Jean-Paul Baillargeon, editor - The Handing Down of Culture, Smaller Societies and Globalization

Chapter 6 | Frits Pannekoek

(continued)

The National Gallery equally reinforces the stereotypes presented by the National Museum of Science and Technology. Its major digital retrospective show has been on Innuit carving. When prowling the site’s vignettes, insights into other Canadian Aboriginal artists can be gleaned, but with difficulty.20 Future shows, all curated by Marie Routledge, on the works of Marion Tuu’luq and on Pudlo Pudlat, both northern artists, appear to reinforce rather than break stereotypes and deal with native artists as a “separate” category rather than as individuals in a post-modern construct.

In history museums Aboriginal peoples fare better, but the fact is that there they are also seen as “historic” rather than as “contemporary” peoples. The view of the museums diverges significantly from “history” on Aboriginally authored e-sites. It is much more political. The Manitoba Museum has little more than an advertising presence on the web, and not much can be discerned other than native communities fall under the “ethnology” rather than under “history.” The National Museum of Civilization does not include Aboriginal peoples under “history,” rather First Nations are given their own sections in the virtual museum. They are before “history.” The approach appears there to be linear, and for the most part interprets native people through the “tourist” or Euro Canadian gaze. Native people are seen in their “pre-historical” context as peoples of the past with little current presence. The virtual native cowboy exhibit is the exception. It deals with Native cowboy culture in all of its dimensions and provides real life to an already spell binding subject.

The awarding winning “Haida” site is a “best practices” Aboriginal site. It is one of the only ones found to be arranged in a non-linear fashion with multiple entries with the past and the present fully integrated.21 Like most museum virtual sites however it is difficult to find out who is responsible for the site contents without considerable drilling. It would seem that museum sites on the web are generally treated as movie productions — with a long credit list — but with no real authority. The Glenbow has surprisingly little Aboriginal presence on its web. The Provincial Museum of Alberta, which along with the Royal British Columbia probably have the best e-sites. If one had not seen the outstanding Syncrude Gallery at the Provincial Museum of Alberta, the impression would be left that that museum was only interested in reinforcing old stereotypes of Aboriginal peoples as yesterday’s peoples.

Libraries and archives are increasingly beginning to develop web presences. However, libraries and archives are themselves a Euro-Canadian construct that in some cases haves insidiously replaced and in others supplemented the “elders” as a source of information. Often at the forefront of the digital revolution, libraries in particular should be expected to make considerable and culturally sensitive contributions. But for the most part they do not.

The National Library digital site includes a few Aboriginal Canadians like Poundmaker, Peter Pitseolak, and Louis Riel (indexed as a pioneer!)22, but not Crowfoot, Red Crow or Big Bear. It mentions Pauline Johnson as a Métis, which she did not identify herself as, and Victoria Belcourt Callihoo as an historian, when she may have felt herself better represented as an Elder. One presumes that the National Library has taken the decision to include Aboriginal peoples throughout as part of the Canadian fabric rather than to categorize them separately. But the Library could have shown a little more sensitivity than categorizing Riel as a Pioneer!

The Toronto Public Library offers no special access to information to the largest group of urban natives in Canada. Its search engine, however, does link the user to Aboriginal community associations and agencies, identifying their street, e mail and web addresses. Industry Canada also provides a useful Aboriginal portal to government services. Mount Royal College does have a special bibliography of native materials, which anyone would do well to use as a beginning point. The Universities of Alberta and British Columbia both have excellent native bibliographies, although in some cases the data bases listed are restricted to users of their systems. Also they are not the easiest to find. Aboriginal communities wanting to gain an instant access will much prefer going to the Windspeaker or if they are of more radical persuasion preferring a decidedly American perspective, Turtle Island Native Network.23

While Canadian archives are critical to the resolution of many Aboriginal issues, and to the finding of lost identities, they do not for the most part take special efforts to collect materials created by Aboriginal peoples. They have however made considerable progress in attempting to break through the Euro-Canadian gaze. The National Archives of Canada’s “Pride and Dignity” is an exhibition of over sixty photos designed to break down some of the common stereotypes surrounding Aboriginal society. The cyber exhibit on Treaty 8 is also a model of careful discourse.24 The Métis Scrip material is authored and appropriate.25 The National Archives’ “Aboriginal Peoples: An Overview” offers no authorship and is little more than sophomoric pabulum. The site aimed at both the Aboriginal and non Aboriginal researchers warns users of the complexities of research relating to Aboriginal issues. It might well be construed by some as condescending, although it is surely not intended to be so.

Chapter 6, continued >

  


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