If you are familiar with Bill Reid, you will know this piece of art is located at Vancouver International Airport. Bill Reid was born in Victoria. His mother Sophie Gladstone Reid was from the Kaadaas gaah Kilguwaay, Raven/Wolf clan more commonly know as Haida. Bill Reid was raised without the knowledge of his Haida heritage due to the oppressive measures of the Indian Act!
Yesterday we visited the Haida Gwaii Museum. One of the first pieces of art I saw was this 4 of 50 print of Justin Trudeau and Stephen Harper. I don't know if you can see the entire painting but it says a lot!
The museum is a wealth of Haida history and culture. The artwork in this museum was awesome.
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| This is part of the museum |
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| This picture was taken by turning around after I took the picture above! There were many exhibits and a great video of totem pole carver Robert Davidson. When we were watching the video a girl walking through the museum said "Robert Davidson came to my wedding! He's a lot older now but he's part of my clan". Robert Davidson is the artist who carved the totem pole in Old Masset. I wish I'd taken a picture of it on Friday when we were there. Here is the video of the carving and raising of the totem pole. It is16 minutes long and presented by the National Film Board of Canada. I really enjoyed it. Here are some of the exhibits:       This makes me feel old! I sat in one of these at Carleton School in the 1950's and at the same time, we had that phone at home!   There was an area where they were carving these canoes inside. I didn't take a picture as I don't think they wanted people in the room as it was a project they were working on. I read they found some artifacts that dated back 12,800 years ago! I have a picture of the article and that isn't a typo! They were found on the west coast and were thought to be ancient bear-hunting artifacts. In 1862, smallpox was brought to Haida Gwaii and the population went from 30,000 to 600! In 1871 BC joined Confederation and officially becomes part of "Canada". Aboriginal people account for the majority of BC's population. In 1872 BC Provincial legislation is passed to exclude Indians from voting! Indians were not allowed to purchase alcohol. In 1876 the first missionary to enter Haida Gwaii arrived and was from the Church of England (Anglican). In 1884 the Indian Act banned the potlatch. It was done by legislation. In 1900 the first group of children were sent to a residential school in Chilliwack! In later years they were taken to Alert Bay to residential school. In 1949 Indians were now allowed to vote in provincial elections. In 1951 the ban of the potlach ban was removed and they were now allowed to purchase alcohol. In 1960 registered Indians were granted the right to vote in Federal elections. If you are wondering why I'm using "Indians", I took pictures of the history that was on the walls of the museum. They are many photos and the text is difficult to read. The paragraphs above are exactly as written on the display. I didn't change the text. I thought the above was interesting as most of it I didn't know. There are many other changes after 1960 but I'm not going into detail it as it's long and most of us have read what's been happening with Indian Affairs. There was a lot of information detailing how their land was taken away and what has been given back. Of course the horrors of residential schools are in the news. There was never a residential school in Haida Gwaii, but the children were taken away and sent south. They are very proud of their heritage and their clans. They are working on preserving their native language. Here is an interesting article: They love the air, ocean and land. When you arrive in Haida Gwaii you are asked to respect the following:
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