Challenging the "love of possessions": Repatriation of sacred objects in the United States and Canada

• Main Author: Dekker, Jennifer
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Rowman and Littlefield 2018
• Subjects: DM. Museums; JA. Acquisitions; Canada; First Nations
• Online Access: http://eprints.rclis.org/33374/; http://eprints.rclis.org/33374/1/Dekker_Challenging_Love_Possessions-submitted.pdf

In 1990, the US passed the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, requiring the repatriation of ancestral remains, funerary and sacred objects from museums to source communities. Since then, hundreds of thousands of repatriations have occurred, allowing for respectful treatment of ancestors and reconnections to spiritual, communal practice and ceremony. In Canada, repatriation has been recommended by the Assembly of First Nations, the Canadian Museums Association and the UNDRIP but there is no federal law. Does Canada have a functioning alternative? This review provides a comparative analysis of how repatriation differs in the two countries, arguing that case-by-case negotiations in Canada currently allow for more flexibility and customization to the needs of different Indigenous communities, but that the transparency and financing associated with NAGPRA would be a significant benefit to Indigenous peoples in Canada.