A chief’s seat that has been in the Royal B.C. Museum’s possession for more than a century is being handed back to the ­Heiltsuk Nation near Bella Bella.

Marilyn Slett, a Carpenter descendant and the elected chief of the Heiltsuk Nation, said the seat is the first of Carpenter’s major works to be repatriated. “For this to come home, it’s a ­monumental day for us. It feels like Captain has come home.” “Captain Carpenter was a good leader. He made sure that the people in the Bella Bella were fed,” said Steve Carpenter, Captain Carpenter’s great-grandson.

The seat was reassembled from storage for the occasion, but will be taken apart to travel by truck to Heiltsuk lands in Bella Bella, where a larger celebration is set to take place on July 25.

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