Indigenous leaders call on new Pope to return thousands of artifacts

The Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (FSIN) is calling for the Vatican to return sacred First Nation artifacts taken from Indigenous communities during the residential school era.

The FSIN, which represents Saskatchewan's First Nations, has previously formally requested the repatriation of items including sacred pipes, medicine bundles, ceremonial regalia and other cultural objects currently housed in the Vatican Museums in Vatican City. 

FSIN Chief Bobby Cameron has renewed that request in light of Pope Leo XIV's recent appointment as head of the Catholic Church.

"Every single one of those artifacts are sacred items there, crucial for the healing journey for many residential school survivors," Cameron said in an interview Wednesday.

Indigenous leaders from Saskatchewan were part of a delegation that went to the Vatican in 2022 to meet Pope Francis. For that visit, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops arranged for a group of First Nations, Métis and Inuit delegates to meet Francis at the Vatican, and see some of the artifacts during private tours of the Vatican Museums.

They included an Inuvialuit kayak still held at the Vatican Museums, along with thousands of other Indigenous artifacts.

Cameron said every item put back in the hands of Indigenous people would go a long way in the healing journey of residential school survivors.

He said there may even be pictures of children whose families never saw them again.

"There were many that were tortured and beaten to death and never made it home, just totally vanished. But we know what happened. They were murdered," he said.

Floyd Favel, curator of the Chief Poundmaker Museum and Gallery on Poundmaker First Nation, about 175 kilometres northwest of Saskatoon, said in an interview that the artifacts are living objects that are part of Indigenous people's legacy.

"They hold our history. They hold our culture," Favel said. "It does strengthen our link with the past. And we need that more these days because our languages and our cultures, they're very much threatened."

The Catholic Church previously justified colonization of Indigenous people through its Doctrine of Discovery, a legal concept backed by 15th-century papal bulls.

The church maintains those papal bulls were not part of the church's teachings.

"Historical research clearly demonstrates that the papal documents in question, written in a specific historical period and linked to political questions, have never been considered expressions of the Catholic faith," two Vatican departments said in a statement released in 2023. "At the same time, the Church acknowledges that these papal bulls did not adequately reflect the equal dignity and rights of indigenous peoples."

Pope Francis repudiated the Doctrine of Discovery in 2023 after decades of advocacy by Indigenous Peoples worldwide.

"We lost our culture, and it's in a fragile state. When you bring back these objects, it will awaken people because these objects are living entities. You could say spiritual energies, living art," Favel said.

Victoria Pruden, president of the Métis National Council, said in a statement to CBC that she is asking the Vatican to work with Métis knowledge-keepers to identify which items in the collection belong to the Métis and to return them.

"These artifacts were taken during eras of profound injustice. Their return is an essential step in advancing reconciliation and repairing the deep harms caused by colonial policies, including the role the Church played in the residential school system," she said.

It's a message she'll take to Rome as she attends Pope Leo's inaugural mass on Sunday.