Indigenous groups should have say in fate of cultural items in Risley company sale, experts say
The items are among a collection of 669 artworks and artifacts whose ownership was disputed in court proceedings.
Experts in repatriation say Indigenous communities must be consulted on the fate of about 30 cultural objects that are part of a corporate asset sale. The items, which include baskets, bone carvings and moccasins, are among nearly 670 artworks and artifacts listed in court proceedings involving seafood tycoon John Risley and his company, CFFI Ventures. The firm was placed under creditor protection in March under nearly US$1 billion in debt. Last month, a Nova Scotia court approved the sale of most of CFFI's assets to New York-based New Tide Capital.
Some of the Indigenous items are attributed to groups like Inuit, Mi'kmaq or Cree with no known artist or date, while others are vaguely labelled. Cody Groat, an assistant professor of history and Indigenous studies at Western University, said the key question is when Indigenous nations get to engage in such processes. "The most ethical situation, is seeing these cultural items return to the nations that they belong to," Groat said in an interview. Risley, who co-founded Clearwater Seafoods, said he supports repatriation but believes his collection contains no pieces acquired before their cultural significance was known.
"Our collection would not include any such pieces," Risley said via text message. He said items were bought from dealers and auction houses whose inventory faced public scrutiny, making it likely culturally important items would have been identified. "None of these 'middlemen' want to be seen as conduits for such items," he added. In response, the Canadian Museum Association's Indigenous Council said Indigenous people must be allowed to identify culturally significant objects, a task dealers and collectors are not equipped for.
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The council said in a statement that unless records show an item's community of origin had a free say in its fate, its significance may not have been understood. The collection of over 1,200 artworks and antiques, valued at about $8.1 million, was part of the asset sale. It includes more than 95 paintings by Maude Lewis, works by the Group of Seven, and pieces by Inuit artists Jessie Oonark and Irene Avaalaaqiaq Tiktaalaaq. Details on 669 items were released because Risley disputed ownership, claiming they were his personally and not company assets.
A lawyer for New Tide Capital told the court it would negotiate an out-of-court deal with Risley over the disputed works. Neither New Tide nor its parent firm, HPS Investment Partners, responded to requests for comment. Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami said works of Inuit cultural importance should be examined by Inuit. A spokesperson said if involved parties "wish to demonstrate good will," the organization would help return any historically significant pieces to Inuit communities.
Groat noted a long history of private collectors acquiring Indigenous items through missionaries or Indian Act agents. He said returning items is complicated by Canada's lack of a national framework and by mislabelling. Indigenous communities also often lack funds to engage in bankruptcy proceedings to claim objects, as seen in the Hudson's Bay Company case. Lauren Wheeler, executive director of the Canadian Museum Association, said the sparse details on Risley's collection show how little is known about Indigenous objects in private hands.
Public museums in Canada hold more than six million Indigenous belongings, Wheeler said. The association has a guide titled "More Than Giving Back" to help institutions return culturally significant items. The guide states objects taken during forced relocations or through coercion must be returned. Wheeler said the same principles should apply to private collections, requiring engagement with Indigenous communities to identify origins and begin Indigenous-led return processes.
With files from The Canadian Press, BNN Bloomberg and The Globe and Mail