UTM role focuses on rematriation of Indigenous artifacts from Antrex Site

At the University of Toronto Mississauga, Assistant Professor and Adviser on Indigenous Matriation Robin Gray is focused on the rematriation of Indigenous artifacts that are currently housed in the university’s department of anthropology. Gray explains that while repatriation is related to traditional Euro-western and patriarchal ideas about ownership and property, rematriation uses “the laws of the source nation” and that nation’s unique needs, priorities, and values. “(U of T Mississauga is) an institutional power and, as gatekeepers of the artifacts from the Antrex Village site, we have to consider our accountability,” said Gray, who added that she hopes to see other institutions take on “a more relational and decolonial approach in processes of return.” Gray is currently investigating how the items collected from the Antrex Site can be returned to their rightful owners. She will next focus on providing a map of next steps, research return poetics and politics in Ontario, and review other attempts to return artifacts in Ontario.

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