Canada: Gaining Ground in Restituting World War II Looted Art

On April 24, 2013, coinciding with Canada’s term as Chair of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), the Canadian Department of Heritage issued a press release on their website announcing that the federal government was pledging “funding of almost $200,000 that will enable the Canadian museums to contribute to a key international research effort on the provenance of Holocaust-era works of art.” The announcement stated that the project, headed by the Canadian Art Museum Directors Organization (CAMDO), in partnership with six Canadian museums, aims to “research and develop best-practice guidelines” for Canadian institutions.

Canadian institutions have been quite busy addressing the issues surrounding Nazi-looted art since both the Washington and Vilnius Conferences in 1998 and 2000, respectively. Prior to these international Conferences, the American Art Museum Directors (AAMD) released the Report of the AAMD Task Force on the Spoliation of Art during the Nazi/WWII Era (1933-1945) (Report), which prompted the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) to create an Ad Hoc Committee on the “Spoliation of Art in Europe.” The same Report was later integrated into guidelines adopted by CAMDO.

Following the 1998 and 2000 Conferences, the Canadian Museums Association (CMA) and the Canadian Jewish Congress held the Canadian Symposium on Holocaust-era Cultural Property in 2001. The Symposium spurred the creation and adoption of eight recommendations reflecting ‘best practices’ for dealing with works of art, hinged on the involvement of various institutions including the Department of Canadian Heritage.

The Canadian Symposium recommendations take into consideration challenges specific to Canada, such as the size of the museum community, the division of federal and state powers affecting cultural property, the lack of resources and expertise in the area of research and restitution and financial constraints.