500 years of Aboriginal history on display

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It's but a few minutes til curtain time as the Provincial Museum of Alberta prepares to unveil it's most recent and exciting exhibition in years. The long-awaited Aboriginal Peoples Gallery, largely funded by Syncrude Canada, is ready to open its doors to the public on Nov. 30.

The exhibit spans 11,000 years or 500 generations of Aboriginal history in Alberta, beginning with the Ice Age and continuing through to the present day. And it's the contemporary part of the display that makes it so unique when contrasted with other museums.

The Aboriginal Peoples Gallery takes up 900 sq. m of museum space. It includes thousands of artifacts, documents and photographs, as well as films and interactive computer technology which all bring to life the traditions, culture and history of Alberta's Aboriginal populations.

Upon entering the gallery visitors will encounter archaeological information and artifacts up to 11,000 years old. These pave the way for other displays that incorporate man, animals and nature in a variety of settings and situations. One scene depicts a form of buffalo hunting that goes back 6,000 years. Another displays the dart and throwing stick (atlatl) used 8,000 years ago.

Other displays include a scene of a Dene northern fishing camp and a buffalo pound on Canada's western plains. Along a hallway is a magnificent array of arrowheads and spear points contained in glass cases. In addition there is an array of stone and bone tools-pounders, awls, cutting and scraping tools, some pottery and much more.

Three large dioramas follow, the first being the (Anthony) Henday Diorama in which the Hudsons Bay Company trader is shown bartering with people from the Blackfoot First Nation. This colorful reproduction is so real, visitors will feel like they are actually present, because it is truly a scene that jumps to life.

The next scene is the Northern Trapping Diorama painted by this year's winner of the Peace Hills Trust Art Contest, Rocky Barstad. It dipicts an age when the people lived off the land and includes audio of many of it's current inhabitants.

"The land provided everything people needed," says Andrew Campbell of Fort Chipewyan. "Food, clothing, shelter, and medicines all come from the land. . ."

Catherine Yatsaillie, a Dene Tha' from Meander River recalls, "we were always on the river with a boat." And, Evelyn Thunder from Gift Lake remembers, "women would do beadwork all winter."

Before moving on to the Giveaway Diorama, one can amble slightly off-course, through the Yellow Otter Painted Tipi and enter a separate area containing the priceless Scriver Collection which includes beaded and quilled buckskin clothing, feather bonnets, weapons such as knives, spears, arrows and clubs made from stone, bone, antler and wood, as well as beaded pouches, baby mossbags, bark baskets, a grass necklace, bone ladles and much more. Horse regalia, much of it beaded, include collars, head pieces, saddles, cruppers and so forth.

There are men's and women's fancy garments, full-beaded vests and leggings, beaded and embroidered gauntlets, women's collars, cloth ribbon dresses and buckskin dresses adorned with cowrie or dentalia shells, elk teeth, thimbles, hawk bells or basket beads. Much of the material displayed stems from various tribes as far back as the mid-1800s.

As one moves on, they come to the Giveaway diorama, a scene set in southern Alberta where a Weasel Tail Shirt is being handed down the family line to a young privileged child. Even a horse that once belonged to Elder Rufus Goodstriker is part of this scene.

A central area that focuses on some of the sacred and spiritual customs of Aboriginal people is also designed for the use of small discussion groups, or for sleep-overs by students or youth who may wish to combine this with their education in an experimental way.

The final sections to the gallery give visitors a peak into the lives and the events of treaty making, scrip commissions, the Riel esistance, the Indian Act and the power of Indian agents, destruction of the land and it's resources, the notorious residential school system, fishing, hunting, war veterans and the more recent developments and evolution of organizations which assist the Aboriginal people today.

As for those who may wish to take in the Grand Opening, it goes noon to 4:30 p.m on Sunday, Nov. 30 with Dale Auger hosting and performances by singer Laura Vinson, flutist Eagle Child, and many other artists..

As well, there will be several arts and crafts booths on site.

The museum is located at 12845-102 Avenue, Edmonton (phone 453-9100).

Admission is $6.50 for adults, $3 for children 7 to 17, 6 and under enter free.