The facts about the kayak differ from the post-TRC template — and are more complicated, more interesting and more hopeful

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An Inuvialuit sealskin kayak was transferred to the Canadian Museum of History (CMH) this week after a century in the collections of the Vatican Museums. Fulfilling the decision of the late Pope Francis, Pope Leo XIV gave the kayak and some 60 other Indigenous artifacts as a gift to the Catholic bishops of Canada, which in turn presented them in a spirit of reconciliation to Canada’s Indigenous leaders. It was a gracious and touching moment at the CMH as Inuit men from the North laid eyes on the kayak for the first time.

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“A gift, unlike restitution, is offered in freedom and friendship, as a sign of renewed relationship and mutual respect between the church and Indigenous peoples,” explained Archbishop Richard Smith of Vancouver, the lead Catholic interlocutor.

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It remains to be worked out where the kayak and other artifacts will be permanently housed. Indigenous institutions currently lack the capacity to properly preserve the artifacts, particularly the kayak, so they will remain at the CMH for now. That the kayak should go to the North is the consensus........

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