Experience Aboriginal History Month at the Canadian Museum of Civilization

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT

For immediate release

Gatineau, Quebec, June 3, 2013 — Experience the cultures of Canada’s First Peoples during National Aboriginal History Month at the Canadian Museum of Civilization. Make June your month to connect with the songs and stories, history and present day of the Peoples who have inhabited this land for thousands of years.  

Admire the Museum’s organic design created by renowned architect Douglas Cardinal, a Canadian of Blackfoot heritage. Make your way to the impressive Grand Hall and marvel at the towering totem poles of the Northwest Coast. Gaze through the six-story windows to the majestic Ottawa River, a traditional Aboriginal canoe route. A new outdoor sculpture namaxsala (“to travel in a boat together”) by acclaimed Kwakiutl First Nation artist Mary Anne Barkhouse — to be unveiled June 27 — shows a life-sized bronze wolf sitting in a copper canoe, and joins Bill Reid’s well-known sculpture, The Spirit of Haida Gwaii, in depicting this ancient Native mode of travel. 

Continue your journey in the newly-redesigned First Peoples of the Northwest Coast exhibition. Stroll through the six Native houses and explore the achievements of a culture that is firmly rooted in history, but continues to thrive and evolve in the 21st century. Artifacts, more than half of which are new to this exhibition, range from ornate headdresses adorned with dozens of ermine skins to a sleek, modern, glass-and-wood coffee table. Interactive computer screens provide additional information, along with videos featuring First Nations dancers, singers, and cultural interpreters.

Next, peer into the past with the exhibition From Time Immemorial – Tsimshian Prehistory, based on excavations carried out from 1966 to 1978 in the Prince Rupert region of British Columbia. In an ancient forest setting, the exhibition presents the way of life of the Tsimshian nation in prehistoric times and the role of the archaeologist in bringing the past to light.

Leaving the Grand Hall, marvel at the brightly-coloured ceiling mural Morning Star, painted by Dene Suline artist Alex Janvier, before continuing to the First Peoples Hall. Here, more than two thousand artworks and objects from the Museum’s pre-eminent collection provide an overview of the history and culture of Native Peoples across Canada, from earliest origins to the present day.

Continue your cultural journey with Indigenous and Urban, the Museum’s summer-long program featuring contemporary visual and media arts, music, dance, film, readings and interactive workshops. Join the kickoff on Thursday, June 27 at 5 p.m. with Winnipeg graffiti artist Fred Thomas and DJ BuddaBlaze from Kahnawake.

More information is available at www.historymuseum.ca or by calling 819-776-7000 or
1-800-555-5621.

–­ 30 –­

Media contacts: