Bruce County Museum to return carvings to Squamish and Haida nations
Bruce County council has approved returning a carved totem pole to the Squamish Nation and Haida carvings to the Haida Gwaii Museum, after the county museum researched the origins of Indigenous belongings in its collection.
By David Ellis · Published · 2 min read
Bruce County council has approved sending several Indigenous carvings held by the Bruce County Museum & Cultural Centre back to the nations they came from in British Columbia.
Council approved the repatriation at its Nov. 5 meeting, according to the county's meeting highlights and a staff report from Cathy McGirr, the county's director of museum and cultural services.
According to the list attached to the report:
- A hand-carved, painted wooden totem pole about 30 centimetres tall, carved by Bob Cole of the Squamish Nation, will go to the Squamish Lil'wat Cultural Centre in Whistler. The report says Cole's family asked for its return.
- A small argillite or slate totem pole and a pair of medallions, carved by Arthur Moody of the Haida Nation in 1955, will go to the Haida Gwaii Museum in Skidegate, at the museum's request.
- Four totem pole reproductions will be removed from the collection and destroyed. The report says they were unauthorized commercial reproductions and not authentic cultural belongings, as advised by the Haida Gwaii Museum.
Council also authorized a staff member to travel out of province with the items. The report says both B.C. institutions prefer that belongings be accompanied rather than shipped. Costs will be covered within the existing project budget, it says.
The returns come out of the first phase of the museum's Indigenous Cultural Belongings Project, done in consultation with the Saugeen Ojibway Nation Environment Office and in partnership with the Great Lakes Research Alliance for the Study of Aboriginal Arts and Cultures (GRASAC). The report says the research produced an initial cultural attribution for about 100 belongings in the collection, along with 14 recommendations for the project's next phase.
The museum has also found other belongings with origins outside Bruce County. It is not currently expecting to repatriate those because of how they were donated, the report says. Any future requests will be brought to council.
Sources: Bruce County council highlights, Nov. 5, 2026; staff report MUS-2026-017 and attached list.
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