Billionaire's debt case puts Indigenous artefacts and Maud Lewis works in limbo
About 30 Indigenous baskets, moccasins, textiles and bone carvings have been pulled into a Canadian billionaire's debt case, and experts say Indigenous communities should have a say in what happens to them next.
The collector is John Risley, the businessman who co-founded Clearwater Seafoods in Nova Scotia. His investment company, CFFI Ventures, entered creditor protection in March with debts of nearly $1 billion, according to ARTnews. Creditor protection is a court-supervised process that pauses debt collection while a company reorganises.
In September, a court in Nova Scotia approved the transfer of most of the company's assets to New Tide Capital, an affiliate of HPS Investment Partners in New York. The transferred assets included a collection of more than 1,200 artworks and antiques valued at approximately $8.1 million.
That wider holding is large and distinctly Canadian. It includes more than 95 paintings by Nova Scotia folk artist Maud Lewis, alongside works by Inuit artists Jessie Oonark and Irene Avaalaaqiaq Tiktaalaaq.
What happens to part of that holding is still contested. Ownership of 669 objects is disputed, with Risley maintaining that those works belong to him personally rather than to his company. The Indigenous pieces appear on that disputed list of 669 objects. Details of those items became public through court filings because ownership was in dispute, as reported by CityNews Halifax.
Some of the Indigenous works are attributed to Inuit, Mi'kmaq or Cree makers. Others are listed only as Indigenous, with no artist name or date given. That thin documentation is part of the concern.
Cody Groat, a history and Indigenous studies professor at Western University in London, Ontario, is among the experts arguing that originating communities deserve a voice before any sale. The call was reported by CBC. Repatriation, the return of cultural material to originating communities, is the central issue.
Risley has said he supports the principle of repatriation. He told the Canadian Press that his collection would not hold material that needed to be returned, saying: "Our collection would not include any such pieces."
What makes this stand out is the paperwork. A $1-billion restructuring deal has been approved by a judge, but the fight over who owns the 669 objects remains unresolved. Until that is settled, the Indigenous works sit in limbo between a personal collection and a corporate asset pool.
For readers following the objects, that distinction matters. If the works are corporate assets, they could be sold to repay creditors. If they are personal property, Risley controls their future. Either way, scholars say the next step should include provenance research, the documented chain of ownership, and direct contact with the relevant communities.
