What has been done in Canada to protect the past?
Canada has signed two international declarations dedicated to the fight against the illegal trafficking of cultural property:
- the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict
- the UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property.
How Can You help?
- REFUSE to buy antiquities of unknown provenance and without proper export certificates
- REPORT suspicious items to local and/or Canadian Government authorities (See the list below)
- LEARN about the importance of archaeological context
- INQUIRE about acquisition policies of local museums
- SUPPORT organizations working to document and preserve cultural property
- ENCOURAGE your government to preserve cultural heritage and prevent trade of illicit antiquities
FOR MORE INFORMATION, check out the following websites:
- Royal Ontario Museum Collections Policy
- SAFE (Saving Antiquities for Everyone): The only nonprofit with an expressed goal to raise public awareness of new developments and new research pertaining to the illicit antiquities trade.
- Department of Canadian Heritage, Movable Cultural Objects
- UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property
- ICOM (International Council of Museums) Red List
- INTERPOL (International Criminal Police Organization): Stolen works of art database
IF YOU NOTICE SOMETHING SUSPICIOUS, YOU CAN CALL
- Canada Border Services Agency: 1-888-502-9060 (toll free number)
- Moveable Cultural Property, Canadian Heritage: 1-866-811-0055 (toll free), or 819-997-7757
- Or any police station.