May 5, 2014 Woodlands Cultural Centre, Brantford, ON
Peter Monahan (Museums
of Mississauga)
The British Indian
Army in WW1
2014 marks the
centennial year of the beginning of the ‘Great
War’ or ‘World War
One’. This exhibit recognizes one story
unknown to many
Canadians, the part played by the British
Indian Army. At the
time it was the largest volunteer army in
the world.
- the British Indian Army served in France in the
first year and a half of the war
-
consulted with the Sikh Heritage Organization of
Canada http://shmc.ca/, South Asian community
members and York University professor
- exhibition includes magazines, artefacts, memorial to army at Gallipoli
- idea suggested as part if the WW1 Centenary, why
not do something about Indian army, influenced by part of Peter's OMA course work
-
180 000 of Peel Region are of Southeast Asian descent,
so there is good community connection to fulfill M of M mandate to promote the history
of Mississauga
- this was also a good Canadian connection
- mobilizing the Empire, included Canadians and Newfoundlanders,
of course
- photographs of soldiers from Streetsville (near
Mississauga) boarding a train and Indian troops getting on ships to go to Mumbai (Bombay)
- also includes personal stories of Canadian Sikh
soldiers who served with Mississauga Battalion, Mississauga Light Horse
- issue of how to describe Indian-Canadians? “British Indian Army” was best way to
describe these people, to not confuse Indian Military of today
- issue around race, Sri Lankans, Indians,
Pakistanis and various other South Asian groups in the British Army, communities
which were not differentiated at the time but should be today
- exhibition content focused on the factual and simplified
information rather than opening possible difficult issues when the information
might not be readily available
- exhibition discusses new war technologies like gas
warfare, length of war, issue of no home leave for imperial soldiers and distance
from families, etc.
- Indian soldiers were allowed to wear turbans rather than
helmets, British Army was culturally sensitive at the time, food served to
soldiers was culturally sensitive as well
- Infantry was recruited based on Victorian
notions of race and culture, soldiers from the north were preferred because of
their fighting skills and perceived “warrior culture,”
- aftermath of war, wounds
- Private Hari Singh: personal look at one of the
Mississauga Battalion members who returned to Peel Region after the war
- Laal Singh, recruited from Ontario, died during
the war but his tombstone has a Christian cross on it, problematic for Sikh soldiers
Questions
- conscious of Peter's background in how he is
portraying this history -- Peter sought partners immediately to put this exhibition
together
- 90% of artefacts are borrowed
- wanted to get personal stories to tie to
Mississauga local history
- these kinds of exhibitions will bring new
audiences, new insights and awareness of our community’s shared history (and
unknown history!)
- could this be a travelling exhibition?!
Shannon Prince (Buxton
Museum)
All of their educational programs are available on their
website
The Elgin Settlement, also known as Buxton, was one of four
organized black settlements to be developed in Canada.
The black population of Canada West and Chatham was already
high due to the area's proximity to the United States. The land was purchased
by the Elgin Association through the Presbyterian Synod for creating a
settlement. The land lay 12 miles south of Chatham.
In case you didn’t
know… Simcoe Day (August 1) holiday in Ontario, the holiday was renamed Simcoe
Day in Toronto effective 1969 in honour of the first Lieutenant-Governor of
Upper Canada and the promulgator of the Act Against Slavery (the Scotiabank
Caribbean Cultural Festival, formerly known as Caribana, is held this holiday
weekend in Toronto, coinciding with Emancipation Day)
- Buxton is a community museum with small
population, descendants of settlers from the Underground Railroad are majority
of the community
- Buxton was the largest Black settlement in
Canada West, totally Black owned and operated
- Shannon is a descendant, the ability to share
stories that are very personal and intriguing
- in the past, visitors had issue with
interpretive staff being of white, Dutch background -- why do we have these
problems? (she married into Buxton family so this was her history, too)
- context and understanding of history is
necessary – there was slavery in Canada and Canada was not welcoming to slaves
- who tells the story needs to be okay because
story needs to be told and it’s all part of our shared history
- William King, a white Presbyterian minister who
owned slaves was founder of Buxton – he believed slavery was wrong and Buxton
is where he took his slaves so they could be free
- 9000 acres was given to him, nobody wanted it
- opened it to Underground Railroad slaves to
settle and offered education and religion here as well
- important to note that people in area didn't
like Blacks settling there
- King built a school, opened to everyone who wanted
to come
- taught Classical education and a great school,
turned minds of opposed settlers who ended up sending their children to the
school which solidified the community
- alumni of Buxton school include Anderson Abbott,
Canada's first Black doctor, met Lincoln, surgeon in the Civil War, became
Chatham's first coroner
- Buxton school has taught many – must remember
that Blacks were not allowed to go to school in the south, and it was illegal
to educate them as well, many went north to Buxton
- Buxton still exists as a school, where the
museum is (grades 1 to 10, 100 students taught at one time)
-
teachers bring classes here now because they are
uncomfortable teaching this history themselves
- Tour activities http://www.buxtonmuseum.com/education/education.html
- have replica of slave ship at Buxton to get a good
sense of history
- engaging in living history is great learning
resource
- objects such as iron neck collars and objects
that can be handled or worn for good lessons
- difficult task in how to talk to small children
about slave history and the Underground Railroad, suggest a book Barefoot Underground to Freedom book http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-06-027137-4
- games like Jeopardy for older kids to engage
them in learning
- tackling this difficult history with education
and entertainment
- role playing for older kids gets discussion
going and problem solving scenarios to get young people to try to understand
hardships
- allows teaching for schools that are afraid of
teaching difficult history
- Buxton website has personal stories of past
students at Buxton School over the past century, students will role play these
students, researching them to prepare for visit, research allows visitors to imagine
a future as well, since some became family members, married, etc. (link to cemetery
there as well to find the students buried there)
- get about 40 classes per year at Buxton from
Canada and the US (lots from Chicago)
Bev Dietrich and Dillon
March (Museums of Guelph)
Coming Out | Queer
History in Guelph
- commemorate milestone, history of pride, social
programs and timeline of political and social history of queer and out
individuals in Canada
- positive feedback from press and community,
museum visitors
- developing the idea -- Dillon approached Bev at
Guelph Museums who were welcoming of the idea
- how the exhibition aligned with Guelph Pride and
Civic Museum missions, was an easy process
- who was involved -- community members and
organizations, Museum staff
- conducted interviews with LGBQ community and organizations,
looked at newspaper records, articles, especially history of the University of
Guelph LGBQ groups who formed in the 1960s, one of the first in Ontario and the
Grand River Rainbow Historical Society
- information- based exhibition, not a lot of
artefacts/objects
- Out on the
Shelf Queer community in Guelph http://www.outontheshelf.ca/s
supplied a lot of resources and original articles
- Museum didn't have anything in their collection
- to make it more visually appealing (for lack of
objects) Dillon used lots of colour, vibrant exhibition boards to make it
engaging
- reaction was very positive, lots of people came
specifically to see the exhibition and regular
visitors to the museum loved the exhibition as well
- allowed for different community voices to be
heard and benefitted both parties
- advice --
be open to suggestions for exhibitions, there are interesting stories to
be told about your community
- ensure you have Board support for exhibitions
- Guelph Museums keen on celebrating anniversaries
in the community
- proposals are taken to curatorial meetings for
discussion and approval
- reflections- - before this project, Dillon didn’t have much experience writing
text for exhibits, but taking the time to work with him through the
editing process was worth it.
- Symposium went along with the exhibition,
programming is important to exhibition success
- exhibition held near education area of the
Museum
- exhibition also included books, lots of
literature and information pamphlets
- participatory aspect for visitors to share a
Guelph Pride memory on post it notes, no trouble, only positive notes left and
will be kept in exhibition archive
- Problematic Exhibition at Guelph: Falun Dafa exhibition
- warning -- do not offer them an exhibition!
- Chinese religion http://en.falundafa.org/
-
they rented programming space – not
Museum-created/supported
- artworks were images which were gruesome because
they are tortured and persecuted in China, problematic exhibition because it’s
a public space, mostly for children’s programs
- covered up images during school programs
- Falun members were in the gallery during the day
speaking to visitors but trying to get them to convert and sign petitions
- this exhibition actually pushed Museum to change
policy- problem of Museum associated with the exhibition -- policy for how to use
space had to change to avoid anything like this again
- must have risk management for exhibitions to avoid
problematic groups
- visitors’ privacy issues need to be taken into
account
John Keeshig, Sandra
and Art Lucs
Region of Peel Art
Gallery, Museum and Archives (PAMA)
“We Are Here: The
Story of Aboriginal People in Peel Region: A Case Study in Inclusive
Consultation”
- Sandra and Art from design company asked to develop
an exhibition on Aboriginal history for Peel Region
- vision for the role of a museum to benefit the
public and create a setting for the authentic voice
- 2.5 year process, Peel Aboriginal Network was
active in planning and consultation -- took on life of its own, became guided
by the Aboriginal advisory committee which included members of the
Haudenosaunee, Inuit, Metis and Anishinaabe communities
- intense active role, etiquette evolved, meetings
began with smudging, ended with a prayer very much like aboriginal council meeting,
properly paced, lots of time spent at meetings and always sought consensus
- not necessarily smooth running meetings, but
consensus was always achieved
-
offered tobacco and smudging to ancestors to
join us
-
talked until we reached the "good
mind"
-
tables are not used in lodges so everyone can be
open – belief that tables, podiums hide the truth
- the term “aboriginal” seems to be the most
inclusive and a goal was to not exclude
-- includes all Indigenous people
- exhibition decided to include section on genocide
(residential school system as genocide) despite possible controversy
- never use the term "pre-history" as
history has always been
- “pre-history” assumes a privileged view and assumes
a written history not an oral history as is Aboriginal tradition
-
Advisory Committee created core statement for then
exhibition to guide their work – one which recognizes the uniqueness, diversity
and identity linked to land as creation of Aboriginal people, recognized
ancestors and families and to honour them (presence of ancestors is important)
- ancestors gallery was included in the exhibition
- personal stories are included throughout the
exhibition, John Keeshig’s is one of them
- Vision quests and animal guides you can choose
with their meanings, use as a feedback forum to open discussion and give feedback
at the end of the exhibition for audience participatory engagement
- activity kits for school groups, want to be
family friendly exhibition
-
terminology was a major consideration for the exhibition,
chose “Aboriginal” as an umbrella word and a word most on the Advisory Committee could live with
although not all agreed on it but did reach consensus
- exhibition focuses on living history
- Peel Region is artificial geographical construct
- items are not referred to as “artefacts,”
another problematic word which suggests Aboriginal objects are from a “dead
culture”
- Peel Region is regarded as traditional territory
of the Mississauga and New Credit
- Land claim settlement just signed, highlight of
the exhibition working process and acknowledged in the exhibition
-
talking thumb touch screens, original film
footage created for the exhibition and designed to be viewed by many people at
once
- videos are candid, emotional and allows for face
to face interaction with the viewer
- “a world in balance,” the term balance is used
to discuss the role of the teaching lodge, John's poem is here
- the teaching lodge is a place of healing, part
of the exhibition which follows the genocide sections
-
enter the exhibition through the eastern doorway
and exit through the west, like you would the teaching lodge
- John wondered why he was asked to come to the
Advisory Committee
- who was going to tell the story? who's version
gets told?
- where would we go if we wanted our story to be
told? recognized problem of our grandparents, our elders who are leaving us and
we need to reach back and find our words
- our history is not in books
- where would we go to learn our history and
continue our story telling?
- history and storytelling traditionally happened
in the winter in the teaching lodge
- we have to go to the lodge to learn from our elders,
elders do not discriminate and always listen carefully, they will never talk
badly and always have a gentle way
- the Creator taught us to be gentle
- dancing is mindful and remembers the first one
who walked carefully
- structure of the teaching lodge could be a house,
anywhere teaching and storytelling happens which tells us of our language,
culture, and tradition
- path the creator gave us is East to West, and as
we walk forest protects the pathway
- four races of man in the Creators image, how could
he bring life into them, a voice came to him, “how can I help you?” which was
the little shell speaking to the creator who used the little shell to blow life
into the humans
- shell has two doorways, dome shaped like the
lodge
- the Creator gives us nothing by mistake – all
nature is planned and has meaning
- John carries the shell as a reminder of who we
are and whose words are better than those who have come before us?
- life is a trail that we walk
- policies of residential school, attack our
culture, language and history, the lodge will bring it back, we take ownership
of it -- this is why I came to talk here, I was led to these people
- I was speaking for those who have left, have
passed through the Western doorway
- true value of any gift is in the sharing of that
gift and our history is the greatest gift to be shared
- exhibition opened a year ago, lots of attendance
and programming
- Peel Aboriginal Network has a weekly drumming
group and is now looking into exhibiting artwork and beadwork
- PAMA is successful with this exhibition, they
weren't shy about presenting this difficult history as a way to accept history
and move forward
- through our path in life we have obstacles, we
have to see the real truth in what is placed in front of us but it is a gift
and we must find the value of obstacles
- taking of our culture through residential
schools ensures we'll never lose them again, taught us value of our culture
Questions
- who does the interpretation? John does some
presentations there and throughout the GTA
- wanted to create a chronological path through
the exhibition and incorporated the story of
the time when the Creator wanted to take humans away, the animal guides
asked, “who they would now be able to
live with as their human partners?”
- the Creator agreed with the animals and the
animals became the clans, different than the spirit animals but also very similar
- diversity of population in Peel region was the
reason to do such an exhibition – the issue of hidden Indigenous people
- need for cultural space to seek out their culture,
titled "We are here."
- exhibition design captures twists and turns of
the forest leading to the lodge, sacred walk
Hamilton Area Museum Educators
