Truth & Reconciliation

By Tabitha Harper, Museum Advisor on Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation, & Amelia Fay, Curator of Anthropology and HBC Museum Collections

As we approach the annual National Day for Truth & Reconciliation and Orange Shirt Day, folks maybe be curious about their role in Truth & Reconciliation. Many Indigenous leaders and community members have urged that truth needs to come before reconciliation, followed by action to create meaningful impact. Museums have a uniquely important role in changing past narratives and practices to move forward with ReconciliACTION.

Although museums carry a lot of colonial baggage, the Manitoba Museum staff (past and present) have been working hard to make the Museum a safe space to learn about history. In-person visitors to the Museum can choose from various programs and exhibits to engage with difficult histories, we also have resources available on our website and YouTube channel that you can view from home.

Not sure where to begin? Below are a few topics that I think are a great starting place, no matter where you are in your reconciliation learning journey.

• The colonial process in Canada started long before Confederation, so I encourage visitors to reconsider the history of the fur trade, including the early beginnings of the Hudson’s Bay Company. Learn more about the Hudson’s Bay Company Royal Charter in this video on our YouTube channel:

• Take time to learn more about Residential Schools in Manitoba, visit the schoolhouse exhibit in the Prairies Gallery and use the digital kiosks embedded in the desks. You can also click here to see the same information on our website.

• We are all vulnerable and learning when it comes to truth and reconciliation, but by understanding how we are going to engage, learn, and grow with Indigenous peoples, take a look at the ‘Indigenous Connections’ section in the Truth & Reconciliation page on our website, here.

During Orange Shirt Days, daily powwow demonstrations by Beautiful Cloud Company provides the opportunity to learn about the resilience of Indigenous culture. © Manitoba Museum

For many non-Indigenous readers, learning more about these topics might bring up a lot of feelings and make you uncomfortable, and that’s okay. The important thing is to not dismiss information that challenges what you knew about Canadian history, but instead sit with the discomfort and think about why you might feel this way. Moving forward, I recommend looking at the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation’s website for ‘ReconciliACTION Plans’ (nctr.ca/reconciliaction-plans) to create your own action plan.

By David Finch, Curator of Archaeology

I lived in Yellowknife for ten years where the seasons are definitely pronounced. Downtown Yellowknife wraps around a small lake and I used to shop at stores on the other side. Shopping in winter was easier because I didn’t have to go around the lake – I could just walk across the ice. For the rest of the year, I faced a longer trek to reach my destination.

Archaeologists also follow a seasonal round – it’s hard to dig in frozen ground or to survey when there is snow. In Manitoba, the season for fieldwork is often from May to October, with the winter months spent writing reports.

This summertime focus affects our mobility: recorded sites tend to be near highways and shorelines because most fieldwork is done during summer from trucks and boats. Ancient access was different, and winter sites might be in what we now write off as bogs.

One way around these problems is to think broadly about how, where, and when we can explore the land: oral history and traditional land use can help predict where sites may be (and where we should dig); underwater archaeology and remote sensing can reveal hidden sites; and making community connections and getting to know the land in all seasons can also point us in the right direction.

Did you know that roughly 2.5 million (86%) of the Museum’s 2.9 million artifacts are part of the Archaeology collection? Containing objects dating from the last ice age through thousands of years of Indigenous history and the arrival and settlement of Europeans in Manitoba, the collection represents over 12,000 years of Manitoba’s history. Visit today to explore the Archaeology collection and all the stories it has to tell.