HEALTH & WELLNESS
WELLNESS ARTIST LOU-ANN IKA'WEGA NEEL KEA LY DON A LDSON
Lou-Ann Neel, from a long line of Kwakwaka’wakw
The department oversees the entire Repatriation Project—
Artists originating from Alert Bay, works at the Royal BC
there is ongoing outreach in process with in-person meet-
Museum in Victoria. For the last two and a half years she
ings, prior to Covid, encouraging key Indigenous Elders
loved her position as Indigenous Repatriation Specialist.
and Knowledge Keepers to go through this online data-
In August, Neel was promoted to Curator of Indigenous
base so they can be ready for the meeting. This will allow
Collections for a week. Much to her surprise and delight,
for specific items in the collection to be identified and
she was asked to step into Acting Head of Indigenous
organized to be returned to their originating First Nation
Collections and Repatriation Department and is still
communities or Indigenous Organizational bodies.
there, until another change is made. “With all the work going on in Colwood and most of our resources focused on that project, it’s been a learning curve that came fast
The project has been video-documenting the entire collection with 15,000 cultural pieces – from small to
and is still coming but I love it, I truly love it!” she says.
large, including totem poles. Video documenting will
When asked what her biggest highlight has been work-
memories and identifying these pieces. Neel enjoys
ing at the Royal BC Museum, Neel explained that one
working with the Elders and youth, who also get an
of the silver linings of Covid is that they are deep in the
opportunity to connect and learn from each other—
process of digitizing the Indigenous Collections. The col-
fluent Indigenous speakers teaching their youth, helping
lection hosts approximately 35,000 photos plus audio
each other in connecting with culture. It’s just another
pieces as part of Repatriation. So far, 16,000 photos have
amazing positive spinoff from this project. The museum
been uploaded to the online database. The work contin-
is partners with First Peoples Cultural Council through
ues behind the scenes, but you can search online within the uploaded museum archives now. The decision to
allow communities to review all the items to assist in
Language Initiative Programming.
move forward and continue with this project, especially
As for the museum, they will still have a record of the
if Covid continues for any length of time, is beneficial as
collection once it’s repatriated through their permanent
people won’t be prevented from searching through the
video record. The video documenting will be on-going
collections.
and in the future, the project will travel back to each of
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