Blog & News

The British Columbia Historical Federation (BCHF) is pleased to announce that the Vancouver Island Local History Society is the recipient of a provincial Award of Recognition.

Awards of recognition are given by the BCHF to member societies who have given exceptional service for a specific project in the preservation of British Columbia’s history.

The Society received this Award of Recognition for preserving Victoria’s Point Ellice House and decolonizing narratives associated with the property, its inhabitants and the land.

The Vancouver Island Local History Society, a member of the BC Historical Federation, took over management of the Point Ellice House heritage site in 2019, just a few months before the COVID-19 pandemic began, with a mission to develop and support heritage work that was inclusive, diverse, and representative of communities in the past and present. Their management of Point Ellice House ended in 2023.

As the group states, “We are incredibly proud of the work our staff and volunteers have done to rehabilitate and reinvigorate this special historic site.”

The award was presented at the Federation’s annual conference awards gala on July 22. You can view Dr. Kelly Black’s video acceptance speech below.

The British Columbia Historical Federation (BCHF) is pleased to announce that Tom Bown of Victoria is a recipient of an Award of Merit.

Awards of Merit are awarded to individuals and organizations who have made a significant contribution to the study or promotion of British Columbia History.

Tom is recognized for his longstanding contributions to research and public education within the historic archaeological field in British Columbia.

Tom has long been a champion of historic archaeology and continues this work as a research associate in the Archaeology Department of the Royal BC Museum and as a member of the Archaeology Society of BC. Tom is passionate about the stories that historic archaeological material conveys. Along with Chriss Addams, he published Glass and Pottery Containers of the Royal Navy and British Military: Historic and Archaeological Finds from the 18th, 19th, and 20th Centuries.

As Tom’s nominator remarked, Tom is “deeply generous with his accrued knowledge and is always willing to share with the public.” Tom has inspired countless people to look at Victoria’s archaeological material in a new way.

The award was presented at the Federation’s annual conference awards gala on July 22. While Tom wasn’t able to attend in person, you can view his acceptance video below.

John Haugen (Lytton First Nation), Richard Forrest (Lytton Museum & Archives Commission), and Lorna Fandrich (Lytton Chinese History Museum). Photo: Mark Forsythe

The British Columbia Historical Federation (BCHF) is pleased to announce the Lytton First Nation, Lytton Chinese History Museum and the Lytton Museum and Archives have jointly received the second annual Cultural Resource Accessibility Award. Each lost priceless collections following the devastating fire of 2021.

The Lytton First Nation is recognized for its dedication to rebuild, restore and re-establish artifact collections to maintain Nlaka’pamux cultural traditions and ensure knowledge transfer. The Lytton Chinese History Museum is recognized for its dedication to rebuild, restore and re-establish artifact collections telling the stories of the Lytton and the Interior’s Chinese community. The Lytton Museum and Archives is recognized for its dedication to rebuild, restore and re-establish artifact collections telling the community’s stories in Lytton.

The Cultural Resource Accessibility Award honours excellence in cultural resource management that connects British Columbians with their history and highlights steps being undertaken by communities to improve visibility and access to British Columbia’s cultural resources.

After the 2021 heat dome fire that consumed their village, these three organizations worked tirelessly to rebuild artifact collections — and their communities. Working with conservators, they have been able to
salvage select objects from their organizations. Richard Forrest of the Lytton Museum and Archives was able to save a shared server containing the digital archives of both the Lytton Museum and Archives and the Lytton Chinese History Museum. Artifacts and belongings lost during the fire will live on for researchers interested in Lytton’s rich history through this database and will help reduce the effects of the mass loss of critical cultural and historical materials in the region.

All three organizations are being offered new artifacts to replace those that were lost and are embarking down paths to keep connecting people with the community’s rich history. Each is doing remarkable work rebuilding important collections that speak to the rich history, people and events in one of the provinces oldest communities.

The award was presented at the Federation’s annual conference awards gala in Princeton on July 22.

To view videos of each of the recipients, created by the BCHF in 2021, see: https://www.bchistory.ca/lytton-museums-plan-to-rebuild/

Sim’oogit Ni’isjoohl (Chief Earl Stephens) and Noxs Ts’aawit (Dr. Amy Parent) stand with the Ni’isjoohl memorial pole in the National Museum of Scotland on Aug. 22, 2022. (Neil Hanna Photography)

The British Columbia Historical Federation is pleased to announce that Sigidimnak Nox Ts’aawit Dr. Amy Parent and the Nisga’a Ni’isjoohl Memorial Pole Rematriation team are recipients of an Award of Merit.  

Awards of Merit are awarded to individuals and organizations who have made a significant contribution to the study or promotion of British Columbia History. 

Through their steadfast determination to request the rematriation of the Ni’isjoohl memorial pole to Nisga’a territory without conditions, the team are cutting the path and setting the bar for the return of stolen cultural belongings and ancestors in British Columbia. The pole, belonging to the House of Ni’isjoohl from the Ganda (frog clan) in the Nisga’a Nation, was stolen in 1929 by anthropologist Marius Barbeau and sold to the Royal Scottish Museum (today known as the National Museum of Scotland). 

“In Nisga’a culture, we believe that this pole is alive with the spirits of our ancestor,” said Sim’oogit Ni’isjoohl, Chief Earl Stephens. “After nearly 100 years, we are finally able to bring our dear relative home to rest on Nisga’a lands. In means so much for us to have the Ni’isjoohl memorial pole returned to us, so that we can connect our family, nation and our future generations with our living history.”  

Together, Sigidimnak Nox Ts’aawit Dr. Amy Parent, and the Nisga’a Ni’isjoohl Memorial Pole Rematriation team, requested the pole’s return from the National Museum of Scotland on behalf of the Nisga’a Nation. Navigating differing cultural worldviews, the team successfully collaborated with the Museum to find compromises to longstanding museological protocols and challenged colonial practices which have been used to retain and withhold belongings and ancestors from their communities.  

The return of the pole to the Nisga’a People corrects a historic wrong and establishes a frame of reference through which Indigenous communities across British Columbia can find hope: “The repatriation of the Ni’isjoohl memorial pole to our family and Nation brings important legislation, such as the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, to life in a powerful way”, Parent added. “We hope that our story inspires our Indigenous relatives around the world to know that the impossible is possible when challenging colonial structures for the repatriation of our stolen cultural treasures. Justice for our ancestors will prevail.” 

The rematriation team consists of Sigidimnak Nox Ts’aawit (Dr. Amy Parent), Chief Ni’isjoohl (Chief Earl Stephens), Shawna Mackay from the House of Ni’isjooh, Hlgu Aama Gat (Donald Leeson, Chief Councillor, Laxgalt’sap Village Government), Apdii Laxha (Andrew Robinson, Nisg̱a’a Lisims Government Industry Relations Manager), Mmihlgum Maakskwhl Gakw (Pamela Brown) and Theresa Schober (Curator and Director of the Nisg̱a’a Museum). 

The award was presented at the Federation’s annual conference awards gala on July 22.

Rebecca Campbell

The British Columbia Historical Federation is pleased to announce the winners of its 2022-23 W. Kaye Lamb Award for Best Student Works.

First prize in the third- and fourth-year category was awarded to Rebecca Campbell for her submission “I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t interested in old things”: Women’s ‘Amateur’ History-Making in British Columbia, 1950-1979. Rebecca graduated from the University of Northern British Columbia in Prince George in April 2023 with a Bachelor of Arts in History.

Born and raised in Prince George, Rebecca has focused on British Columbian history throughout her four years of study, including environmental history, energy history, and social history. Her specific interest in the work of amateur women historians in British Columbia stems from her experience working at northern BC memory institutions, the Central BC Railway and Forestry Museum, and the Northern BC Archives.

Rebecca plans to expand her research in this area through oral history and archival research while pursuing a Master’s Degree in History. Rebecca is currently working with the Huble Homestead / Giscome Portage Heritage Society at the Huble Homestead Historic Site.

For the 2022-23 year, a runner-up prize for the third- and fourth-year category was awarded to Carlanna Thompson. Carlanna graduated in 2022 with a Bachelor of Arts in Honours History from the University of the Fraser Valley. She plans to pursue a Master’s Degree in History with a focus on the history of Indigenous peoples in British Columbia. Her life-long love of the sport of lacrosse and her interest in settler-Indigenous relations provided the inspiration for her virtual exhibit project (Re)Indigenizing the Creator’s Game: Settler Colonialism and Lacrosse’s Journey from Eastern Lands to Stó꞉lō Hands.

The W. Kaye Lamb Award is presented annually to outstanding post-secondary student essays and projects relating to the history of British Columbia. The award has been presented since 1988, initially known as the BCHF Scholarship. It was renamed the W. Kaye Lamb Award in 2001. In 2004, the BCHF introduced two award categories: one for students in their first or second year of study, the other for students in their third or fourth year of study.

The awards were presented at the Federation’s annual conference awards gala on July 22 in Princeton on the traditional and unceded territory of the Upper Similkameen people.

Carlanna Thompson

Jennifer Iredale with her certificate at the BC Historical Federation conference in Princeton.

A story exploring the history of basket making at All Hallows in the West school in Yale has won the BC Historical Federation’s Anne and Philip Yandle Best Article Award. 

Well Made Baskets: Nlaka’pamux Basket Makers and All Hallows School, by Jennifer Iredale, appeared in the Fall 2022 issue of British Columbia History magazine. It was chosen by a panel of judges from among two dozen eligible articles published in the magazine last year. 

One judge said the “research and storytelling skills are impressive” while another called it a “fascinating story that brings new history forward. Although nothing can justify residential schools, this is a story that portrays positive relationships — something that is needed today to foster reconciliation. Very well researched and features Indigenous voices.”  

The award comes with $250 and a certificate, which were presented to Iredale during the federation’s annual conference in Princeton on Saturday. 

“I was so surprised and thrilled to hear that my article was selected,” Iredale said.  

“I am deeply honored. Much of the credit for this article goes to my friend and colleague, the late Irene Bjerky, whose research underpinned this article and whose friendship and generous sharing of genealogical and basketry information was – and is – an inspiration towards revitalization and preservation of Nlaka’pamux basketry knowledge and practice. 

“Sharing the stories, history and practice of Nlaka’pamux cedar root basket making contributes to revitalizing and keeping this unique heritage alive. I am sure Irene would be as grateful as I am that this article, and through that the basketry tradition, has been recognized and honored with this award!” 

Iredale, who makes her home in both Victoria and on Mayne Island, is a past curator for BC’s provincial heritage properties and began her career at Barkerville in the 1970s. She is also the editor/author of Enduring Threads: Ecclesiastical Textiles of St. John the Divine Church, Yale, British Columbia and has curated numerous websites on BC history. In 2015, she received a Distinguished Service Award from the BC Museums Association. 

To continue Bjerky’s legacy, the Piyi?wi?x kt/Beeya.wEE.hh kt Language Foundation Society in Lytton, with private donations and a contribution from New Pathways to Gold, has established a cultural fund in her honour and memory to advance basket-making – TseeyA/Ćy̓éh. 

An honorable mention was also given to Catherine Clement for her article, Discovering the Paper Trail to the 1923 Chinese Exclusion Act, published in the Winter 2022 edition, which explained the genesis behind her project to collect Chinese immigration forms for an exhibition that opened July 1 at the new Chinese Canadian Museum of BC in Vancouver. 

“The layer of personal experience enhances the significance of the paper trail and gives this subject a much more immediate and sharper focus,” one judge remarked.  

Philip Yandle was the founder, editor, publisher, printer, binder, and distributor of the BC Historical News (now British Columbia History) from 1968 to 1977. His wife Anne Yandle was also very active in the BC Historical News for almost 40 years and served as the book reviews editor until her death in 2006. The following year, the BC Historical Federation renamed its Best Article Award Award in honour of the Yandles. 

Jennifer Irwin (right) receives her award certificate from BCHF awards chair Anna Irwin.

The British Columbia Historical Federation is pleased to announce the Chinatown Storytelling Centre has received the second annual Storytelling Award for its use of new technologies and social media to highlight and share stories of Vancouver’s Chinatown and the Chinese Canadian community. 

The Storytelling Award recognizes excellence in storytelling in non-traditional formats. The award is open to organizations, groups and individuals who engage the hearts and minds of visitors while exploring BC’s rich heritage.  It seeks to reward those who dream big, push boundaries to innovate and take risks, regardless of organizational size or budget. 

The Chinatown Storytelling Centre uses modern technologies and techniques to highlight and showcase previously silenced stories within Chinatown and the Chinese community both past and present. The Storytelling Centre contains artifacts, text panels, and audio-visual vignettes to articulate community and family narratives.  

With the use of the internet and other emerging technologies, the Centre continues to evolve with a dizzying array of programming. Events, interviews, panel discussions, guest speakers, and stories are recorded for future generations. The nomination states: “stories previously buried in family heirlooms and photo albums are being brought to life with a new generation of storytellers and curators at the CSC. The organization’s mandate is not simply to shine a light on stories within the community but to help save the community social and cultural infrastructure support.”  

The award was presented at the Federation’s annual conference awards gala in Princeton on July 22.

Shawn Lamb in the archives named for her in 2006. (Nelson Museum and Archives)

The British Columbia Historical Federation is pleased to announce Nelson’s Shawn Lamb (1938-2021) is a posthumous recipient of a Certificate of Appreciation. 

Certificates of Appreciation are awarded by the BCHF to individuals who have given exceptional service for a specific project or long service in the preservation of British Columbia’s history. 

Described as “totally unselfish, talented, generous and caring,” Lamb is honoured for a lifetime of service to the museum sector and for her dedicated work to establish the Nelson Museum Archives and Gallery, formerly Touchstones Nelson Museum. Lamb previously won Nelson’s Citizen of the Year in 1994 and received the Freedom of the City in 2009.  

The first archivist and paid staff member of the Nelson Museum, Lamb worked with wholehearted spirit and was a prolific figure in Nelson. She worked tirelessly with the public, community groups and researchers to connect them to their family’s or Nelson’s past and was an active public historian, hosting Turning Back the Clock on Shaw TV (you can watch a clip from an episode below), publishing books and regularly contributing to local newspapers. 

She maintained an active role in developing Nelson’s collection and exhibition program, culminating in the creation of the “A Visual Memoir: 25 Years at the Nelson Museum with Shawn Lamb” exhibition in 2009. The exhibit, which commemorated her quarter-century with the organization and coincided with her retirement, highlighted key stories and materials from her career.  

Her legacy lives on today through the Shawn Lamb Archives at the Nelson Museum Archives & Gallery, which were dedicated to her in 2006 and through the countless number of individuals she worked with and mentored during her career. Lamb passed away in 2021 at age 83.  

The award was presented at the Federation’s annual conference awards gala in Princeton on July 22, where family members were on hand to receive it.

Shawn Lamb is seen on Ward Street in Nelson in 1947. (Nelson Museum and Archives)

A young Shawn Lamb. (Marjory Young album via Nelson Museum and Archives)

Shawn and Fran Lamb performing at Mount St. Francis extended care hospital on Sept. 9, 1977. (Courtesy Nelson Museum and Archives)

Working on restoring the 1922 Ladybird speedboat at the museum with Ken White, circa 1980s. (Courtesy Nelson Museum and Archives)

Shawn Lamb is seen far right along with Gerald Rotering, Jeremy Addington, David Lawson, and Corky Evans on May 2, 1994 during an exhibit on the closure of David Thompson University Centre. (Courtesy Nelson Museum and Archives)

Working on the Wingin’ It airplane exhibition at Nelson Museum in 1994. From left, Henry Stevenson, Bert Learmonth, Shawn Lamb and Judy Mulloy. (Nelson Museum and Archives)

Shawn Lamb and the propeller from the tug Hosmer outside the Nelson Museum, circa early 2000s. (Nelson Daily News via Nelson Museum and Archives)

Shawn Lamb and Dan Dalgaard, principal at Central Education Centre, gently pick through a 101-year-old time capsule in May 2009. (Chris Shepherd/The Express via Nelson Museum and Archives)

Shawn Lamb in May 2018 during her 80th birthday party at what was then Touchstones Nelson. (Nelson Museum and Archives)

Robin Fisher receives the Lieutenant Governor’s award for historical writing from former Lieutenant Governor Judith Guichon (right) at the BCHF’s conference in Princeton on the traditional and unceded territory of the Upper Similkameen people. Chief Bonnie Jacobsen is at left.

The British Columbia Historical Federation has awarded the 2022 Lieutenant Governor’s Medal for Historical Writing to Robin Fisher, author of Wilson Duff: Coming Back, A Life (Harbour Publishing). The 40th annual award was presented Saturday by the former Lieutenant Governor, Judith Guichon, at the BCHF’s conference in Princeton on the traditional and unceded territory of the Upper Similkameen people.

The book explores the life and legacy of the pioneering anthropologist and museologist, who was central to shaping a new understanding of First Nations’ cultures through his work at the Royal BC Museum and University of British Columbia. Wilson Duff’s personal story was also tragic; he suffered from depression and took his own life at age 51.

Historian and academic Robin Fisher (pictured), who lives in Nanaimo, was on hand to receive the award that includes a $2,500 prize, the largest for historical writing in BC, and a medal.

Second place, which comes with a $1,500 prize, went to Sean Carleton for Lessons in Legitimacy: Colonialism, Capitalism, and the Rise of State Schooling in British Columbia (UBC Press), an examination of how early state schooling in BC taught students the legitimacy of settler capitalism.

Third place, which comes with a $500 prize, went to David Rossiter and Patricia Burke Wood for Unstable Properties: Aboriginal Title and the Claim of British Columbia (UBC Press), a history of Crown attempts to solidify claims to Indigenous territory. Rossiter accepted in person.

The Community History Award, which comes with a $500 prize, went to John Adams for Chinese Victoria: A Long and Difficult Journey (Discover the Past), which explores the lives of the people who shaped Canada’s oldest Chinatown.

Honorable mentions were presented to Incredible Crossings: The History and Art of the Bridges, Tunnels and Inland Ferries That Connect British Columbia (Derek Hayes, Harbour Publishing); So You Girls Remember That: Memories of a Haida Elder (Gaadgas Nora Bellis with Jenny Nelson, Harbour Publishing), and A Social History of South Asians in British Columbia (Satwinder Kaur Bains and Balbir Gurm, South Asian Studies Institute).

The award recipients were chosen by a three-member panel of judges from among books published in 2022 and submitted for the competition.

The conference was the first in-person gathering of the BC Historical Federation since the pandemic began in 2019, and was hosted by the Princeton Museum & Archives. Presentations were wide-ranging: a Depression era coal miners’ strike told through story and song, the little known institution of the Chinese laundry; local settler and Indigenous history; a Trail newspaper; the exploits of Bill Miner in Princeton; how museums must adapt to changing technologies, and more.

All presentations will soon be available on the BCHF’s YouTube channel. The Federation was honoured to visit Princeton. It has been two years since an historic flood destroyed homes, roads, water and gas lines. One third of the community of 3,000 had to be evacuated. Mayor Spencer Coyne described how a 14-foot tidal wave washed through the town when dikes were breached. Recovery efforts continue, and Coyne is urging better emergency coordination between local, regional and provincial governments in the future. He added: “We are the face of climate change.”

The British Columbia Historical Federation encourages interest in the history of British Columbia through research, presentation, and support in its role as an umbrella organization for provincial historical societies. Established in 1922, the Federation currently provides a collective voice for over 100 member societies and 24,000 individuals in the provincial not-for-profit historical sector.

Ken George peers through the bighouse wall at Q’Puthet Unwinus S’ulsalewh/Elders singing welcome songs they heard as children, at the official opening of the Sway A’ Lana with Bear and Eagle carving by James Johnny Sr. (Snuneymuxw), July 30, 1985. At the ceremony Anderson Tommy, wearing vest, recalled being told by his elders, “You will hear our teachings and songs echo, long after we are gone.” Left to right: Ken George, Kay George (Q’Puthet Unwinus Cultural Co-Ordinator) with Sulsalewh/Elders Eva Thomas, Margaret James, Emily Manson, Anderson Tommy, Mamie Frenchy, Hazel Good. hay ’ul’ ’i’y mut st’ i lums/it was the most beautiful singing! (Composite image created by William A. White)

An excerpt from the Summer 2023 issue of British Columbia History.

By William A. White

In 1998, I wrote a very brief paper that compared and contrasted the very small display case accorded the Coast Salish People at the Royal British Columbia Museum and the display cases of its neighbours, identified as the Nuu-chah-nulth, Ts’msyen, and Haida Peoples. The Coast Salish case used to sit just to the right of the Mungo Martin longhouse [1] in the First Peoples Gallery, after eight or ten major display cases housing Kwakwaka’wakw and Haida materials. Immediately in front of the display case were a number of full-size totem poles and at least five or six display areas dedicated to northern cultures.

The Royal British Columbia Museum sits right in the middle of territories and principal villages of the Central Coast Salish consisting of the Island Hul’q’umi’num’, Northern Straits, Klallam, Nooksack, Upriver Halq’eméylem, Downriver Halq’eméylem, Skwxwú7mesh Úxwumixw. e territory and people of the Central Coast Salish and the Puget Sound Salish—in fact, those people who established villages and undertook a rich ceremonial life prior to and after the arrival of the Europeans on this very stretch of the coast—seemed non-existent. At least, that was the impression given upon viewing the content of the Salish case and comparing it to its immediate neighbours.

A closer examination of the writings of RBCM officials may reveal why this was the case. Peter Macnair, Alan Hoover, and Kevin Neary described Coast Salish art as conservative, “changing not at all from the point of European contact through to the 1890s when the last significant examples were probably produced.” [2]

It is unfortunate that RBCM offcials were not able to appreciate the significance of the fact that the art form had not changed and unfortunate that this significant cultural institution perpetuated this belief through the use of several ritual pieces. [3]

The anthropologist Wayne Suttles, on the other hand, summarized the social and cultural context of the Hul’q’umi’num’ Sxwayxwey by saying, “The artists who made and assembled these masks and costumes may have drawn from various sources and experimented over the generations to impress and mystify those people who came to the potlatch.” [4] He concluded that “they would be pleased to know that they are still impressing and mystifying.” [5]

In this display, the context, continuity, and antiquity of the art form was clearly lost to offcials from the Royal British Columbia Museum. The exhibit contained approximately sixteen pieces reflective of a very complex ritual and ceremonial world, [6] yet teachers conducting school tours, tourists, and perhaps our own young people would not have any idea of the connectedness of any of the sixteen pieces and would not learn about the complex world of the people who created them.

A child, in particular, would not learn anything about the territory, ancestry, antiquity, or value of the people who produced the pieces displayed in this very small display case. e people, the land in which they operated, the environment available to them, and the various personalities are nowhere to be found within the display case.

Second-class status

The Coast Salish represent the largest cultural group in the province, the group whose homeland is now the most heavily populated. e Coast Salish are also the most conservative on the coast and have retained many of their traditional spiritual activities, unlike their immediate neighbours to the north and south. [9] In fairness, perhaps the stark display represented consistent requests from representatives of the Traditional Coast Salish community to refrain from displaying or discussing sacred objects. If this is the case, the museum curators took the request too far and, in fact, used little imagination with the materials collected and available for display.

I suspect, however, there was much more at work here than respecting the wishes of traditional community members. Immediately preceding the Salish exhibit were display cases for the Nuu-chah-nulth, Ts’msyen, and Haida Peoples. Viewed in the context of their immediate neighbours, the Nuu-chah-nulth and Coast Salish displays were minimal, unimaginative, and stark.

The manner in which both the Nuu-chah-nulth and Coast Salish objects were displayed served as yet one more vehicle that relegates First Nations people/culture/material world to a status less than others.

The major problem, of course, is when a young museum visitor views the simplistic display and contrasts it to other cases in the immediate vicinity. What impression is made when a young Indigenous student from the Coast Salish or Nuu-chah-nulth notes the cultural complexity clearly displayed of other coastal groups, such as the extensive Haida village, [10] or at the other end of the floor, the reproduced Mungo Martin house, or the cave of masks? What happens when a child from any of the fourteen First Nations [11] on Vancouver Island—from Snaw’naw’as in the north to any of the WSÁNEĆ—views the Haida Village, the Mungo Martin bighouse and looks for anything representative of their own people?

What impression does a First Nation student form about their place in the world and, more importantly, about their place in history? The answer is simple and destructive. The exhibit denigrates and assigns the people to a second-class status against Kwakwaka’wakw and Haida art from the Northwest Coast, which has been enshrined in academia as the nest art and the art that is truly representative of the coast even as the museum is surrounded by the ancestral owners who have inhabited this area from time immemorial. These ancestral owners consist of the Esquimalt, Malahat, Pauquachin, Songhees, Tsartlip, Tsawout, Tseycum, T’sou-ke, Sc’ianew (Beecher Bay), Stz’uminus, Quw’utsun, Snaw’naw’as, Snuneymuxw, and Penelakut.

Salish Bear Pole in Qualicum, circa 1960, by Hwunumetse’ Simon Charlie (1919–2005) from Cowichan First Nation. Hwunumetse’ Simon Charlie was an internationally renowned master carver, esteemed by Coast Salish artists for his significant role in the revitalization of Coast Salish art. (Photo: City of Vancouver Archives AM1052-: AM1052 P-1944)

In 1944, Alice Ravenhill complimented “the very high standard of perfection” used by Coast Salish artists who produced spindle whorls. She added, “the men did not possess the outstanding skill in the bold sculpturing of wood or in the fine carving of bone, ivory and horn so highly developed among the Haida and Ts’msyen.” [12] The historian Robin Fisher describes the same impression.

“Coast Salish art was quite different from that of the northern coast. In the eyes of many European beholders, it was also less impressive than Haida art.” [13] The manner in which the museum chose to introduce and to label its exhibits further reinforced this unfortunate classification and further inscribed this hierarchy of coastal art, accelerating the academically driven mythical image of “true” Northwest coast art. The label for Nuu-chah-nulth art suggests their “sculpture is easily distinguished” and contains a brief reference to the Tloquana (wolf ritual).

Meanwhile, the Ts’msyen exhibit drew attention to such phenomena as spirit names, frontlets, and further described their sculpture as the “most refined and sensitive of all Northwest coast carving.” In contrast to these two labels, the label introducing the Haida display case discusses their concave orbit, crest figures, and further suggests their at design materials reached an “intellectualized perfection.”

In light of the horrendous period of oppression by both church and state regarding traditional culture and traditional cultural practices—which in effect helped destroy social interactions and material representations of the sacred—the RBCM exhibit continues the process of reminding all British Columbians and especially Coast Salish people that their culture was simple and perhaps even non-existent. In fact, our culture is rich with oral history, vibrant, and on several fronts unchanged even with the arrival of the Europeans to the coast. The Coast Salish as a group, however, like their neighbours to the north and south, is under severe stress.

This work suggested a clear flaw in the way museum professionals receive training about the northwest coast. This is problematic for many reasons. The museum as arbiter of culture does not have a moral or social right to continue the oppression of any culture. The Royal British Columbia Provincial Museum sits in the heart of Coast Salish territory and clearly operates with little understanding of this fact.

The manner in which Coast Salish materials were displayed, and the simplistic language used to label the belongings, served to denigrate the cultural knowledge of the old people, particularly those with traditional training, and served to remind the very young there is little purpose to know anything about their own people, their own past, and—perhaps the most damaging of all—the value of their own old people.

Students may have left the exhibit area believing the Coast Salish did not inhabit the area immediately surrounding the capital city. This would be particularly damaging for young Coast Salish students who have to explain why so little is contained in the museum about their own people. Worse still, museum visitors would learn that the Coast Salish could not build structures or carve images as impressive as those of its immediate neighbours. Without a substantial shift from the academic fascination and categorization of their world and others, impressionable young artists may take on the ethnocentric viewpoint of the Euro-Canadian that leads one to worship the intellectual perfection of Haida forms over Coast Salish artforms.

Traditionally trained Elders continue to reinforce behaviours that provide a sense of belonging, a strong sense of family, a strong sense of responsibility to each other. The Royal British Columbia Museum is a world-class museum that has denigrated Coast Salish Culture and denied their right to announce the future. Significant changes have to be made in the manner the Coast Salish exhibits are planned and implemented, and changes have to be made now.

Endnotes

1. This location information is based on the position of cases in 1998. My overall observations have remained true over time even as the specific position of belongings and cases has been adjusted.

2. Peter L. Macnair, Alan L. Hoover, and Kevin Neary. The Legacy: Continuing Traditions of Canadian Northwest Coast Indian Art. Victoria: British Columbia Provincial Museum, 1980: 39.

3. Wayne Suttles. “The Halkomelem Sxwayxwey” in American Indian Art (Winter 1980): 56 – 65.

4. Suttles, 64.

5. Suttles, 64.

6. Thee sixteen Coast Salish cultural belongings included highly significant belongings used in ritual cleansing, weaving instruments, baskets, and utilitarian items.

7. Pamela Amoss. Coast Salish Spirit Dancing: The Survival of an Ancestral Religion. Seattle: University of Washington Press,1978: 35

8. See “First Nations Traditional Values” Floy C. Pepper and William A. White, 1995. Prepared for “A First Nations Sensitivity Curriculum Review and Recommendations” by Philip Cook, Chair Cross Cultural Portfolio. School of Child and Youth Care, 1996.

9. Barbara S. Lane. “A Comparative and Analytic Study of Some Aspects of Northwest Coast Religion” Unpublished PhD Dissertation, University of Washington, 1953: 1, 6.

10. The Royal British Columbia Museum is surrounded by the ancestral owners who have inhabited this area from time immemorial. These Nations consist of the Esquimalt, Malahat, Pauquachin, Songhees, Tsartlip, Tsawout, Tseycum and T’sou-ke.

11. These Nations are the Esquimalt, Malahat, Pauquachin, Songhees, Tsartlip, Tsawout, Tseycum, T’sou-ke, Beecher Bay, Chemainus, Cowichan Tribes, Nanoose, Nanaimo and Penelakut.

12. Alice Ravenhill. A Corner Stone of Canadian Culture: An Outline of the Arts and Crafts of the Indian Tribes of British Columbia. Victoria: Occasional Papers of the British Columbia Provincial Museum. Number 5, 1944: 74.

13. Robin Fisher. “The Northwest from the Beginning of Trade with Europeans to the 1880s” in The Cambridge History of the Native Peoples of the Americas. Ed. Bruce G. Trigger and Wilcomb E. Washburn. Cambridge: University of Cambridge Press, 1996: 121.

William A. White, B.A. (University of Victoria), is a Cultural Historian, traditionally trained Snuneymuxw Elder, and a cultural teacher. He recently weighed in at the public engagement session in Nanaimo for the Royal British Columbia Museum (RBCM), a process designed to gather input from across BC to plan the museum’s future. The representation of Coast Salish People in this provincial institution has been on his mind for many years—since the opening of the First Peoples galleries, on January 18, 1977. Since then, millions of people have visited this “world-class” facility, and hundreds of thousands of students have learned about Indigenous Peoples through its displays. White worries about the ongoing and legacy impacts of their teachings about Coast Salish People in terms of their relative worth as Indigenous People on the west coast, and he urges action as new RBCM experiences are created in the coming years.