Indigenous artifacts at Vatican Museums heading back to Canada after repatriation campaign

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An Inuit kayak is inspected by Vatican staff in November, 2021. Indigenous groups have been seeking the repatriation of their cultural objects for many years.

A rare Western Arctic kayak and other cultural objects in the Vatican Museums sent from Canada a century ago are finally going home after a long repatriation campaign by Indigenous groups and the federal government.

The objects will likely arrive by Christmas and will be stored by the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, two sources in Rome and Canada said. Representatives of Indigenous groups, with the help of the museum’s curators, will examine and catalogue them before they are sent to Indigenous communities for display.

The groups have been seeking their repatriation for many years as part of the residential sc