There was initially a “political willingness” from ministers to pay for the return of the Ni’isjoohl Memorial Pole to the Nisga’a Nation.
However, government officials baulked when they learned they would need to stump up £710,000.
They suggested the museum should try crowdfunding instead.
What makes the government’s willingness to pay unusual is that under the museum’s procedure for “considering requests for the permanent transfer of collection objects to non-UK claimants,” they state that “all direct costs associated with the transfer, including transport, will be the responsibility of the claimants.”
But there was never any question of the Nisga’a paying.
