Sacred Chilliwack carving set for repatriation

Last Updated: Thursday, October 5, 2006 | 11:53 AM ET

CBC Arts

A sculpture that depicts an important historical figure from British Columbia's Chilliwack tribe is set to begin a journey back to Canada.

The granite sculpture, which stands about a metre high, depicts a medicine man named T'xwelatse who — according to the Chilliwack — turned to stone thousands of years ago and whose soul resides in the statue.

On Friday, the University of Washington's Burke Museum will officially turn the T'xwelatse over to Washington State's Nooksack tribe, which is closely affiliated with the Chilliwack and helped procure the sculpture's return.

After making a stop for a celebration with the Nooksack, T'xwelatse is set to return home later this month, where the intricately carved artifact will be feted and then temporarily housed at the Chilliwack headquarters until the completion of a new healing facility in B.C.'s Chilliwack River Valley.

Missing for more than 100 years

The stone carving has sat in Seattle, under the care of the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, since 1904.

It had been removed from the B.C. tribe in 1892. A group of young naturalists, who founded the Burke, discovered it at a dime store museum. They purchased and donated it to the museum's collection in 1904.

The Chilliwack, a part of the Sto:lo Nation, have been seeking the return of T'xwelatse since the early 1990s, after a Sto:lo Nation archeologist discovered the stone artifact was in Seattle.

Government roadblock

However, according to a U.S. act governing the repatriation of native artifacts, only U.S. tribes are allowed to submit formal repatriation claims and objects cannot be directly transferred out of the country.

Last year, on behalf of the Chilliwack, the Nooksack filed a formal claim for the return of T'xwelatse as "an object of cultural patrimony." After reviewing the evidence, the Burke Museum approved the application in March.

"He's been here for more than 100 years but we all believe it's more significant to the tribal community that he's going back," said Megon Noble, the Burke's assistant archeology collections manager.

T'xwelatse's return is but the latest significant aboriginal cultural artifact to be repatriated to its original community.

This summer, a 135-year-old Haisla totem returned home after having been in a Swedish museum since 1929. Out of gratitude for the decision to voluntarily send it back, four Haisla carvers carved a replica that they left behind in Sweden.