Feds urged to crack down on fake Indigenous art, copyright breaches
OTTAWA — First Nations art, from hand-carved masks to totem poles, draws on generations of tradition and skill and can take months to craft.
But a flood of fakes and commercial knock-offs produced in Asia and eastern Europe are exploiting Indigenous culture, the artists say, and robbing them of revenue.
One of the well-known Indigenous artists to have images of their work reproduced without permission is British Columbia carver Richard Hunt.
“I’ve stopped people making postcards of my work I’ve found out about. In Bali, Indonesia, they are making northwest coast masks. They are selling them as Indigenous,” he said.