Financial support for First Nations having their ancestral remains and belongings returned will be available soon through the BC Museums Association, according to a BC Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture media release.
The provincial government is providing $500,000 to the museums association to provide a range of grants to support communities at different stages of the repatriation process.
“First Nations throughout British Columbia are eager to have their ancestors and related cultural patrimony repatriated,” stated BC Museums Association president Jodi Simkin. “This funding demonstrates a commitment to helping achieve this important and essential step in the reconciliation process and the BCMA is proud to support this work.”
First Nations communities and organizations will be eligible for grants to support repatriation planning, building capacity to take on repatriation projects and encouraging collaboration with cultural organizations, according to the release.
“This funding allows museums, archives and Indigenous peoples new opportunities to work together towards decolonization and realizing the goals set out by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples,” stated BCMA Indigenous Advisory Committee chair and Wei Wai Kum First Nation member Dan Smith. “True, meaningful and lasting reconciliation must include the return of Indigenous culture back to Indigenous communities.”
The grants follow the province’s $2 million investment over three years to Royal BC Museum for repatriation activities, including a provincewide repatriation symposium, a granting program, digital repatriation programs, community work and the creation of Canada’s first repatriation handbook for Indigenous peoples by Indigenous peoples.
“The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is clear: Indigenous peoples have a right to the repatriation of cultural objects and remains of their ancestors,” stated tourism, arts and culture minister Lisa Beare. “We’re supporting this important work with First Nations because we know that returning ancestral remains and cultural belongings is essential for true and lasting reconciliation.”
