Rematriation demanded of museum

There’s renewed hope that artifacts housed in La Prairie’s archaeological museum could one day return to Kahnawake.

This comes after the Mohawk Council of Kahnawake (MCK) brought forward a request to elected officials demanding a rematriation of various pre-colonial items held by the museum. The Musée d’archéologie de Roussillon is under the jurisdiction of the surrounding regional county.

“The grand chief wants us to work together,” said Delson mayor Christian Ouellette, also the prefect of the Roussillon regional county municipality (MRC). “We suggested a collaboration begin between us and the community.”

It was MCK grand chief Cody Diabo that brought forward the demand. He had the chance to do so at a recent meeting with mayors from surrounding municipalities held in late February.

“These artifacts are ours at the end of the day,” said Diabo, who said the hope is to see them housed in the future Kahnawake Cultural Arts Center.

Ouellette says the commitment is there to begin a formal discussion regarding an eventual repatriation of some of the museum’s items. It will happen through a liaison committee that’s existed since last year to facilitate more collaboration between the band council and surrounding municipalities, he said.

“It’s situations like this that can serve to bring our communities closer together,” the prefect said. “We’ve been trying to build a stronger relationship with the community for many years now.”

The archeological museum in La Prairie holds roughly 300,000 different artifacts and ecofacts, said Gilles Marcoux, the general director of the MRC.

Many have yet to be analyzed, documented, and categorized, however, making it hard to pinpoint exactly how many date back prior to colonization, he said. That said, out of the roughly 6,000 items that have been, about 20 percent date back from prior to colonization, he shared.

“We see this as a great opportunity to collaborate together on the work we do at our archaeological conservation and research center,” Marcoux said.

The archeology team run out of the MCK has approached the museum on numerous occasions in the hope of arranging a visit to see the collection there, but hasn’t had much luck. Their last effort was in September, at which point Marcoux said a suggestion was brought forward to bring the question to elected officials.

Archeologist Katsitsahente Cross-Delisle said those efforts date as far back as 2019.

“In my experience, this is the first time rematriation has been made political,” she said.

Since a visit has yet to be arranged, the MCK has yet to provide a detailed breakdown regarding which items they’re interested in seeing rematriated, she said. Artifacts like pottery, pipes, and tools made out of stones or bones are among those most likely to be represented within the collection, she said.

“For me, rematriation is about taking back our duty as Kanien’keha:ka women to fight, protect and maintain our cultural connection to all that is living,” Cross-Delisle said. “In the western world they would use the word repatriation for this type of work, but for us, it’s rematriation.”

That’s not to say the museum and band council haven’t collaborated before. In 2020, the ancestral remains of two people were returned to the community for burial. A ceremony was held then too at the museum.

“We were happy to do so,” Marcoux said.

The MCK grand chief said the demand brought forward extends beyond rematriation. There’s also a desire to strengthen collaborations with surrounding historical museums, so that everyone can learn about the original inhabitants of the land.

“There’s different contacts and partnerships that our team wants to build,” Diabo said. “History is for everybody, but there also needs to be the understanding and recognition that all the artifacts belong to our people.”

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