Pipe chief calls for Royal Ontario Museum to return Indigenous artifacts

On the eve of National Aboriginal Day, aThree Fires Confederacy Pipe Chief is demanding repatriation of sacred artifacts from the Royal Ontario Museum.

In particular, NicholasDelearyis calling for the return of a peace pipe that descends fromthe AnishinaabeThree Fires Confederacy.

"We want to return these to our younger people,"Delearysaid. "A lot of our young people don't grow up with these things in their backyard, so these objects represent our culture and are very sacred to us."

"We want to re-ignite them and put them back into circulation."

Deleary said the pipe is a very important ceremonial item. He plans to deliver the repatriation request in person to the ROM on Wednesday, which isNationalAboriginalDay.

"Reconciliation must go beyond paper and political cursive to real,bona fiderestoration," Deleary wrote in a Facebookeventfor tomorrow's request. He said while the museum is making attempts at reconciliation with Indigenous communities, it's not quite enough.

"I think the ROM holds these sacred artifacts hostage," he told CBC Toronto."They display the visual stuffthe nice stuff, the beadworkbut at the same time they're holding this particular pipe in a vault. It's not seen by anybody unless you have privilege."

On Tuesday, the ROM'sdeputy director of collections and research said he is looking forward to meeting withDeleary.

"[This conversation]helps us move forward with our own dialogue with how we handle these artifacts," said MarkEngstrom. "And we're committed to returning sacred and ceremonial objects to the communities in which they belong."

Engstrom said the pipe came to the museum from a donor, and it was sourced back to theRainy River District. He confirmed the pipe is currently in the ROM's vaults.

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"One of our next steps will be to contact people in the Rainy River District to see how they view the repatriation of this pipe,"Engstromtold CBC Toronto.

Themuseum is also in what he called "active discussions" with several communities about the repatriation of various objects.

"The world's achangin' and the ROM is changing with it," he said.

"I've heard the same thing for a while now," Delearysaid in response.

There have been similar calls for the repatriation of artifacts in other Canadian provinces. Back in March, thefederal government agreed to return Louis Riel's crucifixand other artifacts which were on displayat theRCMPHeritageCentre inRegina to the Mtis National Council.

In 2016, the B.C. government pledged to allocate $2 million to help return First Nations artifacts from museums around the world to the province.