Manitoba Museum completes largest repatriation to date Nineteen cultural items make their return to Piapot First Nation Jesse Brogan, staff
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he Manitoba Museum has completed its largest repatriation to date, returning 19 cultural belongings to Piapot First Nation in Saskatchewan. This repatriation aligns with the 150th anniversary of the signing of Treaty 4. The repatriated items include ceremonial pipes, a drum, an eagle fan, medicine pouches and gifts Chief Piapot once gave to the minister who conducted his daughter’s marriage ceremony. At the center of the work is Amelia Fay, the museum’s curator of anthropology and the Hudson’s Bay Company collection. “It’s a really collaborative process. We want repatriations to succeed just as much as the communities requesting them,” said Fay. Her dayto-day responsibilities range from provenance research to assembling documentation. “No two repatriations look the same,” she added. In the case of the Piapot repatriation, everything aligned quickly. From initial request to completion, the project took roughly three months — rapid by typical repatriation standards — and marked Fay’s first major repatriation as lead curator. Fay framed repatriation as stitching a thread back into place. “It’s reconnecting with the past and having that continuous thread,” said Fay. “We know that a lot of that continuum has been severed
PHOTO BY JESSE BROGAN / STAFF
through colonial processes,” meant to be, and that’s where have these things back home she said. “There is something they’re supposed to be,” said where [they belong].” to be said about those belong- Fay. Piapot First Nation leaderings just going ship underhome where scored that “There is something to be said about those they rightimpact with fully belong a quote from belongings just going home where they and what that Chief Mark rightfully belong and what that means” means.” Fox in the Fay felt the museum’s — Amelia Fay, curator of anthropology difference the announcerepatriation ment. and the HBC museum collection made in Pia“The return pot. “When I of Chief Piawas out at Piapot, things just “You could feel the com- pot’s belongings is very felt really good — it felt really munity’s energy, you could important […] When our light. It just felt like it was feel what it meant for them to people see the belongings,
they’re proud, they’re honoured, they’re emotional […] It’s going to carry our nation for another hundreds and hundreds of years to come,” said Fox. Lara Rosenoff Gauvin, an associate professor in the U of M’s department of anthropology, shared her perspective as well. “The Elders I work with emphasize that repatriation (or rematriation) is Ceremony — that it is spiritual and healing.” Brandi Hayberg, manager of marketing and communications at the Manitoba Museum, said the museum’s policy views repatriation as “more than returning objects to communities.” It supports “revitalizing Indigenous self-identity, spirituality and ceremony, languages, art, sovereignty, laws and governance.” As a Winnipeg-born curator who studied here, left for graduate studies and came home again, Fay now helps navigate where belongings belong, sometimes after decades. Her arc mirrors the return those items make — away, and then back, carrying teachings for the next generation. Dorota Blumczyńska, the Manitoba Museum’s CEO, put the museum’s hope plainly. “We hope that the repatriation of Chief Piapot’s belongings to his community will bring present and future generations renewed strength and hope.”
UMGPS welcome back event builds student connections Roy Albright Obah, staff
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the community, the event blended games, conversations and shared activities to foster a sense of belonging. Diwan Oulai, UMGPS vice-president of events and clubs, emphasized the importance of creating such spaces for students. “The event specifically is an opportunity for
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new and returning students to [connect] with their peers,” Oulai said. “It’s an opportunity for them to reconnect with each other, make new friends and be reminded that they are also not alone in their journey.” The afternoon was filled with interactive activities
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aimed at sparking conversations and breaking the ice. Students from a wide range of disciplines and backgrounds participated, making the event a representation of the diversity within the UMGPS community. While the programming focused on fun, its underlying goal was to help
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reduce the isolation that can accompany graduate and postdoctoral life. Daniel Asante, a returning graduate student, was provided a much-needed pause from the pressures of courseCont’d p. 3 / work
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September 17, 2025
SINCE 1914
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The U of M Graduate and Postdoctoral Society (UMGPS) welcomed new and returning members with its annual welcome back event on Sept. 11 at the Fort Garry campus. Designed to reconnect students after the summer and introduce fresh faces to
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VOL. 112, NO. 06