Above: Summer Paul (Sipekne'katik First Nation), Alexandria Francis (Pictou Landing First Nation) and master quiller Crystal Gloade (Millbrook First Nation) at the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian studying a quillwork belonging.
Thousands of Mi’kmaw historical belongings – ranging from regalia to a wigwam and traditional games – are in the process of being reclaimed from the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., and brought home to Nova Scotia.
These items, some of which are over 150 years old, are “missing puzzle pieces” in Mi’kmaw history, said Tim Bernard, the Executive Director of the Mi’kmawey Debert Cultural Centre (MDCC) in Debert, N.S., where the belongings will be displayed. Bringing them back to their ancestral land will preserve the knowledge carried in them for future generations, he added.
"These belongings give me a better appreciation of what my Elders, our ancestors, had to do to survive,” said Bernard, who is from Millbrook First Nation.
“Whether it's arts and crafts, or providing a way of life or creating places to live, like wigwams, the collection will help us understand a little more about the past because it's been a little fragmented — if not a lot fragmented.”
Waltes set from Pictou Landing First Nation, 1911. Courtesy of the National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution (029263.000). Photograph by Ernest Amoroso.
Broom from Pictou Landing First Nation, 1911. Courtesy of the National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution (029283.000). Photograph by Ernest Amoroso.
Quilled pincushion from Pictou Landing Nation, 1912. Courtesy of the National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution (032044.000). Photograph by Ernest Amoroso.
Beaded coat from Pictou Landing Nation, 1912. Courtesy of the National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution (032056.000). Photograph by Ernest Amoroso.
Quillbox from Nova Scotia, 1913. Courtesy of the National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution (032861.000). Photograph by Ernest Amoroso.
Quilled wallpocket from Nova Scotia, 1922. Courtesy of the National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution (111318.000). Photograph by Ernest Amoroso.
The Mi’kmawey Debert Cultural Centre is set to open in 2028 and aims to celebrate and explore Mi’kmaw culture, archaeological sites and teachings. Through a longstanding partnership between the MDCC and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, this wide-ranging collection of belongings is being prepared for careful transfer to Canada.
A key phase of this multi-year effort called “Home to Mi’kmakik” involves sending Mi’kmaw creators and artisans with knowledge of traditional beadwork, quillwork and basketmaking to the Smithsonian in Washington to study these belongings and help prepare them to travel safely to Nova Scotia.
Under the Emerging Mi’kmaw Creators Project, supported by Scotiabank, Mi’kmaw artisans made multiple visits to the Smithsonian to survey the belongings, clean them, and prepare them for their eventual return.
For Crystal Gloade, a long-time quillwork artist from Millbrook First Nation, being able to see and touch the Mi’kmaw creations of her ancestors felt like being “a kid in a candy store.”
“To actually be in there and get to hold them with my own hands, that just blew my mind. How methodical they were, the quills and the colours were exquisite.”
Gloade is one of 10 Mi’kmaw creators, including two apprentices, sent on trips to the Smithsonian between March 2024 and January 2025.
“It’s our legacy from the past, our culture to be shared,” said Gloade. “To know that’s coming back, it’s like finding their treasure and bringing it home.”
Scotiabank has invested $300,000 over three years to support this program through ScotiaRISE, the Bank's $500 million-community investment initiative to help strengthen economic resilience for individuals, families and communities. It also aligns with Scotiabank’s Truth & Reconciliation Action Plan, launched in 2024, which contains 37 commitments across six strategic pillars aimed at rebuilding relationships of trust among Indigenous clients, employees and communities.
Scotiabank is honoured to support this important effort to bring home these belongings to Mi’kmaw communities in Nova Scotia, said Nicola Ray Smith, Senior Vice President, Atlantic Region, Scotiabank.
“It is incredibly important for us to work with and support Indigenous-led cultural reclamation efforts,” she said. “Scotiabank is committed to taking meaningful, intentional steps to support the community, including through partnerships like this one, as part of its reconciliation journey.”
The collection of belongings comprises more than 500 catalogue numbers, but each catalogue number can represent multiple individual items, such as a game with dice and counters, said Sharon Farrell, MDCC’s Collections Manager. That puts the overall number of items to be brought home in the thousands.
“There’s information embedded in these belongings that are just waiting for us,” said Farrell, who is a member of Miawpukek First Nation. “But the longer we wait, our Elders will keep passing. We do feel an urgency to get things home, but in the correct way, of course.”
While there are laws in the U.S. regarding repatriation of items such as Indigenous belongings, there is no federal legislation in Canada. So, the mechanism the two organizations decided to use to return the Mi’kmaw belongings is a long-term loan to the MDCC for 20 to 25 years, said Bernard.
Currently, the National Museum of the American Indian’s conservation team is meticulously cleaning the Mi’kmaw belongings and is about halfway through the collection.
Meanwhile, planning on the design of the MDCC is underway and construction is expected to begin in Spring 2026. Building the facility will take about 18 months, plus another six months to ensure the systems are up to standard, Bernard added.
Renderings of the Mi’kmawey Debert Cultural Centre in Debert, N.S.
“It’s a world-class facility that will have world-class collection space, which requires climate controls,” he said. “All of those systems have to work properly and be checked over by the National Museum of the American Indian to make sure all the levels are correct.”
The belongings are expected to be ready for transport on a similar timeline, he added.
Planning for the best way to transfer the belongings, from both a logistics and ceremonial perspective, is also underway, said Farrell.
It’s an incredibly complex project with lasting impact.
“This is going to help us as a people, as a nation, to heal,” said Bernard. “Mi’kmawey Debert is a project that is going to promote healing in a sense that people are going to understand our past better. Our ancestors’ relations are reconnecting with community.”
Summer Paul, a quillwork apprentice working under Gloade who is a participant in the Emerging Mi’kmaw Creators Program, said she was honoured to be part of “history in the making.”
She visited the Smithsonian with Gloade, who is also her aunt, and seeing the intricate designs in real life was impactful.
“I'm trying to put myself back in that time frame and what that artist was coming up with, and the time and effort they would have gone through bringing that to life,” said Paul, who is a member of Sipekne'katik First Nation.
The experience has inspired her quillwork and art going forward as well.
“Seeing our baskets and realising how much spruce was put into it was really eye-opening,” Paul said. “For my craft, now I want to try and mimic or make a spruce basket how they would have back in the day.”
