Category: Collections
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Canadian Cultural Sovereignty: It’s Not a Brand. It’s a Commons.
As chaos roils south of the border, we Canadians find ourselves asking, again and again, what it means to be who we are. In her thoughtful Substack essay, Shannon Litzenberger writes, “Sovereignty isn’t just a legal state of nationhood. It’s an imagination of what holds us together.” I couldn’t agree more. But to imagine ourselves…
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An Update: Hudson’s Bay Charter Saved, But At What Cost?
The media and the Canadian Museums Association | Association des musées canadiens have informed us today that the 1670 Royal Charter of the Hudson’s Bay Company has been spared from the auction block. The Weston family has stepped in with a $12.5 million purchase and will donate it to the Canadian Museum of History. It’s…
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From Cassino to Yekau Lake: The Scars We Choose to See
Each week, I share my thoughts on a significant event or aspect of my decades-long work in the arts, culture, and heritage. Thank you to Miranda Jimmy for the deep conversation, gift of learning this truth, and permission to explore this further. In April, I stood on the scarred hillsides of Cassino, Italy, where my…
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Who owns history when the Hudson’s Bay Company goes bankrupt?
As reported by Taylor C. Noakes in The Art Newspaper just after Canada Day last week, we learned the Hudson’s Bay Company is preparing to liquidate its corporate art and artifact collection. An estimated 4,400 objects are likely to include ceremonial items, intercultural gifts, trade goods, and possibly sacred belongings of Indigenous nations. But this…
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Authenticity, Authority, and the Art Market: The Morrisseau Estate Lawsuit Isn’t Just a Legal Story
When Norval Morrisseau Estate Ltd. was sued this spring by a Calgary gallery for defamation and breach of contract, the headlines focused on reputational damage and a disputed handshake deal. CBC Thunder Bay reported the story on July 2, 2025. But what’s happening beneath that surface is something much deeper—and more unsettling. We are watching…
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From Edmonton to Philadelphia: What a Syphilitic Brain Taught Me About Museum Ethics
When I first worked with the University of Alberta Museums’ teaching collection, I expected clinical curiosity. I didn’t expect a syphilitic brain in a stainless-steel tray (or a cancerous vulva preserved in formalin) staring back at me. Or seeing the soft fontanels of a dozen preserved fetal skulls organized neatly in a row. Fascination quickly…