60 T艥ilhqot鈥檌n ancestral belongings have been returned to the T艥ilhqot鈥檌n Nation from the Museum of Vancouver (MOV). 

The items were repatriated by the T艥ilhqot鈥檌n National Government (TNG) and the MOV after a delegation of elders, youth, children, Women鈥檚 Council members and former T艥ilhqot鈥檌n leaders travelled to Vancouver in February to bring the items home. TNG is the governing body of the T艥ilhqot鈥檌n people which comprise of six communities located throughout the T艥ilhqot鈥檌n (Chilcotin) territory.

Some of the belongings are now on display at the TNG Dasiqox office in Williams Lake. They include 29 qat艥鈥檃y (coiled root baskets), 29 lithics, one birch bark knife sheath and one pair of snowshoes made from wood, rawhide and sinew.  

鈥淥ur people, particularly our youth, have taken immense pride in the strength of our people represented in the baskets,鈥� said Nits鈥檌l蕯in (Chief) Joe Alphonse. 鈥淭hese objects are an amazing showcase of the strength of the T艥ilhqot鈥檌n people.鈥�

TNG and MOV will continue working together, developing an exhibition to honour the MOV鈥檚 role in caretaking these objects and to recognize successful collaboration.  

鈥淥ur staff understands that we are only acting as caretakers of the belongings in the collection, that the stories and knowledge that animate them resides with the families and communities from which they originate,鈥� said Sharon M. Fortney who curates the museum鈥檚 Indigenous collections.

鈥淥ur goal is to build strong relationships with the communities we engage with, and we do that by recognizing their cultural autonomy.鈥� 

The MOV has scheduled an exhibition for the spring titled The Work of Repair: Redress and Repatriation and will feature a section celebrating the repatriation of Tsilhqot'in belongings.