This weekend saw a 200 year-old traditional headdress returned to northern BC, nearly 150 years after it was originally taken.
According to the Maiyoo Keyoh Society, the Susk’uz headdress was stolen by Catholic Priest Adrien Morrice in 1887.
Sometime after that it was given to the Royal Ontario Museum, where the Society’s president and CEO Jim Munroe came across it in 2017.
Work to bring the headdress home to the Maiyoo Keyoh traditional territory, near Fort St James, then began.
Eventually, the Society came to an agreement with The Exploration Place in Prince George to facilitate its return, and set it up in an exhibit.
On Saturday, members of the Society gathered with the Keyoh Chiefs and local politicians for a Repatriation and Grand Opening Ceremony.
While it will remain on display, the headdress is much more than an art piece, representing the Keyoh system of governance, and family-based land management.
You can find out more information about the headdress and the exhibit at this link.
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