Haida committees welcome home ancestors' remains

Posted: April 18, 2005
by: Jean Johnson / Indian Country Today

PORTLAND, Ore. - Haida Skidgate Repatriation and Cultural Committee members will travel to the University of Oregon and Simon Fraser University this month to usher the remains of six ancestors home.

''We have two ancestors that come from Skedans that we will be bringing home for reburial,'' said committee co-chair Andy Wilson. Four committee members will fly to Eugene, Ore. for an April 22 ceremony, at the Native student longhouse. Food will be burned at the private ceremony in which the ancestral remains will be transferred to the Haida representatives.

The group has worked for years to locate more than 400 human remains held in various institutions throughout the nation. Wilson said in an e-mail that this will end eight years of traveling North America to bring home all of the known ancestral remains.

The committee will also join another Haida repatriation committee, Old Massett, in Vancouver, British Columbia. Old Massett will receive the remains of four ancestors that are currently housed at Simon Fraser. The Haida will host a celebration at the university's Native Friendship Center, with performances by the Rainbow Creek dancers and others. Once back home, the Skidgate committee will hold a service, followed by a reburial tea in the Skidgate Community Hall.

Wilson noted that no pictures or recordings of any kind will be permitted during the transfer or service.

Link to Report

Thanks to Cindy Moonglow for the lead on this report.

April Reports

Last updated on April 21, 2005