Ottawa, June 21, 2022
Recognizing Indigenous People’s Contributions to Museums
Today is Indigenous People’s Day. As the Canadian Museums Association works toward the completion of Call to Action #67, we have had time to reflect on the depth and longevity of Indigenous peoples’ contributions to museums.
There is no denying that since their creation, museums have been tied to the colonial project. Museums served to perpetuate cultural genocide within First Nations, Inuit, and Métis communities through the theft and removal of ancestral remains, cultural belongings and traditional knowledge, as well as racist and exploitative representations of their cultures.
As the President of the CMA, Heather George, points out, Indigenous Nations “have always preserved, protected, and lived [their] tangible and intangible cultural heritage.” But it is also true that First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples have worked tirelessly against the cultural genocide perpetuated by museological institutions and to counteract the misrepresentation of their histories and cultures. Take, for example, the Lubicon Lake First Nation’s boycott of the Glenbow Museum’s exhibition “The Spirit Sings” during the 1988 Calgary Olympics. This prompted national discussions that culminated in the Task Force Report, which provided critical guidance on museum-Indigenous relations. More recently, we heard Indigenous museum professionals calling out racism experienced in those institutions, such as Lucy Bell’s experiences at the Royal BC Museum.
This dismantling of the colonial foundations that continue to underpin our museums continues today through Indigenous-led heritage organizations like the First Nations Confederacy of Cultural Education Centres, the Indigenous Heritage Circle, the Indigenous Curatorial Collective, and the National Indigenous Knowledge & Language Alliance, just to name a few.
From our engagement work with Indigenous heritage professionals and others in First Nations, Inuit, and Métis communities, we know that the work to hold space and undo systems of colonial harm in museums is not easy. We hear the challenges of balancing responsibilities to community with calling out institutions bult on the destruction of your cultures and heritage. We wish to recognize your efforts.
Coming together to commemorate National Indigenous People’s Day provides an opportunity to recognize all Indigenous peoples, past and present, who make museums more welcoming, braver institutions that reflect the diversity of the culture and history of First Nations, Indigenous, and Métis peoples.
Disponible en français.