Commonwealth Association of Museums Presents

Commonwealth Association of Museums presents

Indigenous Heritage Roundtable

atFort Calgary

June 21, 2017 – National Aboriginal Day

with the support of the Assembly of First Nations, the Métis National Council, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, Indigenous Heritage Circle,and Calgary Aboriginal Urban Affairs Committee

We acknowledge that this Roundtable is taking place on the traditional territories of the Blackfoot and the people of the Treaty 7 region in Southern Alberta, which includes the Siksika, the Piikani, the Kainai, the Tsuut’ina, and the Stoney Nakoda First Nations and falls within Region III of the Metis Nation of Alberta. The City of Calgary is situated on land adjacent to where the Bow River meets the Elbow River, and the Blackfoot name of this place is ‘Mohkinstsis’.

8:00-8:45Peace Walk from the Langevin Bridgeto Fort Calgary

8:45-10:00Reconciliation Ceremony and Breakfast

10:00-11:00TheUN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP)

Co-Chairs:

Chief Wilton Littlechild,Ermineskin Cree Nation;first First Nation person in Alberta to receive his law degree (1976) and be elected to Parliament (1988-1993);organised a coalition of Indigenous Nations that sought and gained consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations;member of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (2002–2007); Chairperson of the United Nations Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP);Commissioner of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (2009-2015). (invited)

Alissandra Cummins, Director, Barbados Museum and Historical Society; President of the International Council of Museums (ICOM, 2004-2010) and UNESCO Executive Board Member (2011-2013), UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee Chair for the Promotion of Return of Cultural Property to Countries of Origin or its Restitution in Case of Illicit Appropriation (ICPRCP, 2003-2005), President of the International Advisory Board Memory of the UNESCO World Programme (2077); Vice-Chair, Commonwealth Association of Museums (1995-2004). (confirmed)

Context:The UNDRIP outlines indigenous rights to self-determination, maintaining and strengthening distinct institutions and not being subjected to the destruction of indigenous culture. Implications for museums and other heritage organisations are that indigenous perspectives should be presented in exhibitions and programmes about subjects that touch on their lives. Heritage organisations have an obligation to provide accurate information about and improve awareness and understanding of indigenous peoples and their inherent rights.In addition to participating in State-supported and not-for-profit museums and archives, indigenous people have the right to establish indigenous-operated cultural centres and to preserve and continue cultural traditions, knowledge and language. Museums and heritage organisations should support efforts of indigenous people to practice and revitalise their cultural traditions and customs, strengthen indigenous institutions, cultures and traditions, maintain archaeological and historic sites, artifacts, designs, ceremonies, technologies, and visual and performing arts, and literature; support the restitution of cultural, intellectual, religious and spiritual property taken without consent or in violation of their laws, traditions and customs; and provide access in privacy to religious and cultural sites, to use and control ceremonial objects and repatriate human remains.

11:00-12:00Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action

Moderator: Lorna Crowshoe, Calgary Urban Aboriginal Affairs Committee (invited)

John Moses, a member of the Delaware and Upper Mohawk bands of the Six Nations of the Grand River Territory near Brantford, Ontario who was previously employed in collections and research capacities at the Canadian Museums of History and now works as a policy analyst with the Department of Canadian Heritage in Gatineau, Quebec. The son, grandson and great-grandson of residential school survivors, he is currently completing PhD work in cultural mediations at Carleton University.

Context: The TRCincludes a number of Calls to Action addressed to specific organisations within the heritage community, some of which should be considered by all heritage professionals working with sites, collections, exhibitions and programs of relevance to indigenous people. For example, the need to review policies and best practices to determine the level of compliance with the UNDRIP. In terms of reconciliation, the TRC states the need for action at local, regional and national levels. We must all recognise Aboriginal peoples’ inalienable right to know the truth about what happened and why, to make holdings related to residential schools publicly accessible, and to commit more resources to public education and programming related to residential schools. The TRC calls for support for local efforts to identify, document, maintain, commemorate, and protect residential school cemeteries or other sites at which residential school children were buried as well as the need to respond to families’ wishes for appropriate commemoration ceremonies and markers and reburial in home communities. It calls for support for a national programme for commemoration projects on the theme of reconciliation.

Responses from organisations named in the TRC report:

• John McAvity, Executive Director, Canadian Museums Association
• Normand Charbonneau, Assistant Deputy Minister and Chief Operating Officer, Library and Archives Canada
• Erica Hernandez-Read, Chair of the Response to the Report on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Task Force, Steering Committee on Canada’s Archives, Prince George
• Paula Garrow, Acting Director / Heritage Designations and Programs, Indigenous Affairs and Cultural Heritage Directorate, Parks Canada, Government of Canada
• Stephen Loft, Director of Creating, Knowing and Sharing: The Arts and Cultures of First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples Program, Canada Council for the Arts (invited)

Other individuals and organisations not specifically named but who are taking action in response to the TRC will also be invited to speak, for example:

• Indigenous Heritage Circle, Julie Harris, Contentworks Inc., Ottawa
• Remembering the Children, Muriel Stanley-Venne, Edmonton, Alberta

12:00-1:00Lunch

1:00-2:30Best Practices in Indigenous Heritage

To what degree have we as former AFN National Chief George Erasmus asked, “turned the page” in the relationship between museums and indigenous peoples? Where do we need to focus our efforts for the next decade?

Moderator: Dr. Reg Crowshoe, a prominent cultural and spiritual leader from Piikani First Nation in Southern Alberta, is widely recognized for his dedication to Piikani artifacts, traditions, language, culture, and history.Dr. Crowshoe is the founder of the Old Man River Cultural Society and the author of Akak’stiman, A Blackfoot Framework for Decision-Making and Mediation Processes (2002).

Additional speakers will be identified:

• Beth Greenhorn, Project Naming, Library and Archives Canada
• Margaret Fireman, Director, Chisasibi Heritage and Cultural Centre, Quebec

• Jameson C. Brant, Coordinator, Aboriginal Training Program in Museum Practices, Canadian Museum of History
• Gayle McIntyre, Program Coordinator, Museum Management and Curatorship/Cultural Heritage Conservation and Management Programs, Fleming College

2:30-5:00Action Plan

Work in groups to develop an action plan for the future

5:00-6:00Fort Calgary site tour

6:00-9:00Bus Tour to Paskapoo Slopes and Nose Hill Park

Organised in collaboration with the Calgary Urban Aboriginal Affairs Committee

Paskapoo Slopesis a significant natural, environmental and cultural feature. Pre-European contact indigenous people used the slopes for the unobstructed views of the Bow River Valley below and the prairies beyond the high escarpment ridge. The steep cliffs were ideal for the buffalo jump andthe river banks were used as winter camps.

Nose Hill Parkwas a wintering grounds for bison herds and contains tipi rings, tool-making stations, a stone cairn, and evidence of bison hunting.

Return to 1. Delta Hotel and 2. Fort Calgary

Thank you to our sponsors and hosts for their generous financial and in-kind support:

Alberta Historical Resources Foundation

Athabasca University – Research CenterFaculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

Fort Calgary

Alberta Human Rights Education and Multiculturalism Fund

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