Faces

This birchbark canoe is contemporary, done by Mi'kmaw elder Todd Labrador in 2015 in the ways of his ancestors and having a central place here. It is elaborate in its decorations.

Life in the Pacific Northwest found the concept of the plankhouse village in development, and centred on the salmon fishery.

Items used in that are seen here.

A collaboration between archaeologists and residents of the shisalh community has its own story. Remains of a family that had lived four thousand years ago were found, with an enormous number of beads. The remains were scanned, the items were documented, and the remains were returned to the community for reburial.

The scans allowed for a digital reconstruction of their faces. The result is extraordinary, faces of the past that look at you. They blink, move, and breathe. 

In the far north, the Inuit began making their presence known hundreds of years ago.

Here are some of the tools that would have been critical for them in making a life in a place that was inhospitable.