RESPECTING OUR ANCESTORS
The most wonderful outcomes of repatriation work
are right here at home. Bringing our ancestors home
is a large and long process, requiring the support and
efforts of all Haida communities. 

School children and volunteers make button blankets
and weave cedar bark mats to wrap our ancestors in. 
Artists teach apprentices how to make traditional
bentwood burial boxes and paint Haida designs on them. 

The Haida language has to be learned by more and more people so that the ancestors can be spoken to and prayed
for. Elders and cultural historians teach traditional songs, dances and rituals.

Many more people have begun to look towards and embrace traditions that until Repatriation began, only a handful of people participated in. 

And perhaps most important, after each ceremony, one
can feel that the air has been cleared, that spirits are
resting, that our ancestors are at peace, and one can see
that healing is visible on the faces of the Haida community.