Cultural artifacts to return to Siksika Nation

By Sean Feagan, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

After over 140 years, a collection of culturally significant artifacts of the Blackfoot Confederacy will be returning from a museum in England to its home at Siksika Nation.
The Chief Crowfoot regalia, an assemblage of personal effects of Chief Crowfoot, a late-nineteenth century Blackfoot leader, has been in the collection of the Royal Albert Memorial Museum (RAMM) in Exeter, England, since the late 1870s. On April 7, Exeter city council’s executive committee, the elected body in charge of the museum collection, voted to return the Crowfoot regalia to Siksika Nation.
The decision to return the regalia, which includes a buckskin shirt, a pair of leggings, a knife with a feather bundle, two beaded bags and a horsewhip, is a significant development for Siksika Nation, said Chief Ouray Crowfoot.
“As a direct descendant of the Great Chief Crowfoot, I am pleased that the regalia will be returned to its rightful home, the Siksika Nation,” said Chief Ouray Crowfoot. “The returning of this regalia will contribute to healing and reconciliation and the Great Chief’s spirit can rest easy once all his belonging are gathered from the four corners of Mother Earth and returned back to his home.”
Siksika Nation will lend the items to the Blackfoot Crossing Historical Park (BCHP) for “display and education of all peoples around their significance as part of world history, together with their journey to the UK and their return to the Chief’s traditional homelands,” said Crowfoot.
The items are thought to have been acquired from Chief Crowfoot by Sir Cecil Denny, a North-West Mounted Police officer, “Indian agent,” author and archivist, about the time of the signing of Treaty 7 in Alberta (in September 1877), according to a RAMM press release. The regalia were loaned to RAMM by Cecil Denny’s sister in 1878 and were purchased by RAMM in 1904, according to RAMM.
The decision by the Exeter city council’s executive committee was made in response to a 2015 formal request by BCHP for RAMM to repatriate the regalia. In January 2020, RAMM approached Chief Ouray Crowfoot, who confirmed the Siksika Tribal Council would be prepared to take ownership of the regalia and provided “the necessary assurances about the long-term care of the regalia and financial information,” according to the press release.
The announcement springs hope in a time mired by the COVID-19 public health crisis, said Shannon Bear Chief, BCHP office manager.
“Receiving such wonderful news during this time of uncertainty, we at Siksika will have something to look forward to, something to plan, something we can be excited about,” said Bear Chief. “This certainly will be a historic event for Siksika Nation and for the Blackfoot Confederacy.”