Earlier today, 62 First Nations cultural artifacts recently returned from the Vatican Museums archive had been uncrated at the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, Quebec, with the Assembly of First Nations executive council and National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak in attendance for a ceremony and celebration.
Chief Woodhouse Nepinak declared “Our relatives are home” as she marked the emotional day, noting that it’s a moment that been years in the making and the culmination of decades of advocacy. She adds, for First Nations people, these items are not simply artifacts, but rather, living, sacred parts of culture; ones that are to be treasured, used in ceremony, and treated with the reverence they deserve.
The process to see the items returned began in earnest in 2017 when the AFN passed a special resolution seeking more support for the International repatriation of Sacred Items. Following this, the AFN began lobbying all levels of government and the Vatican, via the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Papal Nuncio office in Ottawa, to see items held in their archives returned. That effort saw a joint Indigenous delegation, with the AFN, Métis National Council, and the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, meet with Pope Francis in March of 2022, and eventually, on December 6th, 2025, coinciding with the Jubilee of Hope, Pope Leo XIV granted approval for the 62 cultural artifacts uncrated today to be immediately returned to their rightful place within Indigenous Communities in Canada.
“The journey home for these items has been a long one but it is not over, just as our journey to reconciliation is not over. Our goal is to truly repatriate the items, to see them returned to their communities of origin. We will honour the work of our ancestors and continue our efforts to bring all our relatives home from all institutions, in Canada and across the globe.” – Assembly of First Nations National Chief, Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak
The AFN says throughout all stages of the process they ensured proper protocol and ceremony were observed, and they had arranged for four First Nations youth to accompany the items on their return last December. A delegation consisting of Chief Woodhouse Nepinak alongside First Nations leaders, Elders, Knowledge Keepers and Residential School survivors had been in Vatican City at the time to ensure the items departed safely, and with ceremony.
With the artifacts now back in Canada and officially uncrated, work continues with the Museum of History to determine where they had originally come from, and when and how they’ll each be repatriated to their rightful Nations, families and communities.
