This is the side of the U'mista Cultural Centre that faces the sea.

As I understand it, the term "U'mista" in the Kwakwaka'wakw language means the return of something important, as in a person's escape from slavery.

The name is apt, because the Centre houses a collection of Kwakwaka'wakw ceremonial objects that were forcibly taken in a crackdown on potlatch ceremonies in the early decades of the 20th century.

Miraculously, most of the items stolen from the Kwakwaka'wakw people were kept by police authorities for decades. It's a stroke of incredible good fortune that the authorities did not destroy or sell the many masks and other objects in their custody.

The U'mista Cultural Centre building was erected in 1980 to house the collection of ceremonial potlatch objects seized by the authorities many decades earlier.

The collection has grown over the years as individual collectors have voluntarily repatriated Kwakwaka'wakw ceremonial objects in their own collections. In at least one case, the donor bought the item at auction with the intent to donate it to the Centre, which he did.

To find out more about the U'mista Cultural Centre, its collection and the history of the Kwakwaka'wakw people, go to <a href="http://www.umista.ca/about/history.php" rel="nofollow">www.umista.ca/about/history.php</a>