One hundred twenty years after a sacred shrine was taken from Nootka Island, members of the Mowachaht-Muchalaht First Nations are working to get it back from the American Museum of Natural History in New York.
“It was removed, acquired, stolen — whichever verb you want to use — in 1904,” elder Margaretta James said of the Whalers’ Shrine. “The museums at the time were acquiring Indian artifacts because they believed that the Indians to be disappearing.”
The shrine was where Nuu-chah-nulth whalers prayed and practised ritual oosemich (bathing) to prepare for the physical and spiritual challenges they faced when hunting off the west coast of Vancouver Island.
It features 88 carved human figures, four carved whale figures and 16 human skulls — ancestors that James says need to be honoured.
The shrine was removed by George Hunt and Franz Boas in 1904 while the community was away for seasonal hunting. It has never been fully displayed at the museum.
Members of the First Nation’s Whalers’ Shrine repatriation committee went to the American Museum of Natural History to formally meet with the museum’s Cultural Resources Office.
Led by hereditary Chief Mike Maquinna, Chief Jerry Jack, and Elder Margaretta James, committee members discussed the next steps to complete the process required for repatriation.
The journey to reclaim the shrine has been long and difficult.
In 1988, museum representatives came to the community to ask for more information. They wanted to replicate the shrine as a display.
“We actually never gave them an answer,” she said. “But we started the whole process for its return, now throughout decades. And it’s just amazing how powerful that culture is now, in that we’re getting it back. It’s going back to its home.”
In the 1960s, Parks Canada conducted an excavation at Yuqout, unearthing human remains and confirming continuous human habitation for more than 4,300 years. Those ancestors were respectfully returned to their resting place, a process guided by the elders.
In the United States, the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act requires cultural items to be returned to “lineal descendants.”
A spokesperson for the American Museum of Natural History said there approximately 2,200 Native American ancestral remains at the museum.
James described the shrine as a powerful symbol of Indigenous culture with a deep spiritual significance.
“You really feel oneness in those moments when you’re there, how powerful that is — and what it is,” she said. “The power of the spirit, you can’t hardly put words to it.”
The place the shrine stood in the forest for more than 4,000 years was recognized in 1923 as a National Historic Site by Parks Canada, as “a unique ceremonial structure and the most significant monument to a purification ritual on the West Coast.”
However, the initial plaque failed to even acknowledge the Indigenous history. Eventually, the community succeeded in changing the narrative to reflect their rich heritage.
James said the return of the shrine is not just a matter of cultural heritage but also a healing moment in the community experiencing the multi-generational impacts of colonialism.
“Living here, being with the people, you feel how powerful Yuquot is, and the shrine,” she said.
Members of the community have been preparing for a repatriation, ensuring that their traditions and rituals are honoured.
“We’re really grateful and appreciative that it’s coming together now with the support of the chiefs and the community,” James said. “This is a journey of great hope and renewal to honour our ancestral cultural heritage and the spirit of the Mowachaht/Muchalaht people.”
As James was preparing for the journey to New York, she said she was carrying with her the hopes and dreams of her people.
It is a step towards reclaiming their history, honouring their ancestors, and healing the wounds of the past.
“Most of the elders that spoke for the shrine in the ‘80s and ‘90s, they’re gone,” James said. “They passed. But we’re here — and we’re ready.”
Odette Auger is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter with Windspeaker.com. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.
