About the Morrisseau Family Foundation

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Norval Morrisseau, Copper Thunderbird, is buried next to his wife Harriet Kakegamic in Keewaywin, in his Ojibwe homeland. His grave is marked with a simple picket fence, and is maintained by his family. Norval Morrisseau is acclaimed as one of Canada's greatest artists, and his works sell for tens of thousands of dollars, yet at the time of his death, his family was told that he did not have a bank account, and that he had no inventory of paintings. Major artworks were dispersed under questionable circumstances, and his children's inheritance amounted to absolutely zero.

Norval's eldest daughter, Victoria, intuitively understood that her father's legacy belonged to the First Nations of Canada, and specifically to his blood family, and shortly after his death in 2007, she resolved to assert her family's moral and legal entitlement to the artistic legacy of Norval Morrisseau.

Victoria knew that she would need help if she was to achieve her goals, so she contacted someone she knew she could trust, Joseph McLeod, a longtime family friend who had known her father for over forty years, and had known Victoria herself since childhood. As a professional art gallery owner with over three decades of experience in the sale of First Nations art, he was well-positioned to support Victoria through the complex processes involved in staking her family's claim to their intellectual property.

Together, Joseph and Victoria took the first steps towards asserting the family's rights through the creation of a legal non-profit entity, the Morrisseau Family Foundation, a registered charitable entity in the Province of Ontario. In June of 2009, the Morrisseau Family Foundation successfully petitioned the courts for their ownership of the copyright to Norval Morrisseau's artistic legacy. With this judgment, the Foundation's work begins a new phase, in asserting that Norval Morrisseau's legacy now belongs to the Native People of Canada and, specifically, to his seven children. Under Canadian law, copyright violation is punishable by a fine of up to $1 million, and up to five years in prison. The Foundation intends to assert its legal ownership of the Morrisseau legacy, to ensure an appropriate future for the Morrisseau family, and to protect the legacy from illegal exploitation.

The Board of Directors of the Foundation is composed entirely of the seven children of Norval Morrisseau and Harriet Kakegamic, chaired by Victoria Kakegamic, with Joseph McLeod chairing the Circle of Friends. The organization's day to day operations are staffed by volunteers in Toronto.

Morrisseau Family Foundation

c/o Victoria Kakegamic, Box 38 Keewaywin Reserve, ON P0V 3G0 Canada

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Morrisseau Family Foundation

33 Hazelton Ave. Suite 409 Toronto ON M5R 2E3 Canada

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Source: An official website of the Morrisseau Family Foundation.
 

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->>> Reference posts:

- Morrisseau Family Foundation,

- The Last Homecoming of Norval Morrisseau (Part I),

- The Last Homecoming of Norval Morrisseau (Part II),

- Norval Morrisseau Comparison Report (Part I),

- Norval Morrisseau Comparison Report (Part I) /Revisited/,

- Norval Morrisseau's Family (Part I),

- Norval Morrisseau's Family (Part II),

- In memory of Harriet Morrisseau (Kakegamic),

- Norval Morrisseau's Final Resting Place &

- Extra! Extra! Copyright for the Artistic Legacy of Norval Morrisseau has been registered!.

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