Question Period Note: Financial aid to museums to counter Illicit traffic in cultural property

International concerns regarding the illegal trafficking of cultural property are serious and increasing, with alarming pillaging and looting of antiquities in many war-torn parts of the world. Canada is a signatory to two UNESCO conventions to prevent illicit traffic in cultural property and implements these obligations through the Cultural Property Export and Import Act. The Canada Border Services Agency and Canada’s museum community play important roles in implementing the legislation, but Canada does not have any programs to fund the return of cultural property in museum collections to their country of origin.

• Canada has a long history of commitment to the protection of heritage at risk around the world. We have been a party to UNESCO’s Convention on preventing illicit traffic in cultural property for over 40 years.
• Through the Cultural Property Export and Import Act, Canada has returned thousands of illegally imported objects to 14 countries around the world, including in the Middle East and Africa. These returns would not have been possible without the work of the Canada Border Services Agency and experts in museums across Canada.
• In 2018, Canada contributed $200,000 to UNESCO’s Heritage Emergency Fund, and remains committed to supporting international efforts to protect heritage. We will continue to work with partner states to prevent damage, destruction and looting of cultural heritage during armed conflict, occupation and terrorist actions.

• Canada is a State Party to the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property (the 1970 Convention) since 1978. Canada is also a State Party to the 1954 UNESCO Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict (the 1954 Hague Convention) and its two Protocols as of 2005.
• The 1970 Convention is implemented in Canada by the Cultural Property Export and Import Act (CPEIA), which also implements certain obligations under the 1954 Hague Convention and Protocols. The Department of Canadian Heritage administers the CPEIA and has the Government of Canada lead for implementation of the 1970 Convention and 1954 Hague Convention and its Protocols.
• Cultural property that entered Canada prior to the adoption of the CPEIA, for example during the colonial era, falls outside the scope of Canada’s treaty obligations. There are no legal mechanisms, nor does Canadian Heritage have the authority, to require museums (or private collectors) to return objects taken prior to 1978 to their country of origin.
• The department does not have any funding programs to support heritage institutions return cultural property to its country of origin. Museums which deaccession artefacts to return them to a foreign state currently do so voluntarily.
• Canada generally relies on international border controls, which is federal jurisdiction, and not property controls (a provincial jurisdiction) to implement the CPEIA.
• Under the CPEIA, it is illegal to import into Canada any item of cultural property that has been illegally exported from a fellow State Party to the 1970 Convention, provided that the illegal export took place after the coming into force of the Convention in Canada and the foreign state in question.
• Since the CPEIA automatically prohibits the import of any cultural property illegally exported from any fellow state party, Canada has not scrambled to introduce new border or law enforcement measures to enforce UN resolutions aimed at fighting illicit traffic in cultural property related to the actions of terrorist groups.
• Should a foreign state make a request for the return of cultural property located in a Canadian museum, Canada will assess the request and where appropriate take action in accordance with the CPEIA. Canada will assume the costs associated with this process.
• In addition, Canada's implementing legislation for the 1970 UNESCO Convention provides for a system of export permits to control export from Canada, as well as penalties for illegal export and import of cultural property.
• The Canada Border Services Agency plays a significant role in administering and enforcing both the export and import controls under the CPEIA. Canadian Heritage also works with museum experts across Canada to help authentic potential illegal imports, and to review export permit applications.
• Canada is not considered a major market for illicit traffic in cultural property however, since 1997 we have returned over 22,000 objects to 14 different countries in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Central and South America.
• While the United Nations and UNESCO agree that illicit traffic in cultural property is increasing, and that it is an aspect of terrorist financing and transnational organized crime, no reliable statistics are available on either the size or value of the market.
• Canada is actively engaged within UNESCO. In 2018, Canada contributed $200,000 to the Heritage Emergency Fund. To date, this Fund has supported projects in in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Mali, Yemen and many other nations. Canada is currently considering another donation for 2022. Canada is also currently a Member of UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Committee for Promoting the Return of Cultural Property to its Countries of Origin or its Restitution in case of Illicit Appropriation (ICPRCP), which is the body responsible for promoting the return of cultural property taken during colonial times.
• Modernization of the Cultural Property Export and Import Act could strengthen Canada’s capacity to prevent illicit traffic in cultural property and protect movable heritage.

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