Swiss museum returns Indigenous relics
MONTREAL — Two artifacts sacred to some of Canada’s Indigenous peoples are back on home territory after a Swiss museum returned them to the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) confederacy.
The objects, a medicine mask and turtle rattle, had been in the possession of the Geneva Museum of Ethnography (MEG) for nearly 200 years.
The museum acknowledged last month that the artifacts were originally acquired without consent, noting that it was taking the unprecedented step of returning them as part of its commitment to ensuring both human remains and sacred objects are restored to their rightful owners.
Mohawk elder and activist Kenneth Deer — one of the three men sent to retrieve the objects — said he was “surprised and thankful” for the museum’s co-operation and called the MEG “progressive” for returning the objects without conditions or complications.
“It was a very quick turnaround because sometimes it takes years to get objects back from a museum, especially from a foreign country. It was a really good experience, and I think it’s a model for other museums to follow,” Deer said Friday.
Deer said the mask was first spotted in July last year by Tuscarora Brennen Ferguson, who, along with Deer, is a member of the Haudenosaunee external relations committee.
In November, the committee wrote a letter requesting the return of artifacts to Canada. The museum and the city of Geneva, which founded the MEG in 1901, approved the request.
“The museum was very co-operative, and more than that, they were just respectful,” Ferguson said. “After I first saw the mask, we met with the director, and we asked her for the mask to be taken off public display, and they did it that very same day. We expressed our wishes, and they worked with us completely.”
The Haudenosaunee Confederacy is made up of six nations on both sides of the American and Canadian border: the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Tuscarora, and Seneca.
Deer said the MEG offered to ship the artifacts to Canada at the beginning of the year after obtaining a Swiss export permit, but Haudenosaunee elders objected because of the significance of the mask.
“It is a medicine mask used in ceremonies for healing and we regard these masks as living entities that have great healing powers,” Deer said.
A delegation was formed consisting of Deer, Ferguson and 87-year-old Seneca elder Clayton Logan. Together, the three flew to Switzerland to retrieve the sacred objects.
“There was a ceremony, and it was all very terrific,” Deer said. “There was a lot of media attention and a lot of people came out. The Canadian ambassador to the United Nations was present. And there were representatives from the United States government, Mexico and Guatemala and the Swiss, of course.”
Deer said Logan was allowed to burn traditional tobacco during the Feb. 7 ceremony. Deer also gave the museum two Mohawk corn husk dolls, one male and one female, made in Akwesasne.
MEG director Carine Ayélé Durand said she was very pleased to see the city of Geneva playing an active role in favour of the rights of Indigenous peoples. “This return of sacred objects was made possible thanks to the relationship we have had with the Haudenosaunee,” Ayélé Durand said.
She thanked the administrative council of the city of Geneva, who, she said, “made this process extremely smooth and quick.,”