Museum of Vancouver Exhibits Its Decolonization Efforts

Since the 1980s, the Museum of Vancouver, or MOV, has been grappling with how to decolonize its work and repair its relationships with Indigenous communities. The Work of Repair: Redress and Repatriation at the Museum of Vancouver — an exhibition that opens on June 20 — highlights three ways the MOV is working towards repair: repatriation, community engagement, and research that reconnects Indigenous belongings to their histories.

The MOV’s senior curator of Indigenous collections, engagement and repatriation, Sharon Fortney, shares more about this history and the exhibition in this Q&A.

MOV: In some ways, this exhibition is the story of the Museum of Vancouver, which started in 1894 as the Art, Historical and Scientific Association. In those first few decades, how did they acquire Indigenous belongings?

Sharon Fortney: Early collecting was conducted differently. Collecting was comprehensive and the focus was broad. Sometimes belongings were taken under duress by missionaries and Indian agents, or by settlers who found archeological items and removed them. Some items were acquired as handicraft or tourist souvenirs.

Today, we only collect items that might tell a story about life in Vancouver, ensuring that collecting is done in an ethical manner.

@museumofvan Repatriation—returning items to their place of origin—is a hot topic in the museum sector. Although the Museum of Vancouver has been around since 1894, a repatriation policy wasn’t in place until 2006. Since the implementation of the policy, there have been several repatriations to Indigenous communities. Repatriation ceremonies vary from community to community. Some are public, others are private. We follow the lead of the communities in how they want to proceed. Our collections records indicate that we’ve repatriated a total of 384 belongings and 59 ancestors. Sometimes, the MOV is offered gifts as part of the repatriation process, some of which are shown in this video, and they will be on display in The Work of Repair: Redress and Repatriation at MOV, which will open this spring. We need your help. Your donation will support this exhibition, ensure proper care for belongings that are still in our collection, support relationship building with communities, and create programming to educate the public about reconciliation. Visit museumofvancouver.ca/donate-now to make your donation today! Thanks to @Christian Zane Clado for the video. Repatriation Gifts from the MOV Collection include: MOV Catalogue # AD 391a-b: Pine needle basket by Mary Thomas gifted by the Secwepemc Native Heritage Park. MOV Catalogue # AA 2858a-b: Drum made by Chief Harvey Robinson and gifted on behalf of the Xai'xais (Northern Heiltsuk). MOV accession number 2024.39 : Painting "Twilight, totem poles between dusk and dawn" by Robin Robinson gifted by the Gitxaała. MOV accession number 2024.47 : Wool headband, gifted by Xats’álanexw. #Repatriation #RepatriationGifts #IndigenousArt #Redress #Reconciliation #Museum #MuseumRepatriation #Donation #NonProfit #Charity #GivingTuesday #Exhibition #Vancouver #YVR ♬ original sound - Museum of Vancouver

When did the methods the museum used to collect Indigenous belongings shift and why?

The MOV, like other Canadian museums, began shifting its practices in the latter half of the 20th century. Since the 1960s we have seen repressive policies from the Indian Act amended, such as the Potlatch Ban and the act that required children to attend residential schools. Self-representation has been on the rise since, and in the early 1990s the Canadian Museums Association and the Assembly of First Nations released a joint task force report called “Turning the Page.” Many Canadian museums tried to amend their practices to meet the recommendations of that report, and this was a major impetus behind our repatriation program.

Can you share some insight on what the process of repatriation looks like for a museum?

It will vary from institution to institution. Not all museums have a policy. The amount of time involved will also vary depending on the capacity of the museum — if the staff is not knowledgeable about the region that a request is coming from, they may struggle to move the request forward. Part of the work is to confirm that another community, family or individual is not also a potential claimant. If they are, then there needs to be agreement on how to proceed.

Why is repatriation work important? How does it connect to The Work of Repair exhibition?

Repatriation is about recognizing inequalities that existed in the past and correcting them. Today we value relationships over ownership. If we have good relationships, then we can work together with communities to develop exhibitions and programs. We undertook this exhibition because the Tŝilhqot’in National Government wanted to share their repatriation experiences.

Nits’ilʔin (Chief) Otis Guichon, Tribal Chief of the Tŝilhqot’in National Government, recently shared what repatriation means to their community, saying, “Having our belongings return to Tŝilhqot’in hands is a powerful moment of healing and reconnection. The Work of Repair is more than a display — it’s a testament to our people’s resilience and a step toward restoring what was taken. We’re grateful to welcome them home.”

@museumofvan Designing and building an exhibition takes a lot of time and effort. The Museum of Vancouver’s Exhibition Design & Fabrication Manager, Nicolas Cyr-Morton, didn’t just plan for one exhibition this spring. He planned three: - The Work of Repair: Redress & Repatriation at the Museum of Vancouver - Deep-Seated Histories: Chairs from the Collection - Future Makers: Chairs by New Designers In this video, Nic shares how he collaborated with three different curators on how to display objects and belongings for each exhibition, worked with his team to build all the walls, plinths and display cases, and more about how to build an exhibition—and the experience he has to do it. You can see the final product when the exhibitions all open at the MOV on June 20, 2025. Thanks to @Christian Zane Clado for the video! #Museum #Exhibition #MuseumDesign #ExhibitionDesign #ExperienceDesign #ExhibitFabrication #BehindTheScenes #ArtOfDisplay #SustainableMuseums #SustainableArts #Sustainability #GreenInitiatives #SAGEtoolkit #Vancouver #fyp ♬ original sound - Museum of Vancouver

In addition to the section of The Work of Repair focused on the Tŝilhqot’in repatriation, what will be featured?

Visitors will see film clips from a project called Knowledge Repatriation, which was undertaken with participants from host nations and knowledge holders from neighbouring communities to learn about skills and knowledge lost in the Greater Vancouver area. Part of the project was about coiled cedar root basketry while another involved travelling to learn about marine technology.

Visitors will also see success stories from the Work of Repair project, which reunited belongings with their histories — identifying makers, communities or families of origin. An example displayed in this section is a Kwakwaka’wakw house model that was incorrectly attributed to Mungo Martin, but is actually the work of his niece Ellen Neel. It has been repaired in consultation with family members and reassembled for the first time in decades.

I hope visitors will see there are many ways to undertake the work of repairing relations with Indigenous communities. I also hope they’ll see that repatriation is not about loss of collections but about reshaping our relationships and correcting past wrongs. Sometimes the return of belongings leads to the return of knowledge about how to make certain items. It inspires younger community members, and it leads to healing.

‘The Work of Repair: Redress and Repatriation at the Museum of Vancouver’ is on display starting June 20, 2025, through March 2026 at the MOV. For more information on ‘The Work of Repair’ and other exhibitions at the MOV, visit the museum’s website.