Canadian History

The permanent galleries at the Museum of History examine the story of Canadian history from time immemorial to the current day, organized in three sections branching off from a central space. The Canadian History Hall, as it is called, was opened up again for Canada Day in 2017 after being closed for some years for a major reworking. In the corridor leading to the entrance, the walls are covered with images of places and activities from across the country, a combination of reflective glass and white overlays making up each image. This for instance is the St. Lawrence Market building in Toronto.

The first gallery opens up with the creation story of the Anishinaabe First Nation, narrated in that language with English and French subtitles at the bottom of the screen.

This display case includes two items from 15 000- 12 000 years ago: a partial mammoth jaw and a giant beaver incisor. Their placement shows where each item would have gone on the animals, drawn onto the glass.

This is a model of a place called pis'kun (Buffalo Jump) by the Piikani peoples. A 20 metre sandstone cliff, a network of cairns, and other tactics were used by the tribe to lure the herd into a stampede over the site as part of their hunting technique.

The items within the case have contemporary reproductions outside that the visitor can touch. These copper tools date back 4000 years, and were excavated from a spot in northern Ontario along the shores of Lake Nipigon, a site called the McCollum Cache.

These items are all polar bear effigies, created by the Dorset people, a tribe of the far north who went extinct at some point before European contact (their name comes from a location where they were known to congregate, Cape Dorset on Baffin Island). They were known to have carved these effigies of the animals whose world they shared.

Here we have a case of technology bringing those long dead back to life, at least in a way. This is a display screen featuring four members of a family from four thousand years in the past, along the Pacific coast. The community of shishalh north of Vancouver worked with archaeologists from this museum and the University of Toronto when the remains of a family were uncovered. A man and a woman were buried with a wealth of stone and shell beads, and an infant and two young adult males were part of the burial, suggesting a family unit. The number of beads suggest the family had great social status. Research was carried out- the skulls were digitally scanned in collaboration with the tribe, and the faces recreated via computer to suggest what they might have looked like. Their faces shift as you look at them, blinking periodically and changing position. The remains were returned to the tribe for a reburial after research was completed, marking a different kind of archaeology.

This canoe is a recent piece, built in 2015 by Todd Labrador, a Mi'kmaq elder from Nova Scotia, done in the traditional techniques of his people, who used these for traveling, hunting, and fishing on the waters. The canoe is 5.6 metres long, and uses birchbark, ash, and spruce root as its materials. The tools used are displayed nearby.

Here we have another example of a recreation. The Inuit community at Arctic Bay collaborated with the museum reconstructing the appearance of a man who lived on Baffin Island some eight hundred years ago. Nuvumiutaq is the name he has been given, a hunter who would have been around forty when he died. Ivory tools bear the markings he made telling his story and were buried with him. Reproductions of those tools are displayed here, as the originals were returned to the tribe for repatriation. The tools include things like ice picks, knives, and bird effigies.

The ways of the First Nations, however, were soon to change, as Europeans began to come west across the Atlantic. First the Vikings, then centuries later others seeking out passages to the riches of China and India. The story of interaction between very different peoples shifted the dynamic in North America forever. This is a model of a galleon, the San Juan de Pasajes, which sank in Red Bay in the mid-1500s.

A large display here shows some of the weaponry of the era being used by Europeans and First Nations peoples.

The Grand Hall

My last museum stop on Canada Day was at the Canadian Museum of Nature, over on the Gatineau side of the Ottawa River. The marvelous architecture by Douglas Cardinal is always a pleasure to see. This view, with the gap between the curatorial wing to the left and the exhibit wing at right, gives a view of Parliament across the river.

As I approached I could hear music being played. It was this large wagon cart parked in place, mounted with multiple drums and other instruments for other people to come up to and play.

The Snowbirds happened to fly overhead as I proceeded on. I caught them in formation.

Here we have a view looking down the stairs. The riverside park area would have been ideal for watching the fireworks that evening; the only reason I've never watched them from here is that the nearby Alexandra Bridge is completely shut down during that evening until midnight, and that's the best route home.

I went into the museum, first taking in one of the temporary exhibits, Death In The Ice, about the Franklin Expedition, which you might recall I showed you back in May. The other major temporary exhibit on life in medieval Europe had a line up, but it's on until January, so I'll see that sooner or later.

The Grand Hall as it is called was busy when I came down into it. This fellow was on stilts, posing for photos with anyone who wanted it, playing the part of Optimus Prime of the Transformers franchise (otherwise known as Michael Bay's excuse to blow stuff up). The Grand Hall itself is the architectural masterpiece of the museum, housing totem poles and facades of six Pacific Coast tribes, with exhibit spaces behind those facades. 

At the south end of the Grand Hall, looking up at the dome overhead gives you my favourite work of art in the National Capital Region. Morning Star is the massive 1993 abstract mural by the Dene Suline artist Alex Janvier, incorporating ideas of his First Nations background. 

Janvier's mural uses motifs such as the circle of life- spiritual and physical, natural and human, the seasons, regalia colours of various tribes, and the notion of the morning star as a guide. It is astonishing to behold from down at ground level or closer. This second shot incorporates two women on the top platform, reinforcing how big the mural is.

Another work of art by another First Nations artist is here. Spirit Of Haida Gwaii is a plaster cast version of Bill Reid's sculpture, the original done in order to create a bronze version that resides at the Canadian embassy in Washington. It depicts a Haida canoe with a mix of people and sacred animals as paddlers and passengers.

The totems and facades dominate this space, and always fascinate me when I visit here.

I headed upstairs to take in the permanent galleries, pausing for an up close view of Morning Star.

Hello, Beastie

The Fossil Gallery in the Museum of Nature is always a busy spot, especially so on Canada Day. The collection includes a wide range of dinosaurs over time, examining their place in the history of the world, as well as that which came after their age came to an end.

A diorama area is set up further back, with a scene of predators and prey locked in an eternal stand off. 

Passing on, I took note of this stained glass window above a doorway that serves as an emergency exit.

When the age of dinosaurs ended 65 million years ago with the collision of the asteroid that hit in the Yucatan region, mammals had a chance to thrive. This display, featuring a replicated dinosaur skull, also has several rodents called mesodema thompsoni scurrying around on it. These animals, among those called multituberculates, were highly successful in surviving the extinction event.

This is a cast replica- the lightness gives it away. This was the carnotaurus, which was known to inhabit South America during the late Cretaceous.

I finish with this pair of shots. Tomorrow we move onto another museum. I should get back to this one before their temporary exhibit on the brain comes to an end.

Mammals

The Mammal Gallery covers those warm blooded animals found in Canada, some of them in display cases, but most in dioramas, along with panels and information about mammalian biology. It starts off with a polar bear (and her cub) at a hole in the ice.

Other dioramas include the moose.

A set of displays on the mustelids show several different examples, such as the river and sea otters, the badger, and the wolverine.

This diorama features a confrontation between a bison and a group of wolves.

While this features muskoxen facing a sled dog.

Here we have caribou.

And this of course is the sort of critter you don't want to startle.

This is the eastern grey squirrel, common through the eastern provinces. 

While this is the collared pika, a resident of northern mountain environments.

These grizzlies are set in their mountain environment.

And the last of these displays for today features beavers.