Tumpline
Not So Fast, Repo Man
MUSEUMS NARROWLY AVOID EXCITEMENT AS HAIDA DISAVOW CANOE CLAIMS
LAST NOVEMBER the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) dusted off and repainted one of the highlights of its collection, a 130-year-old, 19-metre war canoe from Haida Gwaii (the Queen Char- lotte Islands), only to learn that the Haida wanted the treasure returned. Te story broke in the Canadian Press:
“Haida Nation is calling on museums to re- turn a pair of rare war canoes.” Te Haida wanted back the canoe from the AMNH and another from the Canadian Museum of Civilization, the story said. It quoted the museums’ alarmed curators saying, effec- tively, No way. It looked to be a Canadian version of Greece’s Elgin Marbles saga, ex- cept for one thing: the press got it wrong. “Tere was never a formal request for
either canoe,” Nika Collison, the co-chair of the Haida Nation’s repatriation com- mittee, told Canoeroots. “We are not pur- suing it and we do not intend to. I’m disap- pointed with the reporting.” She explained that the reporter interviewed one Haida, Captain Gold, who suggested the canoes should be returned. For an official repa- triation effort, artifacts need to have been acquired illegitimately, which was not the case with these canoes. Collison phoned the two curators to apologize. Completed canoes of this vintage no
longer exist on Haida Gwaii. From the years 1884 to 1950, Canadian government potlatch bans made it illegal for the Haida to practice their culture; artifacts were lost and carving skills atrophied.
STAYING PUT.
CANADIAN MUSEUM OF CIVILIZATION, VII-B-1192, PHOTO MERLE TOOLE, IMAGE # S96-24327
A renaissance began when Bill Reid,
whose sculpture appears on the Canadian $20 bill, carved a 15-metre canoe for Expo ’86. Tat canoe is now on display at the newly opened, $20-million Haida Heritage Centre in Skidegate, B.C. Tis summer, Haida artists plan to carve three more 10- metre canoes. In the old days, the Haida were the new-
vehicle dealers of the coast. Tey carved canoes in winter and paddled to the main- land in summer to trade the boats for sup- plies before paddling home in leaky old trade-ins. Now that the old traditions are revived, it looks to some like a good time to start bringing the oldest canoes home. But museum curators and Haida officials say not yet.—Tim Shuff
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1 6 n C ANOE ROOT S summer 2007
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