But a flood of imitations and commercial fakes produced in Asia and Eastern Europe are exploiting indigenous culture and robbing them of revenue, artists say. One of the well-known Aboriginal artists to have images of their work reproduced without permission is British Columbia carver Richard Hunt. “I stopped people making postcards of my work that I found out about. In Bali, Indonesia, they make masks on the northwest coast. They sell them as indigenous,” he said. “These things have to stop. We need the government’s help. It’s like the dreamcatcher coming from Taiwan or China. Buyer beware.” The federal government is facing calls to act – including from a senator who wants copyright law reform, a unit to help indigenous artists spot fakes and tighter border controls on indigenous-style art. Hunt said raising tariffs on replica imports could slow them down, but he said fakes are being mass-produced, undermining genuine aboriginal artists and making it difficult for young First Nations carvers to make a living in a $1-billion industry. Senator Patricia Bovey, the first art historian to sit in the Senate, said the fake Aboriginal art industry can be worth millions of dollars and infringes on artists’ intellectual property rights. He is lobbying the government to reform copyright laws to give Indigenous artists more protection from unscrupulous businesses that unknowingly reproduce their images. Unauthorized and fake indigenous works range from reproductions of First Nations art on T-shirts, bedspreads, plastic bowls and bags, to carved masks and totem poles made from wood grown in Southeast Asia. Senator Patricia Bovey answers a question during a press conference in Ottawa on January 29, 2018. Bovey is pushing the government to reform copyright laws to give Indigenous artists more protection against unscrupulous businesses that unknowingly reproduce their images their. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press) Many of these are near-exact copies of original works in galleries in Canada, and the problem is acute with West Coast art. Bovey said she wants ministers to set up a unit to help Indigenous artists whose work is being unknowingly reproduced identify and prosecute those who infringed their copyright – at least so they can be paid. Not only do aboriginal artists have their creations stolen, he said, but those who buy aboriginal work in Canada and abroad may have no idea it may be fake or created without the artist’s permission. Bovey says she was shocked to discover that some images on orange T-shirts made after the unmarked graves were discovered last year were reproduced without the artists’ knowledge by for-profit companies, not raising funds for indigenous causes. It warns buyers of Indigenous art to ask before buying where the work came from, whether it was done with the artist’s permission and whether the artist is being paid. “This is a really serious issue,” he said. “It’s plagiarism, it’s appropriation of the work, and both are wrong, and artists don’t have the means to fight all of that in court.” Helping indigenous artists assert their copyright would be an example of “reconciliation,” the senator added.

He said he wanted an imminent revision of the copyright law by Cultural Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez and Innovation and Science Minister Francois-Phillippe Champagne to include protections for indigenous works, which he said were an integral part of culture and history of Canada. He also called for a mechanism to identify companies that make indigenous works or that do not pay artists royalties, including in China and Eastern Europe. “We all have a responsibility for this. We have to find ways to support artists who are abused in this way so that they have legal funds,” he said. Alex Wellstead, a spokesman for Champagne, said the overhaul of copyright law would “further protect artists and creators and copyright holders”. He said “indigenous peoples and artists will be consulted in the process.” Current copyright law offers protection to indigenous artisans and women, including Inuit carvers and jewellers. Bovey said the process is so complicated and time-consuming that few artists have the time to follow it. He also said he wants tighter border controls and investigations into the origin and destination of Canadian aboriginal-style art — particularly art made from wood not native to Canada. A Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) patch is shown to an officer in Calgary on August 1, 2019. Senator Patricia Bovey wants tighter border controls on art in Indigenous Canadian forms, but the CBSA says that, right now, “there are there are no import restrictions associated with items imitating Indigenous art.” (Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press) Fake masks and native carvings have been openly sold to tourists in Vancouver as genuine, said Lucinda Turner, an apprentice to Nisg’aa sculptor and totem pole woodcarver Norman Tait. Turner, who died this week, spent years citing, tracking and disputing fraudulent indigenous works that were claimed to be authentic, and lecturing on the subject. Hunt said she had done a lot to draw attention to the illegal trade and helped many indigenous artists claim their copyright. In an open letter to the government last November, Turner said more than 1,000 appropriated images were removed after she and others wrote takedown letters supporting artists whose copyrights had been infringed. In a lecture at the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture in Seattle, he said some copied mahogany carvings looked so authentic that they have been hung in Canadian galleries. Among the forgeries he has spotted are reproductions of 19th-century sculptures in major museums, such as a beaver rattle from the British Museum, and copies of works by contemporary Northwest Coast artists, including acclaimed engraver Bill Reid. He lobbied the federal government for greater protections for indigenous artists and called for a law — like the one in the United States — that would impose huge fines for the sale of non-genuine indigenous works. The US Indian Arts and Crafts Act criminalizes the misrepresentation and copying of Native art. There is also a fake art hotline south of the border to facilitate reporting unauthorized copies. In her open letter to the federal government, she called for action to tackle misrepresentation in the online marketplace. Well-intentioned shoppers trying to support the Orange Shirt movement had been tricked into buying clothes that would not have benefited indigenous people – including the artists whose images had been used, he said. Well-intentioned shoppers trying to support the Orange Shirt movement were tricked into buying clothing that would not have earned indigenous people anything, advocates say. (Patricia Lessard) The missing and murdered indigenous women and girls movement has also taken advantage of money-making businesses that make bags and T-shirts with indigenous images without the artists’ permission, he warned. The Internet has led to the mass marketing of fraudulent, copied or stolen art images and ritual objects by companies that have no links to the indigenous artists, he said. Bovey said she plans to raise the issue again with ministers when the Senate returns from its summer break. He said few people realize that the indigenous art sold in Canadian stores could be made in China, Eastern Europe and Taiwan. “The buyers don’t know, the artists don’t have the means to monitor it, and the predators have a great time,” he said. “It’s stealing their iconography. It’s stealing people’s cultural heritage and it’s morally and legally wrong.” The Canada Border Services Agency stated that there are currently “no import restrictions related to objects imitating Aboriginal art.”