The Aboriginal Peoples Committee Room of the Senate of Canada
Recognizing a disturbing absence of Indigenous representation within the federal Parliament buildings, the author endeavoured to acquire and donate Indigenous artwork and artifacts to display in the Aboriginal Peoples Committee Room of the Senate of Canada. With help from a group of senators in an effort to make Indigenous cultures visible and tangible to parliamentarians who used the room, as well as to visitors interested in the Senate and its history.
Hon. Serge Joyal, Senator
The construction of Canada’s Parliament
Buildings began in 1859 on unceded Algonquin
territory. At the time, Indigenous representation
was not deemed important enough to be incorporated
into the capital’s new buildings. Until 2000, little of
Parliament’s interior or exterior decor reflected the
centuries-old presence of Indigenous peoples all across
Canada, except for small, discreet bas-relief sculptures
carved into the facade of Centre Block in 1918 when
it was rebuilt after the fire of February 3, 1916; eight
architectural works by Indigenous artists, carved from
soapstone and Indiana limestone and installed around
the House of Commons Foyer as part of the Indigenous
Peoples Sculpture Program in the early 1980s; and
the bust of Senator James Gladstone
[picture: Bust of
Senator James Gladstone by Rosemary Breault-Landry,
Gatineau (Quebec), 2000, © Senate of Canada]
from the Blood (Blackfoot) First Nation, who in 1958 became the
first Indigenous person to be appointed to the Senate.
The bust was unveiled in 2001 and placed in the Senate
antechamber.
Aboriginal Peoples Committee Room
It was not until 1997, when a former interior courtyard
of the Senate was converted into a modern committee
room and designated the “Aboriginal Peoples
Committee Room” that Indigenous peoples were
finally acknowledged by name in the Parliamentary
Precinct. The House has had the Commonwealth
Room since the 1960s, and the Senate has had the Salon
de la Francophonie since the 1990s. Therefore, both
linguistic communities were already well-represented
in the Parliament Buildings. In the years after it was
inaugurated, the Aboriginal Peoples Committee
Room had hardly any direct references to Indigenous
realities: there was no Indigenous artwork or artifacts
to properly represent their history, culture or identity.
This modern committee room, where meetings were
often televised, did not provide any visible Indigenous
presence in Parliament.
This re-appropriation of an important space for
Indigenous peoples within the Parliamentary Precinct,
though supported in principle by the Senate Committee
on Internal Economy, did not come with an initiative
to feature Indigenous art or artifacts, nor did it include
funding to give this room the real content it needed to
reflect its name.
Faced with this obvious void that was, in a way,
humiliating for Indigenous peoples—their presence
essentially erased—I took the initiative, starting in
2002, to acquire and donate Indigenous artwork and
artifacts in an effort to make Indigenous cultures
visible and tangible to parliamentarians who used the
room, as well as to visitors interested in the Senate and
its history.
Eagle Mask by Wayne Bell, Kwakiutl
(British Columbia), circa 2000
“Mother and child” by Henry Napartuk,
Inuit (Kuujjuarapik, Québec), 1963
The Senate Committee on Internal
Economy approved the installation of
these donated works in the Aboriginal
Peoples Committee Room under two
conditions. First, the works would have
to feature a spectrum of Indigenous
artists from across Canada to highlight
the diversity and originality of
Indigenous cultures. The second—
more pragmatic—condition was that it
would have to cost the Senate nothing.
In other words, there would be no
budget for Indigenous visibility in the
room.
The Aboriginal Peoples Committee
Room had to essentially rely on private
donations to live up to its name. I
had the privilege of donating all the
artwork at the outset. Then, other
senators followed suit: Senator Thelma
Chalifoux (Metis), Senator Willie
Adams (Inuit), and Senator Michael
Meighen and Senator Nancy Ruth, both
from Ontario, all donated art when they
retired from the Senate.
1. Bad Medicine Woman by Daphne Odjig, Ojibwe
(Wikwemikong Reserve, Manitoulin Island, Ontario), 1974
2. “Inuksuk” by Ernie Kadloo, Inuit
(Pond Inlet , Nunavut), 2009, donated by Senator Willie Adams
3. Wîhtikow II by Neal McLeod, Cree,
(James Smith Cree Nation, Saskatchewan) 2001
4. Indian Residential School 1934 – A prison or a school?
by Alanis Obomsawin, Waban-Aki,
(Odanak, Quebec)
5. Hebron Series #2 by Heather Igloliorte, Inuit
(Happy Valley–Goose Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador),
2002-2003
Most of the works include references
to mythology, rituals and spiritual
values unique to Indigenous peoples
and deeply rooted within their
special bond with the earth, the land
and nature. They reflect the vitality
and rebirth of Indigenous peoples’
expression of their culture and their
claim to a distinct identity grounded in
their ancestral traditions and practices.
Some of the works depict the
dark chapter of Indian residential
schools during which 150,000 young
Indigenous children were torn from
their families and forced to abandon
their languages, cultures, traditions
and distinct ways of being, while others
show how Indigenous peoples were
utterly dispossessed of their ancestral
land. The works of Waban-Aki artist
Alanis Obomsawin, including Indian
Residential School 1934 – A prison or
a school? , and Inuit artist Heather
Igloliorte from Newfoundland and
Labrador, including Hebron Series #2 ,
are troubling reminders of Canada’s
century-and-a-half-long assimilation
policy with regard to Indigenous
peoples. Additionally, Cree artist Neal
McLeod’s powerful artwork Wîhtikow
II illustrates the acculturation of
Indigenous peoples after centuries of
devastating colonial policies.
Some works are a true manifesto for affirming
identity, such as Riel-Riel-Riel and Dumont – 1885 –
Batoche , both by Cree artist Jane Ash Poitras, which
recall the struggle of the Metis in western Canada
to have their land rights recognized. Others evoke a
reclamation of lost identity, such as Metis artist David
Garneau’s painting May Tea? and Ojibwe artist Carl
Beam’s troubling work titled Parts .
May Tea? by David Garneau, Metis (Edmonton, Alberta), 2002
Riel-Riel-Riel by Jane Ash Poitras, Cree, (Fort Chipewyan, Alberta), 2002
Parts by Carl Beam, Ojibwe (M’Chigeeng, Manitoulin Island, Ontario), circa 1995
A number of the donated objects and artifacts reflect
the political and social affirmation of Indigenous
peoples, their economic survival and their struggle
against cultural assimilation brought about by the
dominant colonial practices.
Deerskin moccasins and mohawks (traditional
roach headdress) are two striking examples of the
appropriation of Indigenous culture by European
settlers that can still be found to this day in Western
fashion. Moccasins have been a fashion staple across
generations due to their simple design and comfort,
while mohawks (traditional roach headdress) were a
sign of fearlessness for American parachutists in the
Second World War and peaked in popularity during
the punk movement of the late 1970s.
After all, who is not moved by the aesthetic of Inuit
art or art from West Coast First Nations, for instance
Salish and Haida peoples? Who is not touched by the
stunning free line work and expressive content of their
paintings and sculptures?
Indian Drums by Allen Sapp, Plains Cree (Red Pheasant Reserve, Saskatchewan), circa 1972
Mi’kmaq box, Maritimes,
early 20th century
Pair of young women’s moccasins, probably
Mohawk, Eastern Forests, circa 1880
This initiative to make Indigenous identity
visible in one of the Senate’s most frequently used
committee rooms is essentially due to the efforts of
individual senators who believed in the importance of
immediately making the unique aspects of Canada’s
Indigenous peoples visible; this action occurred well
before the federal government officially apologized to
the victims of Indian residential schools in 2008, tabled
the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s
report in 2015 and fully recognized the United Nations
Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in
2017.
The initiative taken by those senators 20 years ago
was well ahead of the curve; some of the people who
were briefed on the project even doubted whether
there were enough active Indigenous artists across
Canada to provide the art for the Aboriginal Peoples
Committee Room!
When I took it upon myself to assemble a collection
of various works, I visited art galleries that showcased
Indigenous art, such as the Canadian Guild of Crafts
in Montreal. I pored over auction catalogues in search
of works by Indigenous artists such as Alex Janvier,
Daphne Odjig, Norval Morrisseau and Allen Sapp; I
visited galleries in Vancouver to acquire West Coast
masks; and I directly contacted a number of artists
(Jane Ash Poitras, Glenna Matoush, Heather Igloliorte,
John Paul Murdoch, Alanis Obomsawin, Patrice
Awashih, David Garneau, Ellen Gabriel, Neal McLeod
and others) to commission original pieces.
All these works were donated to the Canadiana
Fund for the official residences and transferred to
the Senate as long-term loans in 2005. Thanks to the
joint efforts of the members of the Senate’s Artwork
Advisory Working Group and particularly its former
chair, Senator Wilfred P. Moore, the works were
successfully displayed in the room and educational
booklets were handed out to visitors to Parliament
to explain the origin and meaning of each of these
artworks and artifacts.
Beluga by Yvonne Kanayuq Arnakyuinak,
Inuit (Baker Lake, Nunavut), 1975
Raven by Eugene Alfred, Tutchone/Tlingit
(Mayo, Yukon), 2003
The culmination of this initiative occurred on
December 14, 2017, when an Indigenous ceremony
devoted to traditional masks was hosted by
Cree Senator Lillian E. Dyck in the Aboriginal
Peoples Committee Room and presided over by
retired Akwesasne Mohawk Grand Chief Michael
Kanentakeron Mitchell of the Hadui society, who
confirmed the sacred nature of this room that
featured many examples of living Indigenous
identities that at long last had their rightful place
within the Parliament of Canada.
Pug Wees mask by Joe Peters Jr., Kwakiutl
(British Columbia), 1984
Omega Mountain Man mask by Earl Lewis, Coast Salish
(British Columbia), second half of the 20th century
The Senate is grateful to the National Capital Commission for the loan of these works of Aboriginal art donated through the Canadiana Fund to the Official Residences Crown Collection by the Honourable Serge Joyal, Senator, P.C., O.C.