More than 100 works from Canada’s federal collection of Indigenous art are ‘unaccounted for’
The Indigenous Art Centre has been unable to locate 111 works from its collection of more than 5,000 pieces by First Nations, Métis and Inuit artists
Nearly two years after an internal audit found that Canada's federal government could not account for 132 Indigenous art pieces, the agency is still unable to locate 111 other works from its collection. All of the missing pieces are part of the Indigenous Art Centre's collection, which was established by the government in 1965 to support the creation, promotion, and preservation of contemporary Indigenous art in Canada.
The collection, which is valued at approximately C$14.4 million ($10.4 million), includes over 5,000 works by more than 990 Indigenous artists and is acquired through a peer-juried process. The collection features renowned artists such as Norval Morrisseau, Christi Belcourt, Elisapee Ishulutaq, and Kent Monkman. The audit, conducted from April 2019 to August 2024, revealed that the centre could not locate 132 pieces but did not specify which artworks were missing or their value.
A spokesperson for Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada (CIRCNAC) explained that an 'unaccounted for' designation does not imply loss or theft. Instead, it is an inventory and records-management designation assigned to artworks whose location cannot be confirmed through available documentation. The spokesperson added that no criminal investigations are underway.
Of the remaining 111 artworks still unaccounted for, 20 are reproductions. Of the 132 artworks identified as "unaccounted for" in the 2024 audit, 17 have since been resolved, with six found in the centre's storage facility and 11 discovered to be duplicate entries in the database.
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