Galt exhibits share the stories of residential school survivors

By Lethbridge Herald on September 29, 2023.

Tyler Stewart Galt Museum’s curator stands next to one of the new displays developed by Apooyak’ii Tiffany Hind Bull-Prete currently on exhibit at the Galt Museum. Herald photo by Steffanie Costigan

Steffanie Costigan – LETHBRIDGE HERALD – Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Galt Museum and Archives have unveiled new exhibits  which share stories from residential school survivors.

The two concurrent temporary exhibits feature powerful first-person stories by residential school survivors from across the country, including accounts from southern Alberta by Kainai First Nations members. 

Galt Museum’s curator Tyler Stewart shared the message behind the displays:

“This exhibition looks at kind of the national picture of how residential schools specifically affected Indigenous people across the country. So the stories in this exhibition really aim to use first-person narrative to tell those personal individual stories of how these folks literally escaped the residential school system,” said Stewart.

The temporary exhibits were developed by the Legacy of Hope Foundation and they will be on display at the Galt until March of 2024. Stewart noted the amazing organization Legacy of Hope Foundation has done.

“Legacy of Hope Foundation is a really amazing charitable organization that has done a lot of work for almost 20 years already now on the topics of healing and reconciliation.”

The second display was developed by Apooyak’ii Tiffany Hind Bull-Prete assistant professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Lethbridge. Stewart expressed what Hind Bull-Prete’s display focuses on.

“It looks at how the missionaries first showed up in southern Alberta, what they tried to do to assimilate people into kind of the Canadian culture of the time, and then how those things changed over time. But also this exhibition ends on a really positive note, and focuses on aspects of Mississippi resiliency. 

“How Blackfoot people have taken control back of the federal education system and develop their own schools develop their own policies develop their own ways of teaching Blackfoot people in Blackfoot ways.”

Stewart said what he believes is the important thing these displays share – that being the harm the government at the time caused in pushing colonialism.

“The residential school system was not the first colonial education system imposed upon First Nations people, but  the government’s kept changing their tactics…They were very persistent. And I think this paints a picture of how colonialism is a machine that has kept trying to work in different ways to assimilate Indigenous people.

“Certainly it has caused an immense amount of harm.”

Admission to view the displays is $6 per person with admission being free for anyone self-declared Indigenous, a policy which was established at the Galt Museum in 2022. Stewart said the Galt Museum welcomes all Indigenous people into the museum in hopes that Indigenous people can feel it to be a safe place.

“We want to welcome Indigenous people into the museum space free of charge all year round, not just certain times of year, but that we want to make the museum a safe place, a place that indigenous people from any background feel welcome to come and participate in our programs and see our exhibits and what we have to offer here.”