Indigenous group seeks help repatriating cultural items from Switzerland

Councillor Karl Stone, left to right, Dakota Tipi First Nation Manitoba and Cree advocate Coleen Rajotte and community advocate Gerald Neufeld take part in a news conference in Winnipeg on Tuesday June 23, 2026.

WINNIPEG — A group of First Nations leaders and advocates in Manitoba want help repatriating thousands of Indigenous artifacts from Switzerland.

A delegation travelled to the country last year to a private museum to view the collection, which includes cradleboards and sacred pipes.

There are also firearms believed to be associated with the period of the Battle of the Little Bighorn.

The group says the collector wants to sell, and the items are estimated in the millions of dollars.

Coleen Rajotte, a Cree advocate, worries that the cultural belongings could be sold to private collectors, making it more difficult to repatriate them.

The group is calling for federal, First Nations and tribal governments in Canada and the United States to intervene and help bring these artifacts back to North America.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 23, 2026.

Brittany Hobson, The Canadian Press