A chara, – I am puzzled by calls for the “Grandfather Akwiten” canoe to be returned to Canada. What is wrong with it remaining at NUI Galway? The canoe seems to have been explicitly constructed as a present for the British lieutenant governor in 1824, and subsequently changed hands several times, before ending up in Galway. There does not seem to be any indications that any of the transfers were improper, or that the canoe was misappropriated in any way.
I do not see how the Maliseet people can claim to be rightful owners of the canoe. While the canoe seems to have been treated shabbily in the past by NUI Galway (and this has now been rectified), they are within their rights to treat it however they wish. – Is mise,
LEO TALBOT,
Moy Glas Way,
Lucan,
Co Dublin.