“Chief Sioui, Madam Bastien, people of the Huron-Wendat Nation, I thank you for this most unique honour that you have bestowed on me.

My earthly journey began in the mountains of Central Italy, where the grey wolf, the brown bear and the royal eagle dwell amongst the descendants of the Pre-Roman nations.

My family went away one by one as the result of the devastating war and the oppression of the authoritative institutions. My mother and I were the last to migrate to Canada.

During the first few years of my elementary education in the small town of Vittorito, (I recall it now as if in a dream): I was first drawn to the Natives of Canada even before I came to this land. In my geography text book, there was the image of a North American Chief in his full regalia, his head-dress captured the imagination of my youthful mind, and the benevolent smile on his face gave me a sense of being welcomed to the land that I soon would be going to.

I was a young immigrant then, navigating an endless labyrinthine territory, full of unknown obstacles: a different language in an alien setting and a piazzaless urbanscape fraught with prejudices. At every turn, there was a temporary respite for having made it, until the next barrier appeared.  The inescapable allure of the new and possible was everywhere, offering a yearning to belong and asserting a post-adolescent freedom.

It was then that I began to look for the Chief with the benevolent smile. In the big city of Toronto, little was known about him and his people. What little there was mostly negative.

And so I began a parallel quest: that of tracing back to my roots and that of discovering the chief with the benevolent smile.  In time I connected with both. This was made possible by a simple yet powerful artifact.

Slowly, I began to immerse myself in your culture and began to discover similarities.

In 1972 I managed to get into the lower bowels of the Vatican Museums and there I came across shelves upon shelves of newspaper wrapped  packages. Not being able to contain my curiosity I dared to peek. I saw the tip of a kayak made of pelts, it looked very old; another had  ‘dresses and moccasins of ‘Indian’women, and a head-dress of eagle feathers and  I thought: “Ah, I had to come back to Italy to find the chief”. I saw artifacts of indigenous people from all over the world.

As a result I began to deconstruct what little medieval culture and Post Victorian intolerance had been imposed on me.  And so I began a quest to discover all that was hidden in those newspaper wrapped packages.

I began writing letters and after many years the Vatican Museums responded with an informal YES to open the packages and organize an exhibit and related programme. With the help of a few friends, I began to negotiate with the Ethnological Museum in formulating a permanent exhibit of key pieces that would eventually travel to  Canada and other parts of the Americas. I was able to get a letter of support from Chief  Sean Atleo and my friend Chief Bryan Laforme. The contents of the exhibit would include key artifacts of the Americas. 88 pieces in total. We cooperated on a general catalogue which is here for you to see. I managed to get potential sponsors to pay for the exhibit.

I learned that the early encounters between the aboriginal people and Europeans were primarily recorded by the Catholic missionaries as a key moment in the Canadian human journey. Canadian art history has placed European art at its core and “Aboriginal art histories continue to be treated almost totally independently of Euro-Canadian art history”.

And then the process got stalled. Fear of repatriation amongst other issues.

You may ask why did I do this? 15 years ago I began a not for profit organization, the Gallery of Human Migration. It is dedicated in creating a legacy that promotes public awareness, acceptance and understanding of the experiences of the human journey toward, within and from Canada; and the manner in which this phenomenon has influenced and continues to influence Canadian societal make-up and most importantly recognize he essential foundation of the First Nations, the Receiving People.  This is our collective identity.

Chief Sioui, we will continue to ‘prick’ the bureaucrats of the Vatican Museums, however, I believe that the process can best be facilitated by the First Nations acting as a body and take ownership of this initiative. I believe that art nourishes culture in many ways, particularly its spirituality. The artifacts are a record of the makers’ struggles, sufferings and triumphs of the remorseless aggression of authoritative institutions. Culture can inspire actions that may indeed affect the ways our world works.

When a few minutes ago, I made reference to the similarities between our cultures, I was referring to a sculpture of a warrior found in the fields of Abruzzo, the land of my people. This warrior wears a sword, an axe, and donning an incredible headpiece. He and his warriors must have fought the early Romans, and although history tells us that he lost, culture tells us another story. Today in Abruzzo he is revered more than any Roman emperor. It is a small token of my gratitude that I present this to you and to your people.”