Reflections on Painted Caribou Hide Workshops

by Margaret Orr

In the months of January, February, and March 2020, I embarked on a journey to Ouje-Bougoumou, Mistissini, Eastmain, Chisasibi, and Whapmagoostui in Eeyou Istchee (Quebec). My journey was to facilitate workshops that focused on the designs painted on caribou hide coats and other items of clothing and other belongings. Aanischaaukamikw Cree Cultural Institute (ACCI) in Ouje-Bougoumou offered me the position to do the workshops based on my contemporary art practice, extensive cultural knowledge from my experiences living on the land, and because I had led research workshops for the same project in summer 2019. I accepted the position and it was an honour to be able to contribute to the reawakening of this art form related to my ancestors.

I was busy working on my degree show ’10,000 Drowned’ for my Master’s Degree in Fine Arts at the University of Regina at the end of 2019. I didn’t have much time to plan out my workshop before travelling to Ouje Bougoumou in January 2020. I quickly jotted down ideas on how I would deliver the workshops. I had already began preparing in August 2019 by exploring painting with ink on small pieces of caribou skin, canvas and paper. I liked the way it looked and began to get excited to teach the process to people at home in Eeyou Istchee.

Painting on caribou hide using pigments made from minerals found in nature was done for ceremonial purposes and also to beautify an object. When the  Europeans came to trade and introduced glass beads and embroidery thread, painting on caribou skin began to fade away, and many of the designs migrated to floral designs. Whereas before, the designs were very geometric, with a lot of straight and curvy lines. From what I can see, it seems the designs were inspired by the landscape, animals, plants, migration, and the sky in our region. The work of my ancestors was both highly detailed or very minimal. It seems it depended on the artists and the materials available to create with, which would obviously vary from season to season and year to year as we traveled through our territory. From the stories I read and heard, clothing, ceremonial hides and other items were painted so the animals can see them and being pleased with what they saw, would come towards the hunters to offer themselves to sustain us. This is how it was, every care was taken to be respectful to the animals, and with the painted caribou-skin coats. Even though we have no historic examples today I am sure that moose hide was also painted, with extra special care taken to honour them, as they are a big animal and can feed many people.

When I was facilitating the workshops, I had some resources with pictures and texts to use for discussion and for people to look through. The main book they looked at that has a lot of pictures of designs made by our ancestors are found in the book, “To Please the Caribou: Painted Caribou-Skin Coats worn by the Naskapi, Montagnais, and Cree Hunters of the Quebec-Labrador Peninsula,” by Dorothy Burnham, who was a Conservator at the Royal Ontario Museum in the late 20^th century. For us, we found the photographs useful, but the text itself had a great deal of conjecture or opinions that are presented as fact, when there are many things that we will never know, or that we as Eeyou people have a completely different understanding of because of the depth of understanding our own culture, when compared to assumptions made by outsiders. On that note, we have a project report that is forthcoming in an upcoming edition of KULA: Knowledge Creation, Dissemination and Preservation Studies.

In my workshops and artistic practice inspired by the painted caribou belongings, I focused on where the inspirations for the designs come from and the reasons for them. I also talked about what I discovered from what I could understand based upon my own experiences living in Eeyou Istchee. I had watched my mother, grandmother and other women in Fort George[1] / Chisasibi, the community where I grew up, sew designs on clothing like mittens and moccasins. I noticed there was a lot of similarities between their design elements and the ancient designs of our ancestors. I was also drawing and painting similar designs when I was experimenting with art materials. I know that the natural environment of the Chisasibi territory where I grew up also influenced my work. I also think that the ability to create traditional designs comes from blood memory, from our DNA, our genetic makeup. We all inherit certain traits of our ancestors through our DNA. One of those traits is artistic creativity.

For the workshops we used ink and acrylic paint, paint brushes, calligraphy pens and goose feather quills. The surfaces used to paint on were paper, canvas, and leather. ACCI supplied two small caribou hides that had been fixed white, and the art supplies. This link takes you to the catalogue record for a painted hide created at the workshops in Summer 2019 – 2020.07.01 by Margaret and other Eeyou artists. The whole project has been funded by the Canada Council for the Arts, in their ‘Creating,Knowing and Sharing : The Arts and Cultures of First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples’ funding stream. The printed resources I got from the ACCI library. The photographs featured in this blog are of finished works made by participants, except for Whapmagoostui where students didn’t have time to finish what they started but they did continue on after I left.

Workshops

Ouje-Bougoumou was the first community to hold a workshop. It took place in the Skills Workshop at Aanischaaukamikw (ACCI). During the workshops, participants explored working with the paint pigments and painting and drawing tools, gaining confidence in their creativity and enjoying the environment they were working in. The outcome of the workshop produced some nice work.

This is a small purse made by Trifona Simard. She decided to paint on canvas, as she wanted to explore her talent before committing to painting on caribou-skin. Before she painted on the canvas, she practiced painting designs on paper until she gained confidence in handling the paint and the tools. 

Minnie Coonishish made this laptop cover for herself. She used ink on some hide that she supplied herself and sewed it together by sewing machine. She started it at ACCI and finished it in Mistissini where she is living.

Mistissini was the next stop on my journey. With the assistance of Jane Voyageur, the cultural coordinator, I set up the workshop in the Neoskweskau Sports Complex. There happened to be a general assembly going on at the same time, so I had quite a few visitors watching the participants as they worked. There were different age groups who participated, including two children.

This little bag was made for a little girl’s walking out ceremony. Her mother, Bethany Blacksmith, painted on moose hide and caribou skin.

Jane Voyageur, who likes to hunt and fish, made herself this gun case. She painted on canvas using ink and the top is covered with caribou hide and a strip of bias tape.

Beth Sealhunter Longchap made this bag for her husband when he goes hunting. She did not change the way her piece of leather was cut from the caribou hide and craftily used its form to create the bag after painting on the leather with ink. We can see the floral and geometric designs she made. 

Eastmain was my third stop. We had the workshop in the Cultural Centre beside the school. Some people made designs while some people visited. One young girl came after school to paint on paper.  On the last day of the workshop, we had a feast of moose, fish, and ptarmigan.

This three foot long banner was painted on canvas by three sisters: Florrie Mayappo, Ena Weapenicappo, and Kathleen Whiskeychan. I helped a bit. We made it to hang on their tent door. The design is an old one found in the book, “To Please the Caribou.” It was nice to sit around the table and paint together.

Chisasibi is the place I come from and it was nice to be back there. We had the workshop in the Parish Hall. Some midwives who were training and working in Chisasibi also participated. Two children also came and very quickly picked up the concept of the designs and painted some on paper. Two men came to make something, one a small banner and the other painted on his hunting coat.

This small bag was made by one of the older midwives, and I unfortunately don’t remember her name. She used ink to paint on caribou hide. She said this was here first time working with leather. She did practice painting on paper first.

After the workshop in the Parish Hall was done, I went to the Cultural Camp to look for people who were not able to come to the workshop. I was in luck, I found two people, Janie and Charlie Pepabano, who were waiting for their stretched raw caribou hide to freeze so they could scrape it. I showed them designs from the written texts and the projects I was working on. They tried painting on paper and small pieces of caribou hide until it was time for them to scrape the frozen caribou hide. 

Janie and Charlie Pepabano were at the Cultural Camp and were very interested in trying out the inks. They tried painting on paper and caribou hide. They found the hide absorbed the ink very well. It would have been nice to spend more time with them as they shared some knowledge and stories about caribou and the past while we were sitting around the table – this is when stories and our traditional knowledge typically get passed on, in the kitchen, or while doing activities on the land. 

Whapmagoostui, the only fly in community in Eeyou Istchee, is one place I hadn’t been to since 1977. I was surprised how much the place grew in size and population. The workshop was at Badabin Eeyou School  with the secondary level students in the Cree Culture/Language classroom. The teacher of the classroom was Louisa George, who had also attended the research workshops in Summer 2019. She had some pictures of traditional Cree subject matter that I used to show the students how the ancient designs could be related to things in the pictures. While working, the students often asked Louisa for the correct way to say words in Cree that related to what they were learning about the caribou, the land, the language, etc. I found out that the students are able to write whole essays in Cree.  Every time they came in the classroom, they were eager and started to work right away. But, because of the schedule of secondary school, students did not have the time to finish their projects in one week but they planned to complete them after I left.

Most Badabin Eeyou School students chose to first draw their designs on paper and then transfer them onto canvas. Some students expressed their choice to make their designs on canvas until they feel confident enough to be able to make them on caribou hide. They liked to use their names in their designs.

We had planned to do one final workshop at the hotel in Montreal where Cree patients and their families stay when they are there for health care than cannot be provided in the region. Unfortunately this was around the same time as the pandemic lock down starting in mid March, so we have had to postpone this workshop. It was at this point that I returned to Ouje Bougoumou, where I sheltered during the lockdown. During that time, I explored the area around Ouje and found minerals and other organic materials for my pigment experiments I wrote about in my previous blog, Making Paint Pigments.

My Samples

When I teach art, I like to show participants sample of my work so they have a general idea of what a work in progress and finished work looks like. This is to help them generate their own ideas.

Below are samples of things I made for the painted caribou hide workshops.

These are two different painted canvas gun cases. I used ink to paint with and both sides of the gun cases have the same design. One is sewn together with a sewing machine and the other is sewn by hand. One of these is now in the collections of Aanischaaukamikw – 2020.06.01

This is a completed painted caribou-skin bag. I used ink to paint with. I gifted this to the Whapmagoostui cultural coordinator, Joe Einish, who participated in the summer 2019 research workshops and now works as the Cultural Coordinator. Joe is Naskapi and his mother made painted caribou coats in the past, one of which they think was purchased by a museum but we have not been able to locate it yet. 

This is a work in progress sample of a painted canvas bag that has yet to be sewn together. I used ink to paint with.

After the workshops were completed, I made these children’s mittens out of moose hide, and used ink to paint with. The white trim and fringes are caribou hide. These mittens are now in the collections of Aanischaaukamikw – 2020.06.02 ab

For more about Margaret’s art, please see this article in Nation magazine.

[1] Fort George was relocated in the 1980s to the current location of Chisasibi because of fears of flooding from a hydro electric dam.

 

Making Paint Pigments

By Margaret Orr

It’s been a real pleasure working on the Painted Caribou-Skin Coats Project with the Aanischaaukamikw Cree Cultural Institute in Ouje-Bougoumou, Quebec.

Margaret looking at painted coats with our research group at the Royal Ontario Museum.

After a trip to see ancient painted caribou-skin items in the Royal Ontario Museum in August, 2019, I wondered what it would be like to make my own paint from ingredients I gather from the natural environment in Eeyou Istchee. As soon as the snow started to melt this spring of 2020, I began to gather some of the ingredients. In this article, I share the process I went through during the beginning of my experimenting with making my own paint pigments.

Dye from Black Spruce Tree Cones

The Black Spruce tree cones of Eeyou Istchee make a brilliant brown dye. The cones grow in clusters and are found at the top of the tree. It was early April when I picked the cones, while they have a dark purple green and brown hue, before opening to drop their seeds. When I was a young woman, my mother pointed at them in the late fall and said, ‘A long time ago they used to boil them to make a dye to color their fishnets’. In the fall the cones are more purple.

This picture is an example of what the spruce cone dye looks like on plain paper. I made small marks on small pieces of caribou skin to experiment and the leather received the dye/ink very well. I did not try to mix balsam fir sap/resin with the dye. I did mix some dye with egg yolk and it went onto the paper very well. This is the first experimenting I did. 

Balsam Fir Tree Sap/Resin

Balsam fir sap, also known as resin, doesn’t freeze in the bark during the winter. Therefore it is easy to harvest all year, but it is most plentiful during the spring. The sap should be clear light yellow. If it is white yellow, do not use it as it could be a sign that the tree is fighting a sickness. When the sap is collected, keep a cover on it and it should stay runny for quite a while. One species of coniferous tree has bark similar to balsam, but the needles are different. 

After poking a hole in the blister, I put my container (not included in this picture) right against the bark and under the blister to catch the sap. When collecting sap, it is important to remember not to use all the blisters on the tree, as sap is good for the tree. Always thank the tree for the sap you are harvesting.

Paints Using Balsam Fir and Oil

This ochre is the color of sienna. I found the ochre at a rock quarry near Ouje-Bougoumou in  April. Using a spoon, I scraped the ochre and it turned into a fine powder. There are no sand particles in this ochre. When liquid was added to the ochre, it turned into a darker sienna.

This is a 1 3⁄4 inch in diameter piece of white tanned caribou skin. In this piece I used ground ochre for a pigment and mixed it into balsam tree sap and canola oil to make my paint. At the edge of the skin I used the black spruce cone dye I made earlier to paint a border. I found that the oil mixed with the sap carried the pigment right into the skin. The sap helped to make the pigment stick to the skin. I am sure this paint is water resistant  but I have not tested this yet.

These are the ingredients I used to make the painting on watercolor paper below. I left out the canola oil because there is oil in the egg yolk. I used a chicken egg for this because I do not have access to fish eggs for now. Water mixes well with egg yolk, but not so well with grease. The water is good to thin the color, but I didn’t need to use a lot of water as the balsam fir and the egg yolk are liquid enough. The darker I want the brown, the less egg yolk I use. 

The brown lines are painted using ochre, sap and oil. I find this mixture soaks right into the watercolor paper and the pigment adheres very well to the paper due to the sap. These brown lines I painted on before I discovered I might not have to use oil when I use egg yolks.

The lighter brown has egg yolk mixed with sap and a little bit of water. I added the water to help the paint go into the paper. The light yellow in the triangles is egg yolk and water, with very little sap and no ochre. The thin yellow lines are just egg yolk and water, with no ochre.

After receiving a gift of a whole goose during the 2020 hunting season, I kept the gall bladder to use as green paint. When I was a teenager I noticed that goose gall stained clothing a dark green and made a mental note that it would be a good paint. Now, here is my first example of using goose gall for green. I also found some raw umber while walking around Ouje-Bougoumou. It was easy to grind so I brought it home and mixed it with sap and goose grease. It worked very well as a pigment. I didn’t try it with egg yet. Over the summer hopefully I will have some fresh fish eggs to work with, instead of the store-bought chicken egg. I look forward to when I will experiment with all pigments on caribou skin. 

These are the tools and ingredients that I used to make my paints.

I feel very excited by this experiment. I will occasionally continue experimenting with other pigments that are available throughout the year with the goal to make a small painted caribou-skin item – watch this space for updates on my progress.

Building on My Skill Sets: Life as an Intern September 2019-February 2020

My Young Canada Works internship with Aanischaaukamikw Cree Cultural Institute (ACCI) as the Collection Assistant was filled with many different kinds of scholarship and opportunities to learn a variety of new things on the job. It has been an amazing opportunity getting to work with different staff members and learn from them; not only about the jobs they do but about the wonderful community of Ouje Bougoumou.

Being a member of the Collections team meant we had to design and build a display stand for My Grandmother’s Garden, a large framed artwork on loan to the museum from Flora Weistche of Waskaganish. This project was one of these skills building moments. The project was a labour of love and a group effort between the Conservator, the Registrar, the Programs Director and the Facilities Director. Each person had different idea and concerns and we all came together to create a sensible, sturdy and safe stand to support the artwork. This was an excellent demonstration to me of the types of teamwork that are required in museums.  Personally, it was a chance to work on my power tool skills and brush up on my math abilities to make sure everything lined up. 

Building the stand for My Grandmother’s Garden by Flora Weistche. I’m holding the support board while Jessica MacLean drills the board into place.  Photograph by Melanie Banks.

My Grandmother’s Garden, on completed stand in the entrance area of Aanischaaukamikw. Photograph by Chanelle Fabbri.

Over my 19 weeks of being an intern, I had a chance to work independently on a couple of projects, one of which was constructing mounts for the many snowshoes in the museum’s collection. Space in the secure storage area is at a premium, so it is paramount that all available space is used to its greatest potential. 

As of 2020, Aanischaaukamikw has over 30 pairs of unique, hand made snowshoes in the collection, many of which have come in with details about their makers and the specific details of how they were made, like the type of wood and sinews used. But for collections management, snowshoes are one of the worst culprits for occupying horizontal space on shelves but leaving plenty of vertical available above them. In order to fix this problem, I made mounts and spacers so two sets of snowshoes can be stacked on top of each other, without putting any pressure on the lower pair, therefore occupying space that was previously home to only one set of snowshoes. Aanischaaukamikw is well on their way to having the world’s largest Eeyou snowshoe collection, so more storage solutions will be needed in the coming years. 

I’m placing a mount on a pair of snowshoes. Photograph by Melanie Banks.

To see more snowshoes be sure to check out the online database:   cree.minisisinc.com

Not all of my work tasks were hands on with collections, some tasks were procedural. For example, I was given the opportunity to do much needed updates to the photography procedure document. I expanded this document to provide detailed instructions for any staff member or intern on how to photograph and organize the digital files for any object / belonging in the ACCI collections. This document will provide continuity to all future collections photography, to make sure there is consistency in file naming and where to locate the files. Part of this process included experimenting with how to take photographs that are very crisp and detailed, so that they can be used for multiple purposes in the future. 

My favorite part of my 19 weeks with ACCI was the ability to work with and learn from different people and departments of the cultural centre. Living in Ouje Bougoumou over the winter was  a bit of an adjustment from where I grew up, in southern Ontario, but it was a very  positive experience overall. I would encourage museums studies students to think of ACCI when looking for an internship opportunity, because it is a unique and special place to immerse yourself in Eeyou culture.   

By: Chanelle Fabbri, YCW Collections Intern 2019-2020

My Life as a Digitization Technician in Eeyou Istchee

Kory at work doing digitization

As a digitization technician at Aanischaaukamikw Cree Cultural Institution, my primary task is essentially to preserve material from the archives and convert each original file into a digital file.

VHS tapes that need to be digitised

From a profusion of textual documentation to old school playable video and audio formats, this is a pivotal position.

Since I’ve started working at Aanischaaukamikw*, I have had the liberty to access materials and dissect its information. Being part in the preserving process is imperative. Some of the collection requires an extensive amount of care, which makes working at a museum ideal.

Learning to fix a VHS tape so it could be digitized

For instance, one of my practices is analyzing audio and video formats. This is the essential part before inserting any playable formats into a device. If a format is not analyzed, it can be detrimental to our equipment. With that said, acquiring or requiring equipment to our digitization department isn’t as easy as it sounds. 

Equipment we use to digitize 

Firstly, we need to assess used and/or discontinued devices, of which requires specificity on the conditional state of equipment we may be investing. However, we do accept donations on certain types of equipment to advance our department.

Aside from only digitizing materials, digitized files are then transferred to a database, which can be made accessible to a search engine (cree.minisisinc.com). It is basically history on our fingertips. 
With that in mind, it is the most convenient tool for researchers or for a curious mind. Each file holds a significant part of history.

Some of the archives waiting for digitization

The content will only expand as we continually digitize and catalogue the material that’s been donated. 

If you think you may have something valuable culturally, do not hesitant to contact Aanischaaukamikw. We’d be happy to hear from you.

At this point in my tenure, I’ve only scratched its surface. 

As a Cree person, I am intrigued to acquire and learn more information as I continue to preserve what lies in the archives. It is what entices me to play my part in a significant role as a digitization technician.

More digitization equipment

Kory Saganash, Digitization Technician

*Project funded by Library & Archives Canada, Documentary Heritage Communities Program and Listen, Hear Our Voices

Attending the 2019 SICC ē-micimināyakik Gathering by Annie Bosum

Attending the 2019 SICC ē-micimināyakik Gathering by Annie Bosum

I had the honour to attend the 2019 SICC ē-micimināyakikGathering hosted by the Saskatchewan Indigenous Cultural Centre in Saskatoon May 2-3, 2019. There, I presented the Brian Deer Classification System, which we are using in the Aanischaaukamikw Library and debriefed on the functions and spaces of the Aanischaaukamikw Cultural Institute.

Annie at the conference, from the SICC event Facebook page

 This two-day indigenous gathering was held at the Ramada By Wyndham Saskatoon with various keynote speakers, panels and workshops.  The event provided opportunities for sharing indigenous knowledge and networking from curators, archivists, librarians, researchers and museum professionals.  It was also a great way to share issues, ideas, progress and solutions for First Nations museums, cultural centres, archives, interpretive centres and libraries.  It was very interesting to see all the different indigenous nationalities coming together to share their knowledge, expertise and their ways of preserving and protecting their cultural heritage.  Among the nationalities who participated in this event were Plains Cree, Nakoda, Ts’msyen/Cree , Haida, Dene, Metis, Chippewa,, Pueblo, Saulteau, Anishinaabe ,Cree and Mohawk!

The first day opened with an early morning pipe ceremony by Elder William Ratfoot proceeded by opening remarks by the emcee, JR McArthur, the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations,  the SICC Board of Governors Chief Alvin Francis and SICC President Wanda Wilson.  The first day was relaxing for me- I wasn’t on any of the panels and workshops-which I was happy with because I was still tired from all the travelling.  I had the wonderful opportunity to sit and listen to some good presenters on the subjects of Indigenous Intellectual Property : Arising Questions by Val Napoleon, Saulteau and Indigenous Collections: Valuing Our Cultural Heritage and Intellectual Property by Sean Young , Haida and Robin Gray, Ts’msyen/Cree.  Elegant and nourishing lunches were served both days which made it easy for the delegation to return to their panels and workshops.  There were five workshops and two panel discussions were held in various rooms throughout the afternoon.  One of the panels I got to listen to was entitled: Preparing Our Peoples: indigenous Education in Cultural Preservation & Property Law by Jessie Ryker-Crawford, Filipe Colon, and Val Naploeon.  The gathering ended with a thank you prayer by Elder William Ratfoot.

Annie at the event, from the SICC Facebook event page.

 The second day I was a bit apprehensive knowing I had to participate in two presentations, the first was at 10:30 am and the other at 1:00 pm.  I quickly felt at ease when I met my first workshop partner, Audrey Dreaver because of her warm and kind personality. When I entered the room where we did our workshop, she was already sitting with the coordinator putting together my slide, she looked at me sitting in the audience and she says, “Annie get up here, I’m not sitting here by myself!“  The audience laughed with us!  Our Workshop presentation was called: Politics of Museum Technology: Labels & Categorizations of Indigenous Material Culture.  The second presentation I participated in was on Panel 3 where I was supposed to sit with Del Jacko and Hillary McLeod who were both Anishinaabe.  I got confused with all the different rooms, I ended up in the wrong room and by the time I got to the right room my partners were a little into their discussion so I told the coordinator I didn’t want to distract them so I had to do my presentation alone.  I was nervous at first but as I looked at the huge audience in front of me and saw their interest manifested on their faces, I switched my focus away from myself to a need to give them what they came there for.  

Our Panel discussion was called: Access to Indigenous Cultural Knowledge (Archival Material).  A few people approached me after my presentation to give me their business cards, and told me they enjoyed my presentation-one even requested to send them my slides! Unfortunately I was unable to discuss the Brian Deer Classification System poster in detail due to time restraints.  I was disappointed that I was unable to listen to all the other workshops and panel discussions that were held in various rooms.  All in all, I really enjoyed this conference and meeting all the people.  It was a great learning experience- which goes to prove – learning is a life-long achievement that is to be appreciated and taken when it arises and I am glad that the Saskatchewan Indigenous Cultural Centre (SICC) and the Aanischaaukamikw Cree Culture Institute made this learning experience possible for me.  It was a proud moment and an awesome closure when the President of SICC, Wanda Wilson said to me.  “I like what Aanischaaukamikw is doing and we are coming to visit your community!

Beginning of my adventurous Internship - Alycia Lameboy-Dixon

This past summer I worked as an archives intern at Aanischaaukamikw. My main tasks were to research existing archives in institutions and organisations in Gatineau, Ottawa and Montreal, to gather digital copies of the material for researchers to use when they visit Aanischaaukamikw. I was included in some of the other activities that Aanischaaukamikw had organised over the summer. For example, I was fortunate to have the opportunity of visiting a few of the painted caribou coats at the Canadian Museum of History, and the National Gallery of Canada, in June 2018 - by far, my favourite adventure of my summer internship. 

This research trip was organized by Aanischaaukamikw Cree Cultural Institute and funded by the Canada Council for the Arts, as part of a bigger project to rediscover our traditions of painting on caribou hide in Eeyou Istchee. Delegates, including Elders and young adults like myself were from Whapmagoostui, Chisasibi, or Wemindji, travelled to Gatineau-Ottawa for this event.

Photo 1: Our group [L-R: Donny Dick, Matthew Iserhoff, Matthew Mukash, me, Natasia Mukash, Jean Masty, Jane Matthew, Nancy Sheshamush, Lawrence Matthew, Jerry Gull, Emily Sam, Charly Gilpin]. We are standing in front of the mirrored abstract image of the Aanischaaukamikw building that is in one of the corridors at Canada Museum of History. Photo: Laura Phillips

Our first museum visit was at the Canadian Museum of History [CMH]. Honestly, I didn’t know what to expect. I mean, what do you expect when it’s your first time being behind the scenes in the museum? When I walked into that room, I saw a field of painted coats along with different objects laid out on tables.  I was too amazed to believe what was in front of me at that moment. I was scared to break anything if I touched it. The Elders discussed the painted coats and I learned some of the history of the coats in our region. We went on a tour to see the museum’s cold storage rooms (used for furs and organics) and the storage room for oversized collections like skidoos and toboggans. 

These are some of the highlights from that day:

       Here is a photo of a women’s cap made by Mimie Cheezo from Eastmain, Quebec in 1962; A pair of female leggings (used for 2 generations) made by Daisy Cheezo from Eastmain, Quebec in 1962; A band for a shell bag made in 1963 by Louise Cheezo also from Eastmain, Quebec.

Photo 2: Woman’s cap [III-D-156] made by Mimie Cheezo, Eastmain, 1962. Photo: Alycia Lameboy-Dixon.

Because of the sequence of absorbing new information, as much as my day felt very long, I learned so much. I spent a few hours just googling the definition of the terms I heard that day.

Photo 3: Woman’s leggings [III-D-115] made by Daisy Cheezo, Eastmain, 1962. Photo: Alycia Lameboy-Dixon.

Photo 4: A band of a shell bag [III-D-214] made by Louise Cheezo, Eastmain, 1963. Photo: Alycia Lameboy-Dixon. 

The second day was interesting in different ways. With the help of the curators and other collections staff at CMH, the coats were gently flipped over so we could see the designs on the back. Elder Jane Matthew from Chisasibi shared her memories with everyone, and the stories she heard from her grand-parents, that they heard from their grand-parents. I was standing nearby Emily Sam (daughter of Jane and Lawrence Matthew) as she was analyzing the designs on the painted coats. 

    

Emily shared with me that back in the day, our chief would be given a ceremonial caribou hide coat with painting on it. The Elders think our ancestors used lines to represent path ways, the dots to represent people that the chief led and if you look closely, you can see the symbols, or nearly read their story. 

Photo 5: Painted caribou coat [45973] on display at the National Gallery. Photo: Alycia Lameboy-Dixon.

On the third day of our trip, we spent our morning visiting the National Gallery of Canada [NGC]. The NGC curator and the exhibition coordinator introduced themselves and presented the painted coat that is in the Indigenous Arts Exhibition. There is no known information about the maker of the coat, apart from that it is called 'Naskapi', like all coats of this kind - however, the research project is uncovering many links between these coats and Eeyou Istchee (more details to come on that when research is in later stages). 

The details on this coat are captivating. Although handling of the object was limited, I think everyone was in awe to see this one.

Throughout the trip, I chatted with our elderly delegates and I learned a lot! My questions came out of curiosity, questions I would never think to ask. What I learned from them was that there is no such thing as asking silly, or too many, questions. Questions are how you show interest in wanting to know about your history, and our elders have so much knowledge and experience to share with us. They answer without judgement, and this is the main reason I enjoyed this trip so much. 

I’d like to thank everyone in the group for this wonderful immersion in Eeyou culture. This experience enhanced my understanding to why we need to document OUR Eeyou / Eenou history, the real stories of our people, from our own perspectives. There is so much of our history that needs to be shared with my generation, as we learn what it means to be Eeyou in 2018. Considering the amount of Indigenous History that is still yet to be documented, we need to get to work using the expertise that we, as Eeyouch/Eenouch, have to interpret our own history using the knowledge passed to us from our ancestors, which we will, in turn, pass on to the next generations.

This summer experience also made me want to shift my career path to focus on museums. Which I think will happen lol …