First Peoples Hall opens at national museum

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Twelve years of planning, designing and constructing have resulted in the establishment of a permanent exhibit at the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Ottawa-Gatineau. The exhibit, which was officially opened on Jan. 30, represents thousands of years of Aboriginal history.

Andrea Laforet, director of ethnology and cultural studies at Canada's national museum, explained that the consultation committee first began meeting in 1992.

"The members were committed to ensuring that the Hall's exhibits would reflect the voices of First Peoples. We had a good representation of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal professionals as part of the group."

First Nations members included Gloria Cranmer-Webster, an anthropology graduate known for her work with the Kwakwaka'wakw cultural revival at Alert Bay, B.C. and for helping to develop an alphabet and talking dictionary. Eldon Yellow Horn, a professor at Simon Fraser University, and Aboriginal artist Tom Hill, who among his many accomplishments is known for his curatorial work at the Woodland Cultural Centre in Brantford, Ont., which is a prime exhibition space for Native art and an educational centre, were also involved. Altogether there were 12 members of the planning committee, and the First Nations across Canada were represented, Laforet reported.

The First Peoples Hall occupies 2,000 square metres of space. Walking through it from start to finish can easily take half a day, if the irresistible invitation for a detailed inspection is accepted.

"There are four themes of the hall: we are still here, we contribute, we are diverse, and we have an ancient and continuing relationship with the land," Laforet explained. Storytelling and other cultural activities are also held throughout the year, which complement the existing exhibits. Another exciting program is one in which five Aboriginal interns train at the museum, chosen from applications from across the country.

"They come for eight months and rotate throughout all divisions in the museum, getting exposure to research, conservation and so on. They take that knowledge back into their communities," she said.

Careful attention was paid to the variations in the different traditions among Aboriginal peoples.

For example, long-ago ancestors of today's Inuit faced extreme challenges, and a representation of the landscape, artifacts, carvings and prints will give visitors a sense of the profound spiritual connection between the Inuit and the whales, which exists to this day, she explained. Another section displays the Maritime peoples and their unique way of life where the salt and fresh waters meet. "Additional exhibition space is devoted to the caribou and bison, and the communal hunters who lived on the Plains and in the sub-Arctic. And the people of the longhouse exhibit looks at the first peoples as cultivators of corn, beans and squash and the important place women have in the social and political life of Iroquoian society," Andrea Laforet said. The trading of goods is explored, as hunters of the Plains and agriculturists from the Eastern Woodlands shared their foodstuffs, material goods, and ideas. A complex network of communication existed, which contributed to the economic, social and political structure of Canada's first peoples.

Staff in the curatorial, ethnology and archaeology divisions at the museum plan further continuing exhibitions and outreach projects, and the production of related publications will occur as well.

"While we were planning, many ideas occurred to us on specific topics relating to particular First Nations, which we can now carry out. We have a sacred material program, for example, where people from First Nations are invited to view items from their history and identify special care and handling," she said.

One zone looks at more recent times, the last 500 years. The impact of European colonization, the establishment of early trade and social relations, the epidemics, the development of the ord Indian, and the birth of the Metis are all explored, said Laforet.

"As Cree author and playwright Tomson Highway has put it, a shock wave was felt by Indian people right across the continent, which is still felt to this day."

The political, societal and religious views of the Europeans began to overpower the complex and complete Aboriginal societies.

"It was a dark time in their history and they suffered great losses, not only to their way of life, but also to their identity."

But the strong spirit of the First Nations, Metis and Inuit remained, she said.

"By the end of the mid-1900s, a cultural renaissance had begun that continues today."

The First Nations Hall exhibits end with the words of well-known Aboriginal statesman George Erasmus, who filled many positions over a colorful career, and is the chairman of the Aboriginal Healing Foundation.

"The history of our people needs to be told. We need to present accurately what happened in the past so we can deal with it in the future."

Erasmus' quote points out that no one likes what has happened over the last 500 years.

"But there's not much anyone can do about it. The question is: what are we going to do about the next 500 years?

"We are showing all of Canada, and all of the world, that the history and culture of our first peoples is one to be preserved and appreciated."