Indigenous Voices of Today: Knowledge, Trauma, Resilience exhibition recipient of the 2022 Governor General’s History Award

The Museum is proud to announce that the Indigenous Voices of Today: Knowledge, Trauma, Resilience exhibition is the new recipient of the 2022 Governor General’s History Award for Excellence in Museums: History Alive!. This award, presented by the Canadian Museums Association, recognizes the extensive and purposeful programming that was developed for the general public, school groups, and post-secondary institutions, as well as for community organizations and businesses, all interested in building their awareness and deepening their understanding of Indigenous experiences. 

Jonathan Lainey, curator, Indigenous Cultures, her Excellency the Right Honourable Mary Simon, Governor General of Canada, and Elizabeth Kaine, curator of the exhibition Indigenous Voices of Today: Knowledge, Trauma, Resilience – Sgt Mathieu St-Amour, Rideau Hall© OSGG, 2022

In keeping with the Museum’s decolonization practises, and as part of an effort to initiate dialogue to foster understanding, this new permanent exhibition gives voice to Indigenous peoples, and through it the Museum hope to create a meaningful encounter between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people. 

The permanent exhibition, open to the public since September 2021, encourages meeting and dialogue with the 11 Indigenous nations of Quebec and is divided into three sections, presenting their knowledge, their trauma and their incredible resilience. This exhibition is the fruit of consultation with First Nations individuals conducted from 2010 to 2018. In the fall of 2022, 37 objects (a third of the objects currently in the exhibition) were returned to the Museum’s storerooms to be replaced by a new series of outstanding objects.