A collection of historic First Nations and Métis artifacts – including items from Saskatchewan – has been auctioned off in New York, but some of them will be coming back to Canada.
The sale at Southeby’s auction house, which was expected to fetch up to $3 million, included more than 200 items that were collected in the 1850s.

The museum successfully bid on 29 items, including this beaded, animal-skin dress that cost $497,600 US. (Courtesy Sotheby’s New York)
They belonged to the Scottish earl of Southesk, who documented his travels through Saskatchewan and the Rocky Mountains in his journals.
The Royal Alberta Museum led a group of Canadian institutions seeking to repatriate the items.
They bought 29 pieces.
News of the auction has generated controversy in recent days.
The American Indian Movement in the U.S. said the items rightfully belong to aboriginal people in the U.S. and Canada and should be returned to tribes in the two countries.
Sherry Farrell Racette, a Métis art historian based in Regina said last week it’s tragic that her heritage is going to the highest bidder.
“If it stays in the hands of private collectors who are not known, then that knowledge, those objects are lost,” she said. “In 50 years, it will be a pretty bag, hanging on someone’s wall.”

Posted: 05|9|06 at 8:41 am. Filed under: US News.