Gregory Scofield at national repatriation event
After more than a century in the Vatican collection, a Métis model dog sled from the 1920s was repatriated on February 25, with Writing professor Gregory Scofield as the lead expert on the identification and return of the model to its community of origin.
The story was carried across a number of national news outlets, notably including CBC, the Globe & Mail and the Canadian Press. Scofield (far left) was pictured in the national coverage alongside (from right) Sherry Ferrel Racette (University of Regina), Victoria Pruden (Métis National Council), Governor General Mary Simon, His Excellency Whit Fraser, and the Honourable Marc Miller, Minister of Canadian Identity & Culture.
The model sled — made from leather, wood and glass beads — was one of thousands of items sent to Rome in 1925 by missionaries around the world for an exhibit organized by Pope Pius XI. Now, after decades of calls for their return, the sled was one of 62 items repatriated to Indigenous Peoples from the Vatican last year.
“We’re not simply opening a box. We’re welcoming something very special home,” said Pruden during the ceremony. “We’re beginning a new chapter, a chapter that’s grounded in relationship, kinship and connection.” Métis officials say they’ll be working with experts — including Scofield — to determine which community the sled came from.
“Seeing this artifact in its rightful place is a potent reminder that the work of reconciliation is worthwhile and produces tangible results,” noted the Governor General at the event. Watch a video of the unveiling here.
Repatriating and teaching beadwork
As a Red River Metis of Cree, Scottish and European descent, award-winning poet and memoirist Gregory Scofield practices traditional 19th century Cree-Metis floral beadwork and is an acknowledged expert in the field. He also connects it through his teaching by offering a course on Indigenous women’s resistance writing and material art, which combines hands-on learning in traditional Cree-Metis beadwork with readings, films and writing practice centered on resurgence and resistance.
“Because everything happened for me at that kitchen table . . . I wanted to be able to bring that mental, emotional and tactile experience to students, who really have very little understanding or knowledge of Indigenous history or the impacts of colonial violence toward Indigenous women,” he explains. “I teach my students how Indigenous women used beadwork as a way to resist colonial violence, as a way of maintaining and preserving identity—but also as a way of telling stories. It’s beadwork as a form of resistance.”
Another form of resistance is Scofield’s history of repatriating beadwork pieces — a practice which began years ago when he noticed a beaded pocket-watch holder in a Royal BC Museum display mislabeled as “Victoriana,” when he recognized it as a piece of 19th century Cree-Metis beadwork. He holds many such pieces in his own collection.
“I often refer to myself as an ‘unintentional curator’ because a lot of specifically Cree-Metis pieces are folded into other First Nations or Victoriana exhibits, because curators haven’t any idea about us as a people and our unique artforms,” he says. “By misidentifying them, the stories and geography are stripped away, and communities are stripped of their identity too.”
Ever the poet, Scofield sees this as more than just repatriation. “It’s about giving these pieces their stories back.”
