The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) has revealed that it has arrested eight individuals in connection with "the largest art fraud in world history". The detainees are accused of being involved in the forgery and sale of works of art attributed to the noted Ojibwe artist Norval Morrisseau, known as “the Picasso of the North”. The fraud scheme is said to have lasted for decades and raised suspicions even before the artist's death in 2007.
The arrests followed a two-and-a-half-year investigation conducted by the OPP with assistance from the Thunder Bay Police Service. Those arrested – including a nephew of the painter – belonged to three separate forgery groups, inaugurated in 1996, 2002 and 2008 respectively. Also seized during the operation were more than 1,000 artworks forged in the style of the Woodlands School of Art that Morrisseau, Bingwi First Nation member Neyaashi Anishinaabek, established. Some of these works have sold for tens of thousands of dollars. Police believe the fraudsters were involved in the creation and circulation of between 4,000 and 6,500 counterfeit works by Morisseau, with a total estimated value of $100 million. Many of the paintings were allegedly created by children forced to work in factories and still others by young indigenous artists whom the accused took advantage of.
The investigation was spurred by a 2019 documentary by Canadian filmmaker Jamie Kastner titled There Are No Fakes. The film investigated allegations of fraud related to a Morrisseau painting purchased by Kevin Hearn, a member of the Canadian rock band Barenaked Ladies, who ended up winning a lawsuit against the gallery that sold him the work.
Morrisseau, who signed his canvases “Copper Thunderbird” in his native language, centered indigenous cosmology in his work, which often featured erotic themes or evoked cultural or political tensions between native Canadians and settlers. He became a member of the Order of Canada in 1978.