Cultural Restitution
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Updated October 2023
Below is a schedule of successful restitutions made by Canada to a country or community of source, together with other Canadian restitution news. Entries are updated regularly.
October 2023
The return of a memorial totem pole from Edinburgh to its ancestral Nisga'a Nation village home is described as an act of reconciliation that can open other doors
February 2023
A pipe and saddlebag belonging to Chief Poundmaker, the great 19th century Cree leader, has been returned by Toronto's Royal Ontario Museum to his descendants at a ceremony of repatriation
February 2023
The Royal British Columbia Museum has repatriated a sacred Nuxalk Nation Totem Pole removed from a burial site more than a century ago
October 2022
Major new report by the Canadian Museums Association estimates that 6.7 million Indigenous objects and human remains are held in Canadian museums, with approx. 94% in eight institutions
September 2022
The Royal Alberta Museum has returned seven artefacts to the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation
August 2022
A Nisga'a delegation from British Columbia will meet officials from the National Museum of Scotland about returning an 1860s Nisga'a memorial pole, taken by Marius Barbeau in 1929
Burnslakelakesdistrictnews.com
July 2022
First Nations and Indigenous leaders are calling on the Vatican to return Indigenous works ahead of Pope Francis's visit to Canada in July
June 2022
A BC First Nation is urging the Royal British Columbia Museum to earmark part of the Museum's new C$789m building budget for repatriation of Indigenous artefacts
May 2022
Staff belonging to Plains Cree leader Chief Poundmaker, stolen following the Northwest Resistance in 1885, has been returned by Parks Canada to his family
January 2022
The remote First Nation on the Central Coast is calling on the Royal British Columbia Museum to return a totem pole and other sacred artefacts lost by its people more than a century ago
December 2021
The Inuvialuit Regional Corporation has asked for a Kayak and other indigenous items on display in the Vatican Museums in Rome to be returned
November 2021
Royal British Columbia Museum begins the process of decolonisation by closing its Indigenous galleries
July 2021
Following the award of a repatriation grant, the Huu-ay-aht First Nations are beginning the process of reclaiming artefacts from the Royal B.C. Museum
June 2021
A rare 170-year-old Indigenous Cree beaded hood is being returned to Eeyou Istchee, James Bay Cree territory in northern Quebec by the Lachine Museum in Montreal
October 2019
Syria retrieves from Canada an ancient mosaic painting, dating to the 5th cent, plundered from a church or monastery in the 1990s
http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2019-10/07/c_138454115.htm
November 2018
Canada returns 58 antiquities, including pottery, glass vials, sculptures and oil lamps, detained in 2015, to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan – Canada’s first return of cultural property to Jordan
April 2017
Canada returns the head of a ceramic figurine, originating from the western region of Mexico, to the Government of the United Mexican States
January 2017
Canada returns two fossils and a pair of 19th cent wooden architectural carvings to the People’s Republic of China
January 2016
Canada returns a 19th century yatagan sword and a Cretan-style dagger to the Government of Bulgaria, after interception by Canada’s customs officials
July 2015
Canada returns a Phoenician glass pendant dating to the 6th cent B.C., seized by customs officers in Montreal in 2006, to the Republic of Lebanon
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/phoenician-artifact-to-lebanon-glass-pendant-1.3213339
April 2015
Prime Minister of Canada returns a 12th cent sculpture of a parrot lady, believed to have been stolen, to the Indian Prime Minister
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/phoenician-artifact-to-lebanon-glass-pendant-1.3213339
September 2013
Canada returns three fossils to the People’s Republic of China, originating from the Cambrian fossil shale in the Chengjiang region
See: https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/services/import-cultural-property/returns.html#Bulgaria2
June 2011
Canada returns to the Government of Bulgaria 21,000 stolen archaeological artefacts together with 18,000 coins, some Hellenistic and Roman, illegally excavated in Bulgaria and shipped to an importer in Montreal
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/canada-returns-bulgarian-stolen-artifacts-1.1021731
November 2010
Canada returns 35 fish, plant, insect and reptile fossils, between 125-150 million years old, originating from the Liaoning region of China, to the People’s Republic of China – Canada’s first return of cultural property to China
http://en.people.cn/90001/90782/7194876.html
October 2010
Canada returns more than 300 ancient coins, jewellery and metal artefacts from Roman and Byzantine times to the Republic of Bulgaria
See: https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/services/import-cultural-property/returns.html#Bulgaria2
August 2010
Canada returns a sculpted head of a woman, carved in marble, dating to the 1st or 2nd century B.C., to the Arab Republic of Egypt
See: https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/services/import-cultural-property/returns.html#Bulgaria2
January 2009
Canada returns three bronze bracelets, archaeological in origin, to the Republic of Mali
See: https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/services/import-cultural-property/returns.html#Bulgaria2
January 2009
Canada returns a terracotta figure, similar to a Nok clay figure, together with a seated terracotta figure and a wooden ceremonial statue, to the Federal Republic of Nigeria
See: https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/services/import-cultural-property/returns.html#Bulgaria2
February 2006
Canada returns an ancient anthropomorphic figurine, usually associated with tombs in the Rio Magdalena Region, and a pre-Columbian stone carving with a human face to the Republic of Colombia
See: https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/services/import-cultural-property/returns.html#Bulgaria2
May 2005
Canada returns a pre-Columbian copper figurine to the Republic of Peru
See: https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/services/import-cultural-property/returns.html#Bulgaria2
December 2004
Canada returns a clay funerary figurine to the Arab republic of Egypt
See: https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/services/import-cultural-property/returns.html#Bulgaria2
August 2002
Canada returns 571 pre-Columbian textiles to the Plurinational State of Bolivia
See: https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/services/import-cultural-property/returns.html#Bolivia1
August 2002
Canada returns approximately 140 pre-Columbian textiles and other objects to the Republic of Peru
See: https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/services/import-cultural-property/returns.html#Bulgaria2
April 2000
Canada returns pre-Columbian ceramic vessels to the Republic of Peru
See: https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/services/import-cultural-property/returns.html#Bulgaria2
April 1999
Canada returns a second group of 39 ancient Byzantine mosaics to the Syrian Arab Republic, seized when attempts were made to smuggle them into Canada and the U.S.
https://www.tehrantimes.com/news/34621/Canada-Returns-Smuggled-Ancient-Mosaics-to-Syria
November 1997
Canada returns a collection of pre-Columbian gold jewellery, dating to 1000-1500 C.E., and two ceramic figures to the Republic of Columbia
See: https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/services/import-cultural-property/returns.html#Bulgaria2
November 1997
Canada returns pre-Columbian artefacts, including painted ceramics, textiles and feathered articles, to the Republic of Peru
See: https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/services/import-cultural-property/returns.html#Bulgaria2
November 1997
Canada returns 20 pre-Columbian ceramic pots and figures from Mexico’s Pacific coast, dating from 200 B.C. to 250 A.D., to the Government of Mexico
See: https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/services/import-cultural-property/returns.html#Bulgaria2
May 1997
Canada returns 32 Byzantine mosaics dating to the 5th and 6th cent A.D. to the Syrian Arab Republic
See: https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/services/import-cultural-property/returns.html#Bulgaria2
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