Overview

For more than a century, over sixty sacred Indigenous artifacts-carved, stitched, and shaped by the hands of ancestors-sat in the vaults and museums of the Vatican, far from the First Nations, Inuit, and Métis communities from which they were taken. To outside eyes, they were ""museum pieces."" To the Indigenous peoples of Canada, they were living cultural ancestors, carriers of memory, teachings, and spiritual continuity. Returning the Ancestors tells the extraordinary true story of how these powerful cultural belongings finally made their way home. From their removal during a period of forced assimilation and cultural suppression, to their display at the 1925 Vatican Mission Exposition, to the decades of silence that followed, this book traces the long and painful history behind the artifacts' exile. It then follows the powerful resurgence that began in 2022, when Indigenous leaders traveled to Rome to confront historical injustices-and sparked a global call for repatriation. Through eight deeply researched chapters, readers witness: The hidden histories of how these items were taken The spiritual and cultural significance of each artifact The impact of residential schools and colonial policies on cultural loss Pope Francis's apology and his pledge to return the relics Pope Leo's decisive action in fulfilling that promise The emotional homecoming on the snowy tarmac in Montreal The renewed cultural strength, healing, and identity sparked in communities The global movement to return stolen heritage to its rightful stewards

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