The police authorities of Canada announced they have busted an art forgery ring accused of producing and selling thousands of fake paintings by the indigenous artist over the past decades Norval Morrisseau worldwide.

Eight people, including Morrison’s nephew, were arrested last week and face a total of 40 charges, including forging works of art and documents that were supposed to authenticate them. “More than 1,000 allegedly fake paintings were confiscated. The total number of artworks sold remains unknown,” Ontario Provincial Police Deputy Superintendent Cary Dart said at a news conference.

Some of the paintings sold for tens of thousands of dollars to unsuspecting buyers across Canada and internationally.

Norval Morrisseau, also known as Copper Thunderbird, who is widely regarded as the father of Canadian Aboriginal art established a figurative style of contemporary Aboriginal art.

He was self-taught and in 1962 became the first Aboriginal artist to exhibit his work in a Canadian contemporary art gallery, sparking growing interest in his work. The artist passed away in 2007.

Kevin Viglio, a police investigator, said the counterfeiting ring began in 1996 with one man, David Voss, 51, who allegedly painted fake paintings himself and developed into a “painting production line”.

The documentary “There Are No Fakes”, released in 2019, helped to dismantle the ring. It is the story of Kevin Hearn of the band Barenaked Ladies who bought an alleged Morisot painting from a Toronto gallery in 2005. The documentary examines questions about the painting’s authenticity, and Hearn eventually sued the gallery. He was later awarded $60,000 in damages by the Ontario Court of Appeal.