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Tŝilhqot91Ƶin Nation ancestral items repatriated by Museum of Vancouver

Some of the items are now on display at the TNG Dasiqox office in Williams Lake
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Sierra William, Loretta Jeff and Chantu Williams.

60 Tŝilhqot91Ƶin ancestral belongings have been returned to the Tŝilhqot91Ƶin Nation from the Museum of Vancouver (MOV). 

The items were repatriated by the Tŝilhqot91Ƶin National Government (TNG) and the MOV after a delegation of elders, youth, children, Women91Ƶs Council members and former Tŝilhqot91Ƶin leaders travelled to Vancouver in February to bring the items home. TNG is the governing body of the Tŝilhqot91Ƶin people which comprise of six communities located throughout the Tŝilhqot91Ƶin (Chilcotin) territory.

Some of the belongings are now on display at the TNG Dasiqox office in Williams Lake. They include 29 qatŝ91Ƶay (coiled root baskets), 29 lithics, one birch bark knife sheath and one pair of snowshoes made from wood, rawhide and sinew.  

91ƵOur people, particularly our youth, have taken immense pride in the strength of our people represented in the baskets,91Ƶ said Nits91Ƶilʔin (Chief) Joe Alphonse. 91ƵThese objects are an amazing showcase of the strength of the Tŝilhqot91Ƶin people.91Ƶ

TNG and MOV will continue working together, developing an exhibition to honour the MOV91Ƶs role in caretaking these objects and to recognize successful collaboration.  

91ƵOur staff understands that we are only acting as caretakers of the belongings in the collection, that the stories and knowledge that animate them resides with the families and communities from which they originate,91Ƶ said Sharon M. Fortney who curates the museum91Ƶs Indigenous collections.

91ƵOur goal is to build strong relationships with the communities we engage with, and we do that by recognizing their cultural autonomy.91Ƶ 

The MOV has scheduled an exhibition for the spring titled The Work of Repair: Redress and Repatriation and will feature a section celebrating the repatriation of Tsilhqot'in belongings.  



About the Author: Williams Lake Tribune Staff

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