Indigenous leaders waited on the snowy tarmac at Montreal’s Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport Saturday as the precious cargo was unloaded from an Air Canada jet.
The boxes contained more than 60 precious cultural artifacts, including a rare Inuit sealskin kayak, which were taken from First Nations, Inuit, and Métis communities more than a century ago and have been held in the Vatican museums and vaults ever since.
The emotional homecoming, shown in footage by CNN-affiliate CBC News, represents the culmination of a tireless three-year campaign by Indigenous leaders, which was endorsed by Pope Francis before he died, on the heels of his historic apology for abuses committed at Canada’s church-run residential schools.
The repatriation of the artifacts also comes as museums around the world have increasingly returned items in their collections that were stolen or potentially acquired unethically to their countries of origin.
First Nations National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak hailed the return of the artifacts as an “important and emotional moment for many First Nations across the country” during a press conference Saturday.
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