Indigenous Leaders Urge Hudson Bay Company Not to Sell Sacred Artifacts

By Jeremy Appel, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Alberta Native News (ANNews) – Indigenous groups are cautioning against the Hudson’s Bay Company’s (HBC) intention to auction off its collection of thousands of pieces of art and artifacts, which could include items of cultural, historical and spiritual importance for First Nations in Canada. “The HBC’s legacy is inseparable from the post-contact history of the original peoples on this land,” Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs (AMC) Grand Chief Kyra Wilson wrote in an April 22 letter to HBC, which filed for bankruptcy in March. “These artifacts are not simply ‘valuable assets’ or one-of-a-kind collectibles, but pieces of living history, some of which may be sacred, stolen from First Nations or properly First Nations-owned.” As part of its efforts to pay back $1 billion it…

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