OTTAWA — An American medical museum has returned the partial human remains of 12 Canadian soldiers from the First World War.

The Department of National Defence says the remains were collected originally for medical study after the war but ended up on display at the Mutter Museum in Philadelphia after being sent there in 1919.

The department says the Canadian Armed Forces has been taking part in an international effort led by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission to reclaim soldiers’ remains.

The collected remains will be interred in the individual soldiers’ graves, most of which are in a cemetery in Le Tréport, France.

The museum, which features a prominent wall of human skulls, has attracted controversy over its displays of the remains of Indigenous people and of soldiers from other countries.

The museum returned the skull of a First World War soldier to Australia in 2017.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 10, 2026.

Kyle Duggan, The Canadian Press