Millions of Indigenous artifacts are still on display in museums around Canada
It is no secret that, for hundreds of years, artifacts have been stolen from Indigenous communities and showcased in museums around the world. We live in a society where Indigenous peoples have been accustomed to having our artifacts displayed in museums without ever questioning the reason why.
When I was younger is was common to pay admission to these places and view the artifacts ourselves. It became the social norm, as a Blackfoot person, to accept the fact that your history is on display.
The series Stuff the British Stole, now streaming free on CBC Gem, highlights the complicated histories of some of these artifacts.
The episode "The Crow Flies" digs into the story of Blackfoot Chief Crowfoot's regalia, which was kept on display for more than 100 years in a museum in Exeter in the United Kingdom. Chief Crowfoot was one of the signatories of Treaty 7 signed between the Blackfoot and the Crown in 1877. Cecil Denny who was also one of the co-signatories obtained his regalia, which included a beaded buckskin shirt along with matching leggings.
WATCH | How did Chief Cowfoot's regalia spend 150 years in a museum in England?
'I didn't need to go to a museum to learn about my culture'
When I was growing up, my papa was an interpreter at the Glenbow Museum in Calgary. I remember walking up the winding staircase to the second floor, where the Blackfoot exhibit is located. When you enter the exhibit, there is a huge Blackfoot-style tipi with mannequins inside. Accompanying it are numerous photographs on the wall, beaded gloves and other regalia in display cases, and videos of elders from our community sharing stories and speaking about the importance of our ceremonies.
I felt a sense of familiarity walking through that space, almost as if I could return home and see these items in my everyday life.
My grandpa was a knowledgeable man; the Blackfoot language was always spoken in our home. He was a dancer, so I was familiar with his headdress and eagle staff. He understood the importance of keeping our existence alive. He made sure I knew at a young age why it's important to smudge and pray.
I didn't need to go to a museum to learn about my culture, so why were Indigenous exhibitions commonly found at museums across Canada?
'It keeps us in a time capsule'
I believe our artifacts are displayed in these centres by non-Indigenous people to advance the idea that we are people of the past. It's part of a Western narrative that tries to erase the true history of what happened to Indigenous people on this continent.
When our items from 100 years ago are displayed in a museum next to pictures from that time, it keeps us in a time capsule. Many of these exhibitions do not acknowledge how we have evolved in society. More importantly, they do not recognize the genocide that happened to the Blackfoot people and other Indigenous cultures that led to these items being obtained and sold for profit by non-Indigenous people.
Our society as it is today was created on the foundation of the Doctrine of Discovery, a papal decree issued in the 15th century to justify the colonization of Indigenous land, which states "to invade, search out, capture, vanquish, and subdue all Saracens [Arabs or Muslims] and pagans whatsoever, and other enemies of Christ."
To achieve such policies, you strip a person of their land and their identity and make them dependent on a system, which is what the Indian residential schools were commissioned to do.
Those undertakings, along with common stereotypes and imagery of Indigenous people in media, have created a narrative that our culture, traditions and people no longer exist in modern society. This is why so many artifacts have been displaced from their ancestral territories and brought to foreign countries for others to view. The Canadian Museums Association estimates that 6.7 million Indigenous objects and human remains are still held by Canadian museums.
'The power of community keeps our history alive'
When Chief Crowfoot's regalia was returned to the Siksika Nation in Alberta in 2022, it demonstrated the power of connection with the community.
In Stuff the British Stole, elder Kent Ayoungman, who was in Exeter as part of a Blackfoot delegation, describes the emotion he felt when they unveiled Crowfoot's regalia: "I kind of started to get goosebumps, eh. I felt honoured really."
WATCH | Chief Ouray Crowfoot fought to get his great-great-great grandfather's regalia back
Throughout the generations that have suffered at the hands of Canada, we haven't lost that spiritual connection that allows us to feel such emotion so deeply. I believe it's because we have people like my papa, who, although he was a victim of the residential school system, knew we couldn't lose our connection to our culture.
Tawnya Plain Eagle (Sa Sii nakii) is a Blackfoot (Siksikaitsitapi) writer from the Piikani Nation. She completed a communications degree at Mount Royal University in Calgary and returned home to dedicate her time to help, sustain and grow her community.
