Museum of North Vancouver showcases Squamish Nation weaving and history

"Gifts to be Shared, Protected, and Carried Forward," a new exhibition at the Museum of North Vancouver and Archives, centers the history, art, and culture of Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish Nation) through pieces curated by hereditary chief Chepximiya Siyam (Janice George).

George learned weaving and other traditional teachings from her grandmother, a matriarch. At 18, she began interviewing elders for the Squamish Nation and later taught weaving to Squamish and other First Nations members. "To pass those [skills] on, if you have them, it's really a responsibility," George said.

The exhibition connects past, present, and future with items including pieces from George's personal weaving collection, historical photographs of different Squamish village sites, a canoe, woven baskets, and three large weaving pieces on mannequins—two by George herself, and one by artist Dana Moody featuring Hudson's Bay Company colours.

A centerpiece is Chief Joe Capilano's belt, on loan from the Museum of Vancouver. In August 1906, Capilano and other First Nation leaders travelled to England to petition the king regarding land title and protest the ban on potlatches. Capilano wore the white, green, yellow and red checkered belt during that historic visit. "It's important to bring these things home," George said. "[It] makes me feel emotional. To be able to do that, it means a lot to me."

In September, a tumpline weaving from the Squamish Nation will be added on loan from the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture in Seattle—a first for the North Vancouver museum. The piece was collected by the Museum of Natural History in New York in the 1800s. George spent considerable effort convincing curators to transfer it to Seattle first, then to North Vancouver. "I wrote a personal letter to the curator and said can you please reconsider. It means so much to our people to have it in our territory, so much to our weavers, our elders to have it back," George said. "I'm really thrilled to have it."

The Squamish Nation's Ta na wa Ns7éyx̱nitm ta Snew̓íyelh (Language & Cultural Affairs Department) and the museum worked together on the exhibition, led by George with help from Jordan Dawson, Indigenous cultural programmer with the museum and a Squamish Nation member.

Zoe Mackoff de Miranda, director of the museum, emphasized the importance of Indigenous people leading their own narratives. "I think museums are spaces where that is traditionally not the case," she said. "If there were stories that were told about Indigenous people, they weren't told necessarily in a fully truthful way, [histories] that left out some of the troubling realities of things that happened on these lands."