Indigenous Oral Ceremony Finalizes Historic Agreement

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With CMHR president and CEO John Young as witness, Carey Newman receives agreement from CMHR head of collections Heather Bidzinski (photo by Media One)

A historic agreement between Kwakwaka’wakw artist Carey Newman (Hayalthkin’geme) and the Canadian Museum for Human Rights has been finalized in a traditional ceremony at Kumugwe, the K'ómoks First Nation Bighouse on Vancouver Island.

The ceremony marks the first time in Canadian history that a federal Crown Corporation has ratified a legally binding contract through Indigenous traditions – a process that has attracted interest from legal and cultural communities, Indigenous peoples and academics around the world.

The groundbreaking agreement governs protection and use of The Witness Blanket, an installation Newman made with more than 800 items collected from survivors and sites of  residential schools across Canada. In an unprecedented process, Kwakwaka’wakw traditions and governance and Western contract law were given equal weight, vesting rights with the artwork itself as a legal entity that carries the stories of survivors.

The ceremony, held near Newman’s traditional territory, was facilitated by chief and spiritual leader Wedlidi Speck, head of the Gixsam namima (clan) of the Kwagul people. The ceremony included song and dance and the presence of an ancestors’ mask. Newman and the museum's president, John Young, each stated their purpose and intentions for the stewardship of The Witness Blanket.

Respected witnesses from the Kwakaka’wakw community, youth, elders and people with connections to the project, then reflected on their responsibilities as storykeepers and memory holders. The parties celebrated with a feast in the tradition of potlatch, acknowledging the gift of the agreement and the deep relationship that has been forged.

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The Witness Blanket (photo by Jessica Sigurdson)

“Reconciliation means letting go of certain ways of doing things and looking for new ways that fundamentally alter the nature of relationships,” said Newman, a master carver who is currently Audain Professor of Contemporary Art Practice of the Pacific Northwest at the University of Victoria. “Through spoken words and shared memory, we can express our commitment in ways that transcend written contracts – how we feel, our hopes and our goals for this agreement and our relationship as collaborative stewards of the blanket and survivors’ stories it holds.”

Young said the approach to this agreement reflects the museum’s commitment to recognizing the importance of Indigenous values in ways that encourage thought and discussion about human rights.

“The Witness Blanket has national significance as a framework for conversations about the genocide of Indigenous peoples in Canada,” he said. “As we jointly acknowledge our duties as its caretakers, we want to begin in a good way, based on a strong relationship of shared understanding and respect.”

Professor Rebecca Johnson, associate director of the Indigenous Law Research Unit at the University of Victoria, said the oral ceremony binds each party together on a deeper level than simply signing a legal document. Through the bodies, words and interactions of participants, the agreement is brought to life as a physical entity, she said.

“It matters that the parties are face to face, that they see each other and hear each other express their commitments and intentions,” said Johnson, who attended the event. “The ceremony places the agreement firmly in their memories and embeds it in their personal intentions.”

The museum will soon begin restoration work on the cedar-framed art installation. A travelling photographic reproduction is touring Canada, and is showing at the Neil John Maclean Health Sciences Library in Winnipeg until Oct. 31 before travelling to Saskatchewan, Alberta, Ontario, British Columbia and the Yukon.

A new book called Picking up the Pieces: Residential School Memories and the Making of the Witness Blanket, was recently been released by Orca Book Publishers. Its official launch is scheduled for Nov. 20 at the Winnipeg museum. A documentary film about The Witness Blanket is being distributed for educational purposes by the museum and for broadcast by Animiki See Distribution, a subsidiary of the Aboriginal Peoples’ Television Network.

Source: Canadian Museum for Human Rights