Human Remains and Artifacts Repatriated to Mississauga First Nation

BLIND RIVER, ONTARIO—CBC News reports that the Canadian Museum of History has repatriated the skull of a child, the skull of an older adult, and a collection of artifacts to the Mississauga First Nation. “It’s been a long time coming,” said Brent Niganobe, chief of Mississauga First Nation. The human remains and the artifacts were unearthed in northern Ontario in the 1970s and 1980s at what is now a golf course, where burial mounds have recently been fenced off. Niganobe said that past chiefs and council members who asked for the return of the materials were denied. “We know how to take care of these artifacts and these are our artifacts,” he explained. “We’ve appreciated that Blind River has worked with us, obviously correcting those past wrongs,” he concluded. To read about a 6,000-year-old atlatl dart used by First Nations peoples that was uncovered in the southern Yukon, go to "Around the World: Canada."