In a significant act of cultural reconciliation, a sacred pipe that once belonged to Chief Whitecap has been returned to the Whitecap Dakota First Nation after spending 135 years with a settler family. The emotional repatriation ceremony marks a pivotal moment for the Indigenous community located just south of Saskatoon.
The Historic Journey Home
The pipe's remarkable journey back to its rightful owners began with a deathbed request in 1889. According to Whitecap councillor Frank Royal, Chief Whitecap had originally given the pipe to Saskatoon store owner Gerald Willoughby during the turbulent period of the Riel Rebellion in 1885. "During the Riel Rebellion, Chief Whitecap was arrested for treason and he did go to trial," Royal explained. "He had good friends in Saskatoon, the Willoughby brothers … one was a doctor and the other a store owner I believe, and Gerald Willoughby testified on his behalf."
The pipe remained with the Willoughby family for generations, eventually leaving Saskatchewan as the family relocated. For decades, the Whitecap Dakota community knew the story of their missing sacred object but had lost track of the Willoughby descendants.
Modern-Day Reconnection
The breakthrough came when Dianne Elliot, the great-granddaughter of Willoughby's brother John Henry Charles, contacted authorities from her home in Ottawa. According to Royal, Elliot had been inspired by a news story about a military pipe in 2023 and felt compelled to return her family's historical artifact to its original community.
This connection led to a formal repatriation ceremony in Ottawa in August 2025, where Royal and Elliot met to perform a transfer ceremony and exchange family stories. During their meeting, Royal learned additional historical context about the Willoughby family's contributions to early Saskatoon, including that Gerald Willoughby's brother had donated his own house to serve as the city's first hospital, which eventually became St. Paul's Hospital.
Expanding Cultural Repatriation
The pipe's return was accompanied by an even larger cultural homecoming. In addition to the sacred pipe, 60 pieces of century-old regalia, artwork and beadwork were returned to the Whitecap Dakota Nation by members of the Charmbury family. These artifacts had belonged to Saskatoon brothers Harry and Theodore Charmbury, who operated a photography studio in the city's early days.
Stephanie Danyluk, Community Engagement Manager at the Canadian Museums Association, emphasized the profound significance of these returns. "The pure cultural value of having received back really historic and old and really well preserved pieces of culture to the community, on a really big scale, that they haven't really managed to locate yet, means immeasurable value," Danyluk stated.
She further explained that "in terms of cultural significance, every piece has a connection to certain aspects of spirituality and certain aspects of cultural creation and ties to family … it carries a lot of layers of cultural knowledge as well." Danyluk, who has worked with Whitecap on repatriation efforts for a decade, noted that she typically sees only single items returned rather than entire collections.
The successful repatriation represents more than just the physical return of objects—it signifies the restoration of cultural knowledge and spiritual connections that had been separated from the Whitecap Dakota community for generations.
