Carry the Kettle Nakoda Nation has launched a sit-in protest opposing the proposed reburial of ancestral remains connected to the Cypress Hills Massacre.
In a media release issued May 7, the Nation says the remains were discovered near Cypress Hills and Medicine Hat in 1967 and later stored at the University of Alberta without notification to likely descendants.
The Nation alleges the Métis Nation of Alberta Association, along with the university and a friendship centre, planned a reburial using Cree customs near Edmonton without proper consultation.
Carry the Kettle leaders argue the process violates Treaty rights and international standards outlined in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
The release states the Nation wants to lead the repatriation and reburial process under Nakoda laws and customs.
Leaders also say they have support from other Nations with territorial recognition near Cypress Hills, including the Blackfoot Confederacy and the Stoney Nakoda Nation.
The Nation is calling on the University of Alberta, the MNAA and involved organizations to halt the current process and transfer leadership of the repatriation efforts to Carry the Kettle Nakoda Nation.