Repatriation in Canada: A Guide for Communities

Institutional Readiness for Community– University Alliances

“…These documents address the right of Indigenous peoples to the repatriation of their cultural belongings; however, these documents are expressions of ethical positions that lack legal force, except in the case of British Columbia which recently affirmed UNDRIP by way of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (Government of British Columbia 2019). As such, where the pre-existing legal and regulatory frameworks include very little provincial or federal governmental oversight of repatriation processes (Bourgeois 2021), Indigenous communities are often fighting against a legal system that favours institutional 'ownership' over Indigenous rights (Bell 2009).…”

“…as described by Conaty 2008;Rowley and Hausler 2007;Schaepe and Campion 2007). The lack is particularly stark in the case of universities: in a survey (Bourgeois 2021) of 44 universities in Canada (41 of which have anthropology departments), only three were found to have publicly accessible repatriation policy documents (viz. Museum of Anthropology 2000 [for the University of British Columbia]; University of Alberta 2009; University of Toronto 2020 [for the Department of Anthropology]).…”