Vatican returns 14 Inuit artifacts as church aims for ‘renewed relationship’

Fourteen of the 62 Indigenous artifacts the Vatican returned to Canada on Saturday are believed to be of Inuit origin, says Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami president Natan Obed.

Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami president Natan Obed says more investment should be made in infrastructure so items  the Vatican returned Saturday to Indigenous Peoples can be properly stored. (Photo by Cedric Gallant)

In a ceremony at a hotel near Montreal’s Trudeau Airport,  Indigenous leaders spoke about the long journey these artifacts took to come back home. 

“Pope Francis, his words still strike me when he left Canada,” said Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami president Natan Obed in a speech, referring to his experience meeting the late head of the Roman Catholic Church on during the papal visit to Iqaluit. Francis came to Canada in 2022 to apologize for some church members’ role in Canada’s residential schools program.

“Standing in a plane in Iqaluit, he said, ‘Thou shalt not steal’,” Obed added. “These are words that I think should resonate beyond just this moment in time.”

A century ago, the church asked missionaries in Canada to send artifacts to the Vatican museum’s collection. It was Francis who asked that these items be returned to Canada. 

Obed said 14 of the artifacts are of Inuit origin, including a 100-year-old Inuvialuit kayak — one of the larger items and one that news media focused on as a symbol of the artifiacts’ return.

Archbishop Richard Smith says the Roman Catholic Church is trying to forge a “renewed relationship” with Indigenous Peoples in Canada.  (Photo by Cedric Gallant)

Inuit leaders and experts will analyze the other items to determine which community they are from and what knowledge can be found within them. Most of the other items are of unknown origin.

The artifacts are still enclosed in their boxes, waiting to be acclimatized and transported to the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, Que., where they will be studied and some will eventually be displayed.

“Look at the power in the room, the diversity of Indigenous people,” said Duane Smith, chairperson of the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation.

“We are that much stronger when we work with each other, support each other.”

The items are going to be transported by the Kahnawake Peacekeepers — the police force in the Mohawk First Nation near Montreal — to the museum in Gatineau.

“The Holy Father spoke of his desire for a future of justice, healing, and reconciliation,” Archbishop Richard Smith said Saturday. “The return of these [artifacts] is a concrete expression of that hope.” 

The return of Indigenous cultural objects that had been held in the Vatican’s collection for decades will help Inuit and other people relearn how those items were originally made, says Paul Irngaut, acting president of Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., during a ceremony in Montreal to mark the return of 62 items. (Photo by Cedric Gallant)

He added that it reflects what he called the church’s “deep desire for a renewed relationship, marked by mutual respect and a commitment to walk forward together.” 

Obed said the ultimate goal for the 14 Inuit items is to have them returned to wherever they belong. One obstacle to that is the lack of infrastructure in the Arctic to properly store the items. 

“Why it is so important to have them back is because we are forgetting how they were made,” said Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. acting president Paul Irngaut. By getting the items back, they can be reverse-engineered and built again.

“It won’t be like the old days, but at least our young people will know,” Irngaut said.

Indigenous leaders will take future steps to repatriate artifacts from other institutions around the world.

Obed pointed to a section of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, which asks Canada to co-develop a comprehensive approach to enable the repatriation of Indigenous cultural belongings and ancestral remains. 

Assembly of First Nations president Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak said, “We are thankful to see this day and to see the beginning of repatriating our artifacts from around the world.”

“And to Britain, we are coming next,” she added with a laugh.