The Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) has concluded a multi-year repatriation process by returning two sacred 19th-century buffalo robes to the Blackfoot Confederacy (Niitsitapi). The robes, decorated with pictographs representing historical battles and visions, are central to the spiritual practices of the Piikani and Siksika nations.
The ceremony took place in southern Alberta, marking a historic moment for Indigenous heritage sovereignty in Canada. Blackfoot elders noted that the return of these items is not merely a transfer of property, but the homecoming of ancestors' voices and stories that have been silent in museum vaults for over a century.