Efforts to recover the 19th-century regalia of a Blackfoot Nation leader began in 2008

A British museum is resisting attempts from Canada to secure the repatriation of sacred relics of a 19th-century indigenous chief because the centre where his descendants want to locate them is not an accredited museum, but the final decision lies with local councillors in England.

In an increasingly acrimonious dispute, backers of the campaign to repatriate regalia belonging to Crowfoot of the Blackfoot Nation were told by officials at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum (RAMM) in Exeter that “no one wants to get their hands dirty” when it came to the sensitive question of repatriating looted artefacts held in UK arts institutions.