Repatriation of Indigenous artifacts key for cultural identity: Northern leaders

‘You know who you are if you know where you come from,’ says Darrel Nasogaluak in Tuktoyaktuk, N.W.T.

Darrel Nasogaluak has spent years learning to build the long, slender kayaks Inuvialuit once used for beluga hunting.

He may soon have the chance to see one of the traditional vessels up close.

The kayak, along with other Indigenous artifacts, have been locked away in the Vatican Museums and are now set to return to Canada, though the details are still under discussion.

For Nasogaluak, chair of the Tuktoyaktuk Community Corporation and board member for the Tuktoyaktuk Centre for Arts and Culture in the N.W.T., learning about traditional objects like the kayak, uluit, harpoons and various hunting tools has helped him connect with his roots and learn about himself.

“You know who you are if you know where you come from,” he said.

He hopes the kayak will be on display in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region so he and others can study it.

Nasogaluak said a kayak like the one currently at the Vatican is kind of like the racecar of kayaks, as it’s “long, lean and built for speed.”

When they were used in the past for whale hunting, hundreds would go out at a time.

Former Dene National Chief Norman Yak’eula was part of an Indigenous delegation that visited the Vatican and saw the artifacts in 2022.

He said he found it disrespectful to have artifacts on display.

“Like being in the zoo,” is how he described it. “Our spirituality is not for show.”

Yak’eula said he’s glad the artifacts will be returned and he agrees with Nasogaluak that they should be tools for education.

He said to see the objects in person was “awesome” and helped him visualize Inuit’s ability to survive from years back.