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| Photograph:
Richard Lam, Vancouver Sun (reposted
from The Province).
|
I greatly
admire the respectful and diplomatic way in which the Haida nation recently hosted
the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. In accordance with ancient Haida protocol,
Haida people showed tremendous respect to their honoured guests. Haida teams
made facilities secure, prepared activities and decorations, registered and
transported local guests, and paddled the royal couple to the beach at Kaay Llnagaay, the Haida Heritage Centre, where they were
welcomed ashore by Chief Gaahlaay and Haida Nation president Peter Lantin. Their
guests were treated to Haida song and dance, a local food feast, and given
mantles woven in Naaxiin style and trimmed with sea otter fur. They were also
given a copper, a symbol of family honour and wealth, made by Gwaliga Hart.
Everywhere that day there was regalia with clan crests, Haida hats, masks,
material symbols of Haida heritage and identity.
There were
also T-shirts. Many of those button blankets were worn over bright blue
T-shirts with the slogan NO LNG, a reference to Haida protests over pipelines
and tankers threatening pristine marine environments. Lisa Hageman, who wove
the exquisite Naaxiin mantles given to the Duke and Duchess, emphasized the
Haida role as guardians of lands, forests and waters in her design of the
mantles by adding blue and green to the traditional pattern ‘All Our
Ancestors.’ Such quiet but visible and determined articulation of principles
and issues has a special power in situations when the Crown is represented in
Aboriginal communities. All of these statements were made respectfully in the
presence of high-ranking guests within the unceded territory of Haida Gwaii. Perhaps
the most powerful challenge made was the gift of the copper, which invites
reflection on the honour of the family bearing it.
Museums
don’t often collect T-shirts with Indigenous protest slogans. They have
collected coppers, masks, button blankets, woven hats, but seldom make the
connection between these and the T-shirts. Culture and identity are tied to
environment. Environmental degradation through oil spills and LNG leaks and
fracking means for peoples like the Haida a loss not only of food but of time
spent on the land and then a loss of stories, of knowledge, of language, of how
to make and use cultural items: a dramatic erosion of identity and culture. Museums
need to acknowledge and support such links between contemporary political protest and
heritage items in collections and in communities.
I offer tremendous
respect to the matriarchs, hereditary chiefs, leaders, artists and many others who
facilitated this extraordinary event. It was wonderful to see so many people in
the photographs with whom Pitt Rivers Museum staff have been able to work over
the years. We look forward to continuing to work together.
Council of
the Haida Nation posts on the visit are at: https://haidanation.wordpress.com
