CCEJ Associate Director Dr. Amy Parent has co-authored a case study with Dr. John Giblin, titled The Rematriation of the House of Ni’isjoohl Memorial Pole. The case study, featured by Museum Galleries Scotland, outlines the process of international cooperation to rematriate the Memorial Pole to its ancestral home.

Introduction:

“The House of Ni’isjoohl pole is a memorial pole from the Nisga’a Nation. The pole tells the story of an ancestor, Ts’awit, who was a warrior and was next in line to be chief. Ts’awit was killed in a conflict with a neighbouring Nation. Nisga’a matriarch, Joanna Moody had the pole carved and erected in the Nisga’a village of Ank’idaa in Ts’wawit’s honour in the 1860s. It was carved by Oyay, a prolific Nisg̱a’a carver.

The House of Ni’isjoohl pole stood in the Nisga’a village of Ank’idaa until the late 1920s when it was taken by Marius Barbeau, a French-Canadian colonial anthropologist, on behalf of the Royal Scottish Museum (now National Museums Scotland). National Museums Scotland’s records suggest that Barbeau paid 600 CAD for the pole on behalf of the museum. Nisga’a oral histories record that the pole was stolen from Ank’idaa by Barbeau when the community was away for the fishing season.

The pole was shipped to Scotland and was on display in the Royal Scottish Museum from 1930 until it was returned in 2023.”

Click here to read the full case study.