More than five dozen items belonging to First Nations, Inuit, and Métis are one step closer to returning home.

Following three years of negotiations, 62 cultural items previously held in Vatican museums and vaults for a century landed at Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport just before noon on Saturday.

"It is a positive step toward reconciliation," said Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations (AFN).

"It wasn’t easy, but I’m glad that they’re coming home. Our residential school survivors, our elders, our chiefs have been calling for that for a long, long time."

The majority of the items are still unknown, but 14 items are of Inuit provenance, including an Inuvialuit kayak used to chase beluga whales, one is Métis and the remaining

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