Northern Ontario town plans to return 8,000-year-old artifacts to First Nation

The town of Iroquois Falls, Ont., plans to return artifacts that date back at least 8,000 years to Wahgoshig First Nation.

Town Coun. Darcy Cybolsky said returning the artifacts would be one step toward reconciliation with the nearby First Nation.

"We come from a past of colonialist culture superseding Indigenous culture," Cybolsky said.

"And more than ever now we're recognizing how wrong that was, and you see the residential schools coming to a greater light. The Indigenous people were well aware of that whole system and the damages that it's done…. And so now there's this newfound push that is long overdue."

Cybolsky said Justin and Marjorie Jordan collected the artifacts over a 12-year period beginning in 1970.

The majority of the collection has been on display at the Iroquois Falls Public Library for years. But when the request came to return them to Wahgoshig First Nation, it was an easy decision for the town council to help make that happen.

"We were in a position to fulfil that request, and so I started work by talking with the library board and they all came on board right away," Cybolsky said.

"They kind of figured something like this would happen at some point."

Cybolsky said that to transfer artifacts as old as the ones in the town's library. they need permission from the province. That process can take six months to two years to complete.

Those were our ancestors, which means so much to me.- June Black, chief of Wahgoshig First Nation

It was Wahgoshig First Nation Chief June Black who made that request.

When she attended the University of Alberta, Black said she remembered a guest speaker in an Indigenous studies class who talked about how his Blackfoot community had repatriated some of their own artifacts.

"I was really, really amazed at his presentation," Black said.

Even before her time in university, Black said she saw a collection of Indigenous artifacts in Quebec in the mid-1990s. That experience also had a profound effect on her.

"I swore at that time that if I was to ever become the chief of our community that I would repatriate our artifacts," she said.

When given the opportunity to address the Iroquois Falls town council, she made the ask.

In an event on Sept. 30, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, the town will officially announce its intent to transfer the artifacts to Wahgoshig First Nation.

If and when the town gets permission to repatriate the artifacts, Cybolsky will hand them over to Black's son, to represent the next generation doing things better.

Black said her community is already building a secure holding case for the artifacts and will find an appropriate spot to display them.

She said the artifacts are sacred to her people because they are a physical reminder of their ancestors.

The artifacts include arrowheads, stone tools and pottery.

"Those were our ancestors, which means so much to me," Black said.

"It represents that they were brave, first of all. You know, they were spiritual, they were all heroes."