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Of those arrested, 22 were given suspended sentences, and three were remanded on appeal. Twenty men and women were sent to Oakalla Prison in the Lower Mainland — the sentences were two months for first offenders and three months for second offenders.

Not only were indigenous people jailed for practicing an integral part of their culture, more than 600 masks, rattles and family heirlooms were confiscated. The treatment of the ceremonial objects was deeply offensive to Cranmer and other Kwakwaka’wakw. Many were considered sacred and were supposed to be stored away out of sight when not in use.

But Halliday transported them in an open boat and put them on display as trophies in the Anglican Church Parish Hall in Alert Bay. For a while, admission was charged. Halliday also allowed 33 objects to be photographed and sold to George Heye, a collector from New York. He justified the sale by saying he wanted to generate as much money as possible for the Kwakwaka’wakw.

Most of the collection was divided up and shipped east to various museums, including the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, the British Museum in London, and the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian in New York.

The arrest of Cranmer and his guests didn’t stop people on the coast from holding potlatches. Indigenous people kept potlatching in secret to pass on tangible objects such as hats, coppers, and marks, and intangible rights such as a family’s dances, songs, titles and stories.