacking process of independent indigenous historic items or go back home.
Developed in a partnership between First Peoples Cultural Council and K'Yuu Enterprise Corporation, the study calls for changes that include creating intensive organizations to promote work, repatriation accreditation programs for museums and other agencies, and “substantial” funding and support from the state and federal governments.
Gretchen Fox, anthropologist and council surrogate heritage manager, said the growing interest in the moral and ethical requirements of repatriation indicates the need for resources to set up procedures that can be used in BC and other states and regions.
“We needed to move forward or a roadmap. What is the history of what it relates to repatriation,” she said.
“To be really well understood and documented what was lost, where these ancestors and belongings are being held today, and what kind of work is involved in identifying them.”
Researchers at K'Yuu Enterprise Corporation conducted their research, discovering more than 2,500 First Nation human bodies BC, and it is known that over 100,000 belongings are held at 229 institutions, including museums and universities around the world.
Fox said the survey had only a 50% response rate.
“So we know the numbers are much higher. These numbers are exclusively for ancestors and belongings associated with BC First Nation,” she said.
The main report breaks down repatriation into a four-stage process beginning with planning and research, followed by the repatriation itself and long-term care of the items or artifacts.
60% of BC First Nations surveyed said they have already spent more than $1 million on previous repatriation efforts.
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“As the Canadian government has not yet committed to dedicated repatriation laws, policies and funding, many (BC First Nations) rely on grants and other mechanisms to support return work,” he said.
The report states that when applying for grant programs that are not focused on repatriation, countries are forced to focus on strict funding standards and narrow timelines, not on their own needs.
In 2016, BC became Canada's first province, providing grants to help pay for repaying. The report calls the funding “welcome,” but says the money doesn't meet the request.
They say that repatriation in Canada is “severely underfunded.”
“For decades, BC First Nations has funded this work through fragmentary grants and a significant reliance on volunteer work,” he said.
Fox said there are a wide range of costs, from payments to the technology needed to investigate the location of personnel residence and the appropriate storage costs.
Companion Reports provide what Fox calls a “really high level” cost estimate.
This suggests that in 204 BC, all Indigenous peoples who received funding over five years and participated in deportation at various stages would cost an estimated $663 million.
Fox said the number was not a financing request, but an attempt to test the model and “show a monumental, substantial cost of this.”
The report states that repatriation is also an economic and social factor with benefits such as health, healing, work, and community development.
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“There is a mental and cultural impact of reconnecting with belongings and holding ancestors accountable. Even if it's engaged at a slow pace or on a small scale, that makes a lot of sense,” Fox said.
She said having the first nationally-led centralized organisation and programming to promote repatriation would help provide opportunities to pool experience and resources.
“B.C. First Nations truly leads the path to repatriation, with a considerable number of countries having expertise and experience in working, and they also have insight into the kind of support, whether it's a legal (or) policy,” she said.
Fox said it would also be beneficial to invite museums and other institutions to own them.
In 2023, the totem pole on display at the Royal BC Museum was returned to Verakula, located about 1,000 kilometres northwest of Vancouver.
It was photographed in 1913 and became part of the museum's collection.
A representative from Nuxalk Nation said at the time they were trying to regain totems and other artifacts since 2019.
Also, in 2023, a memorial totem pole belonging to a member of the Nisgaanation returned from the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh.
Last year, Hailduk Country celebrated the return of the Chief's seat, which has been at the Royal BC Museum since 1911.
Fox said the accreditation programs and belongings of the agencies that hold the First Nations artifacts can teach them about repatriation and necessary practices and protocols.
“There's not much formal training for people who work, so it makes sense for professionals to share it,” she said.
She said there was still work to do, but over the past decades she has said, “I recognize moral and ethical orders to get things right. These possessions and ancestors are stolen from Indigenous communities, taken under obsession, and what's right is to encourage their return.”
“At the same time, First Nations repatriation experts are training the next generation within their community and building relationships with institutions, so there is a significant movement and recognition that this is the right thing to do,” she said.