Canadian museums are ‘colonial institutions’ according to Trudeau Liberals’ Heritage Dept
Jarryd Jaeger Vancouver, BC
The department suggested museums “must understand decolonization and embrace technology to grow and maintain digital collections, while mitigating the threats of climate-change and natural disasters.”
The Department of Canadian Heritage under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently released its discussion guide on the renewal of the 1990 Museum Policy, in which it labeled Canada’s museums “colonial institutions.”
The department suggested museums “must understand decolonization and embrace technology to grow and maintain digital collections, while mitigating the threats of climate-change and natural disasters.”
“Museums are colonial institutions,” the department wrote in its guide, accusing them of having “collected and preserved Indigenous belongings and ancestral remains and perpetuated narratives that excluded the voices and contributions of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Peoples.”
One way it suggested this could be remedied is via “repatriation of belongings,” moving objects out of “colonial” museums and into spaces operated by those to whom the artifacts originally belonged.
The department went on to suggest that Canadian musuems were not “embracing equity, diversity and inclusion,” and urged them to highlight all members of society.