Renewing Relations: Indigenous Heritage Rights and (Re)conciliation in Northwest Coast Canada

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From the British Museum to Historic England, decolonisation has become a critical challenge for heritage institutions and for reconsidering colonial legacies in national heritage. Internationally, settler countries are grappling with this issue with a specific focus on settler/Indigenous relations, with applications and implications for heritage practice that can inform and support those in Britain. In 2015 Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) acknowledged a history of cultural genocide against Indigenous peoples in Canada and committed to addressing this difficult heritage in the 94 'Calls to Action'. British Columbia (BC) is leading the response, becoming the first province in Canada to enshrine United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) into law. This established UNDRIP as the foundational framework for reconciliation in BC, placing Indigenous heritage rights at the centre (via Articles 11, 12, 13, and 31). Yet by February 2020 Indigenous leaders were declaring reconciliation dead in response to the treatment of Wet'suwet'en protests in BC about natural gas pipelines planned to be built across traditional unceded territories. This highlights how Indigenous heritage rights are intertwined with land, resource, social, and environmental justice. (Re)conciliation is a difficult process that requires sustained effort, time, a willingness to decolonise approaches, and engage with non-western epistemologies, ontologies and axiologies. The (re) is bracketed in recognition that conciliation is often needed first. Preliminary research with community leaders and heritage professionals in BC indicates a mix of hope and cynicism about the new laws: will they support Indigenous rights, or simply pay lip service to the idea? While aspects of North West Coast Indigenous heritage have been explored before, this Fellowship will bring a new lens to the analysis. By focusing on renewing relations it will consider this heritage holistically, bringing together multiple dimensions of heritage, reconnecting people with places, collections, practice, and environment. The research will explore different approaches to reclaiming, renewing, and (re)conciling heritage, exploring the history of the struggles and achievements that led to this significant change in law. The research focuses on the importance of (re)connections, (re)newing relations within and across cultural groups and heritage organisations, and recognising the role of ecosystems and environment in maintaining and sustaining heritage. Crucially, the project explores the potential of heritage to positively contribute to (re)conciliation and decolonisation.This interdisciplinary project aims to make a future-oriented contribution to (re)conciliation and (re)negotiation of Indigenised heritage in Canada and its (post)colonial legacies in museums and heritage in the UK.