Chief Poundmaker’s staff returned to family at Saskatchewan ceremony
‘ These artifacts don’t belong in museums,’ ancestor says
An artifact believed to have belonged to a Plains Cree leader who played an important role in treaty talks has been returned to his descendants.
Parks Canada has transferred a staff ascribed to Chief Poundmaker from a collection of historical objects under the agency’s care.
Poundmaker’s family members are striving to bring home his personal belongings, which they say were taken from him under duress.
The staff was returned during a private ceremony Wednesday at the Fort Battleford National Historic Site. It is part of a healing journey his family says will help Poundmaker’s spirit rest.
“In our culture, all items have life,” said Paulina Poundmaker, Brown
Bear Woman, who is the greatgreat- granddaughter of Chief Poundmaker.
“There’s power to these objects. That’s why these artifacts don’t belong in museums. The sacred ceremonial artifacts need to be taken care of by families.”
Under Poundmaker Cree Nation laws, descendants are required to initiate and lead repatriation. The same cultural laws require the same descendants to serve as custodians once the items are returned.
Paulina Poundmaker said the family will lend the staff back to Parks Canada. It is to be held in a temperature-controlled and secure setting at the Fort Battleford historic site, about 130 kilometres northwest of Saskatoon.
The loan is temporary until the family is able to move the chief’s belongings to a private museum on the Poundmaker Cree Nation. There are still dozens of his items in museums across Canada, the United States and Europe. Poundmaker — whose Cree name is Pitikwahanapiwiyin — is considered one of the great Indigenous leaders of the 19th century and was key in negotiations that led to Treaty 6, which covers the west-central portions of present-day Alberta and Saskatchewan.
He is remembered as a peacekeeper during the North-West Resistance of 1885. In 2019, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau exonerated the chief, who had been convicted of treason for leading his warriors in battle against Canadian forces.