Indigenous Objects,
Traditional Knowledge &
Colonial Spoils

Règles de l’art provides counsel regarding the protection and

repatriation of indigenous cultural objects and colonial spoils.

Representative mandate

Stolen Norval Morrisseau File [see Provenance & Restitutions].
Supervising lawyer for a group of students who assisted a Sub-Saharan community seeking the restitution of a statue taken during the colonial era (Clinique internationale de défense des droits humains de l’Université du Québec à Montréal).

Assisted in the organization of a workshop between members of First Nations communities, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, McGill University and various other government agencies on the adaptation of Intellectual Property to indigenous traditional knowledge in the context of the implementation of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: Pierre-Emmanuel Moyse (ed.), Mitchel Fleming, Maya Gunnarsson, François Le Moine, Sayre Potter, Sejeong Park, Angèle Poupard et Pierre-Luc Racine, “Rapport de l'atelier sur les connaissances traditionnelles autochtones, leurs expressions culturelles et la propriété intellectuelle - Atelier pratique ISDE/CPPI sur la propriété intellectuelle et les savoirs et expressions culturelles autochtones, Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal, 30 janvier 2020”.

Conference on intellectual property and cultural appropriation, Canadian Bar Association (May 15, 2019).

Interview on the restitution of indigenous cultural heritage in Canada for the podcast of the McGill Law Journal (March 11, 2021) [link]
Summary of a conference on intellectual property and cultural appropriation organized by the Canadian Bar Association: Maryse Chouinard, « Appropriation culturelle et propriété intellectuelle : combat ou dialogue ? », CBA / ABC Magazine. [link]