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Archaeology
SFU MAE leads workshop in Tahltan Nation, advances repatriation efforts and strengthens relations
This summer, staff and faculty associated with the SFU Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology (MAE) travelled over 2,000 kms to Dease Lake to assist the Tahltan Central Government (TCG) in preparing to bring cultural belongings home.
Having recently received repository status in 2023, the TCG contacted SFU’s MAE seeking training on best practices and standards for storing their cultural belongings.
Barbara Hilden, director of SFU’s MAE and Cara Tremain, an assistant professor in the Department of Archaeology, designed a workshop for staff in TCG’s Culture and Heritage Department in response to this request.
They then made the multi-day trek to Dease Lake by plane and car, where they made pit-stops at local attractions, shared the road with local wildlife and experienced some of the longest days on Earth.
After touching down in Dease Lake, the program spanned three days where Hilden and Tremain led hands-on training in everything from object handling and storage to building exhibitions and containers to repatriation and collection management.
Tremain explains that receiving the repository status allows the TCG to store and care for belongings that have been excavated on archaeological sites or repatriated from museums.
“Prior to having repository status, Tahltan belongings were sent to other repositories, meaning that TCG did not have direct access to their own heritage,” says Tremain.
The MAE regularly offers opportunities for community members and students to gain hands-on skills through internships, volunteering and work placements at its facilities. However, this is the first time that training has been offered in this way, bringing custom workshops directly to communities — but Hilden notes it’s something they’re keen to expand on.
“Education is a key function of museums, and not everyone can visit the lower mainland. By offering workshops on museum practices, the MAE can facilitate knowledge sharing with and among communities, helping to build capacity,” says Hilden. “Since most museums have a history of colonial practice, including gatekeeping information, it is essential that places like the MAE make conscious efforts to change and become more transparent.”
In addition to facilitating dialogue and sharing knowledge, the workshop served as an opportunity to foster connections between TCG and SFU.
After participating in the workshop, Ursula Abramczyk, Senior Archivist and Collections Manager at TCG shared, “We are certainly feeling motivated and inspired to continue building our repository and collections while following best practices. We all feel that this is the start of a promising relationship between TCG Language, Culture and Heritage and SFU.”
Hilden notes that these relationships are crucial to the work of the MAE, which looks after the cultural belongings of many Indigenous communities and has the responsibility to make them accessible.
“This can involve repatriation, if that is the wish of a community. It can also involve continuing to care for belongings at the Museum, but interpreting them differently—creating avenues for Indigenous rightsholders to tell their own stories in their own voices. Building relationships with communities is critical to both these processes,” says Hilden.
Between sessions, Hilden and Tremain toured the community, visiting the resource center and Dease Lake itself, met local artists and shared meals with community members.
“It was a unique opportunity for us to create a custom workshop for the community, and share our love of museums,” says Tremain.