Canadian Heritage committee  I'd like to say that responsive museums both respond to and drive society. Effective museums see people taking action and also a movement towards a new discourse in our society. If there were policy from the Canadian federal government around embracing UNDRIP and the TRC calls to

Canadian Heritage committee  Our mandate is Haida Gwaii, but it also expands, because Haidas live around the world and our cultural diaspora is located around the world. In that sense, we are truly a global museum, but you're so correct: really, people should be coming to Haida Gwaii.

Canadian Heritage committee  To focus specifically on repatriation and those types of things, we know that anything is possible. We have repatriated throughout Canada and across borders without policy and law. We have also achieved that work because of policy and law. It really depends on how it works best f

Canadian Heritage committee  This is a relatively new thing that we're working actively on with the Museum of Anthropology, University of British Columbia, to do exactly that, to create a corridor that highlights indigenous museums along the road you were speaking of, and to encourage visitation and understa

Canadian Heritage committee  Absolutely. It would be wonderful. We do work globally with museums. Across Canada and the United States, we've had major exhibitions featuring Haida language, art, and culture with these partners. For example, two major exhibitions that we're partners with are opening in March

Canadian Heritage committee  We've been supported by the Canadian government, but there needs to be, on a higher level as well, a real drive toward what I spoke about earlier, the supporting of an equity-based museum world and Canada. You provided some significant funding over the years, and have come to vi

Canadian Heritage committee  The museums assistance program has been very important to us, as well as cultural spaces. That's been some of the biggest support we've had. It has allowed for some of our biggest and most successful exhibitions and publications, which have been literally reaching around the glob

Canadian Heritage committee  You should look at that report. I'm part of the Canadian Museums Association Council of Museums and Indigenous Peoples, which is a follow-up from the museum's task force report. It is looking at the past 20 years and where we are today with museums in regard to the indigenous c

Canadian Heritage committee  I'll touch on government funding briefly, which is that, in particular, Canadian Heritage has been incredibly supportive. That being said, in the granting realm it's often highly prescriptive outside of Canadian Heritage, and sometimes within, and doesn't allow for operational fu

Canadian Heritage committee  Can you hear me?

Canadian Heritage committee  Xaada 'láa isis.... There's a reverb here. I'm going to turn my end down. Can you still hear me? Okay, great. [Witness speaks in Haida] Good people, háw'aa for inviting me to speak today. My name is Jisgang. My English name is Nika Collison. I'm the executive director of th

Canadian Heritage committee  I'm on the phone, but I'll be right there.