Coming Home: Stewardship and Care

Discussions about repatriation and rematriation have become mainstream over the last few years in British Columbia. Many of us have followed news stories with headlines in national and international papers about cultural belongings being returned to First Nations in BC from community and major museums around the world, and from private collectors. These stories are about reconnection. Last fall, a Wet’suwet’en delegation travelled to the Musée du Quai Branly-Jacques Chirac, in Paris, to visit the K’ëgit totem pole. In this issue, Wet’suwet’en delegates illuminate the impact of seeing this significant belonging in person. For many Indigenous communities, repatriation or rematriation efforts are multigenerational, and it can take decades, or longer, to bring their belongings home. How can museums and heritage organizations support the work of Indigenous communities? We invited Leia…