British Columbia's Perpetuation of the First Nation's Cultural Myth

An elitist assumption that the Native culture was becoming extinct precipitated the mass collection of Northwest Coast carved poles by anthropological departments and museums all over North America, including the Royal British Columbia Museum. Dr. Charles F. Newcombe, a collector of First Nations people's artifacts, purchased many of the "Totem Poles," which are exhibited in the Royal British Columbia Museum's glass window-front, for the Museum at the turn of the twentieth century (Totem Poles). It seems that Newcombe's collections became important to Museums all over North America because of the "fear that 'pure' Northwest Coast cultures were disappearing through depopulation and assimilation" (Wyatt 24). Daniel Francis states in his book The Imaginary Indian that in "British Columbia, coastal villages were pillaged [by foreigners] of material until by World War 1 there was almost nothing left..." (104). Furthermore, Francis states that the British Columbia Government was also a part of this fervor, feeling as though it was losing Canada's "finest artifacts" and that the "Indian people themselves were vanishing and soon would be gone" (104). The belief that the collapse of the Northwest Coast cultures was immanent sent curators on a wild spree of collecting artifacts to be preserved in museums. In fact, in 1913, the Provincial Museum Act was signed in British Columbia giving the Museum the right "to collect anthropological material relating to the aboriginal races of the Province" (Museum Tidbits). Although one cannot be certain exactly how each transaction between the Northwest Coast people and the curators was handled, disgracefully, the collection of such material by a number of scientists resulted in skeletal remains being stolen from graves (Wyatt 23). According to Victoria Wyatt, the "[Ethnographers] ... obtained some art in this manner..." (Wyatt 23). Although we ought to assume that the totems acquired by the Royal British Columbia Museum were bought in a reasonable manner, the Museum, nevertheless, has a vast array of Northwest Coast Native totem poles, as well as other sacred regalia, all of which are sealed up tightly within the museum. Did the leaders of the British Columbian government assume that the Northwest Coast Native culture was ill-equipped to take care of its own property?

The Province of British Columbia (Ministry of Small Business, Tourism and Culture) supports the Royal British Columbia Museum, with a view to maximizing the museum's annual attendance records (Museum Tidbits). This point is made to establish that the Museum caters to and benefits from tourism. Therefore, because the Museum has such large portion of its structure devoted to the First People's Gallery, one can assume that this exhibit is meant to elicit an audience for the purpose of creating revenue.

As I suggested earlier, when one sees the totem poles, one instinctively envisions the culture of First Nation's people. According to Francis, "Indianness [evokes] bravery, physical prowess, [and] natural virtue. Of course, these were qualities [which] Indians were thought to have possessed in the distant past, before contact with the White Man" (176). Interestingly, the images that come to mind when one sees the totem poles are not those of First Nation's people living in contemporary society with all of the negative stereotypes attached to them, such as those of being "drunk[s], or virtually untrainable worker[s], or ... irresponsible person[s] who spoil... [their] children or neglect... [their] job[s]" (Surtees 119). Since this modern day stereotype would certainly not support British Columbia's tourist industry, it has become imperative for the Museum to market the image of the First Nation's people in their former manifestation. Deborah Root states that "The Native culture marketed to tourists almost always appears in its past or apolitical incarnations and spotlights traditional arts and crafts. ...Native culture is presented as something that continues to live, yet is nonetheless anchored firmly in the past" (68). Thus, the stereotype of the First Nation's person is reinforced through the tourist industry, which fact suggests that the historical First Nation's person is somehow better than that of the present-day.

An example of imagery that prevents the First Nation's people and their culture from being seen in a positive contemporary setting can be observed in a collage at the Royal British Columbia Museum, a detail of which is represented in Figure 2. While the Museum perpetuates the historical image of the First Nation's person through imagery such as this, a close analysis of the collage reveals that the First Nation's people are grouped with an image of the Wooly Mammoth. Perhaps the collage could represent the exhibits to be found inside the Museum, or perhaps the image of the First Nation's person and the Wooly Mammoth have been combined in such a way as to suggest ironically that both are extinct.

Accordingly, such ideology condemns the First Nation's people to have their culture and cultural items treated as historical relics, rather than as part of First Nation's contemporary way of life. In doing this, the Provincial Government has exploited the First Nations people, using them in the same manner as natural resources found in British Columbia. Regrettably, this practice will probably continue as long as the First Nations culture provides an income for the Provincial Government.

Francis, Daniel. The Imaginary Indian. Vancouver, BC: Arsenal Pulp Press, 1992.

Museum Tidbits. 2000. Royal British Columbia Museum Information. 1 Apr. 2000 http://rbcm2.rbcm.gov.bc.ca/visit-museum/m_facts.html.

Root, Deborah. Cannibal Culture: Art, Appropriation and the Commodification of Difference. Colorado: Westview Press, Inc., 1996.

Surtees, R.J. "The Changing Image of the Canadian Indian: An Historical Approach." Approaches to Native History in Canada: Papers of a Conference held at the National Museum of Man, October, 1975. Ed. D.A. Muise. Ottawa: National Museums of Canada, 1977.

Totem Poles. 2000. Royal British Columbia Museum Totem Pole Information. 1 Apr. 2000 http://rbcm1.rbcm.gov.bc.ca/totems/totems1b.html.

Wyatt, Victoria. Shapes of Their Thoughts: Reflections of Culture Contact in Northwest Coast Indian Art. Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University: University of Oklahoma Printing, 1984.

Figure 1.

Detail of the Royal BC Museum Collage. Royal British Columbia Museum Web Page. 1 Apr. 2000 http://rbcm2.rbcm.gov.bc.ca/.

Figure 2.

Detail of the Royal BC Museum Visitor's Collage. Royal British Columbia Museum's "Visiting the Museum" web page. 1 Apr. 2000 http://rbcm1.rbcm.gov.bc.ca/index_vi.html.