Friday, March 29, 2024

Province and Royal BC Museum join Aboriginal peoples to bring cultural belongings home

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The B.C. Government and Royal BC Museum are teaming up with Aboriginal people to co-create a plan to help identify and return ancestral remains and belongings of cultural significance.

Premier Christy Clark made the announcement today at the Royal BC Museum, on the 20th anniversary of National Aboriginal Day.

The Royal BC Museum was brought in for their expertise. In the coming months, the Royal BC Museum will be actively reaching out to Aboriginal peoples to determine “how to support this important work“.

Over hundreds of years, ancestral remains and belongings of cultural significance to Aboriginal peoples, including grave goods, ceremonial regalia and shamanic materials, have found their way into public museums and private collections around the world.

Ancestral remains and cultural belongings previously returned to Aboriginal peoples in B.C. include:

  • Ancestral remains returned to the Tseycum First Nation from the American Museum of Natural History in New York City (2008)
  • The G’psgolox totem pole returned to the Haisla Nation from the Museum of Ethnography in Stockholm (2006)
  • A stone statue returned to the Sto:lo First Nation from the Burke Museum in Seattle (2006)
  • A ceremonial mask returned to the Kwakwaka’wakw First Nation from the British Museum (2005)
  • Ancestral remains returned to the Haida from the Field Museum of Chicago (2003)

This work supports the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s call to the federal government, in collaboration with Aboriginal peoples and the Canadian Museums Association, to mark Canada’s 150th anniversary in 2017 by supporting commemoration projects on the theme of reconciliation.

In a statement, Premier Christy Clark said returning ancestral remains and cultural belongings is crucial for the preservation and continuation of traditions passed down through the generations, and to right some of the historical wrongs committed against Aboriginal peoples in B.C.

2017 marks the 150th anniversary of Canadian Confederation, and the Government of Canada has identified reconciliation from nation to nation with Indigenous people as a key theme for the year.

Province and Royal BC Museum join Aboriginal peoples to bring cultural belongings home
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Victoria Buzz Staffhttps://www.victoriabuzz.com
Your inside source for Greater Victoria happenings. Established in 2012.

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