‘Whatever it takes:’ Indigenous group seeks help repatriating items from Switzerland

By Brittany Hobson Sacred pipes, intricately beaded regalia and firearms believed to be associated with the period of the Battle of the Little Bighorn are some of the thousands of Indigenous artifacts a group of First Nations leaders and advocates are trying to repatriate from Switzerland. The items have been housed at a privately owned museum near Zurich, which closed its doors late last year after the collector decided he wanted to retire. A delegation travelled to the country to visit the museum before it closed, and is now urging federal, First Nations and tribal governments in Canada and the United States to intervene and help bring these artifacts back to North America. “We’ve got to do whatever it takes to reconnect our ancestral, sacred bundles back into our communities,”…

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