A 138-year journey has brought a ceremonial pipe back to its home in Whitecap Dakota Nation.
“It’s a truly sacred object, sacred to the people, sacred to community and their history beyond anything we can comprehend,” said Royal Canadian Military Insitute (RCMI) curator Ryan Goldsworthy.
The ceremonial pipe was unveiled for the first time on Friday at the Dakota Nation’s annual Veterans Day service.
It belonged to Chief Whitecap and was acquired by Lt. William Merrit in 1885, during a time when limitations were placed on Indigenous cultural practices by the colonial government.
“The pipe is home finally and we’ll bring it out for certain ceremonies, I believe, but it will be in a safe place,” said Whitecap Dakota Nation councillor Frank Royal.
He said many descendants of Chief Whitecap were in attendance at the unveiling.
Royal had been searching for the pipe for several years and said he was grateful to RCMI for reaching out.
“It’s all part of reconciliation,” Royal said.
The pipe will be put on display at the Western Development Museum in Saskatoon.
“It is remarkable, the condition that it has maintained,” Goldworthy said. “The object is almost 140 years old and based on the descriptions we have and the regimental history from 1902, all of the hands through which it’s been exchanged through the years — it has come back and forth across Canada — it has been maintained in excellent condition.
“That is a mark of the respect and reverence that all of those hands treated this object through the years and that it was preserved and survived to be returned to community in 2023.”
Goldworthy said bringing the pipe back to the Dakota people was the right thing to do, adding this was the first time in the museum’s history that an object has been returned to its ancestral home.
“It’s a beautiful accomplishment to see this object being brought back to the community. We’re honoured from the museum, we are proud, we are just moved to emotion.”
Goldworthy’s research found that Lt. Merrit was found to have donated the object to the museum upon his retirement from regiment in 1909. The museum then informally loaned the pipe to the City of Toronto in the 1930s.
It came into Goldworthy’s possession in 2021 which sparked his research into the pipe’s origin.
“Working with this object I was able to appreciate a greater sense of Dakota traditions and culture and just how important this object was, this sacred object was, to their community.”
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