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Archaeology
Sacred carved bowl welcomed home to Saanich after 30 years at SFU
On January 25th, SDÁLṈEW, a female Northwest Coast seated human figure bowl, was welcomed home to the W̱SÁNEĆ community after spending over 30 years in SFU’s Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology (MAE). The plan for her return began decades ago and is the result of a unique collaboration between SFU and W̱SÁNEĆ First Nations.
In 1992, SDÁLṈEW was available for public sale and set to be sent to a private collector in Chicago before Barbara Winter, then director of MAE, noticed that W̱SÁNEĆ peoples hadn’t been notified and stepped in, securing funds to purchase SDÁLṈEW̱ to stop her from crossing the border.
“I recognized SDÁLṈEW̱ was sacred and thought she should not be taken further from her home community,” explains Winter.
This decision was made after connecting with the Saanich Native Heritage Society (SNHS), and learning they too wanted to stop the sale but did not have the capacity to care for her at this time, leaving them with two choices: have SFU’s MAE purchase the piece so she could be returned to the Nation or let her be sold into a private collection.
In a unique arrangement, the MAE took custody and agreed to care for SDÁLṈEW, while SNHS would retain ownership, and she would be returned home upon the Nation’s request. That day came earlier this year, when Barbara Hilden, current director of MAE, accompanied SDÁLṈEW to Vancouver Island where members of the W̱SÁNEĆ community welcomed SDÁLṈEW̱ home in ceremony.
While in the custody of the MAE and with the permission of the SNHS, Winter would invite Indigenous students, particularly women, to meet SDÁLṈEW̱ to help build connections with their past. “SDÁLṈEW̱ has encouraged a generation of Indigenous women students to hold the past in their hands and feel her strength,” she says.
While SDÁLṈEW served as a meaningful component of MAE, Winter says that she’s delighted to see SDÁLṈEW returned to her community. “It was always my intention, and the intention of the Department of Archaeology, that SDÁLṈEW̱ would be returned to the Saanich.”
“Personally, this event was very meaningful. At the beginning of my time at SFU I prevented the export of SDÁLṈEW̱ and kept a Canadian Indigenous sacred belonging in Canada, close to her people, and ready to be returned at the discretion of the Indigenous community to which she belonged,” says Winter. “With my recent retirement as Director of the Museum, I am very grateful SDÁLṈEW is now home with her family. It is a wonderful closing event, book-ending my career at SFU.”
Learn more about SDÁLṈEW and her return to W̱SÁNEĆ here.