National Indigenous History Month 2023 – Week 2: Environment, traditional knowledge and territory
June is the National Indigenous History Month (NIHM), an opportunity to acknowledge and honour the history, culture and resilience of First Nations, Inuit and Métis Nation.
We encourage all Canadians to take time to learn more about Indigenous Peoples and to explore our collective past. Knowing and acknowledging the past and its ongoing impacts is the first step towards healing and reconciliation.
2023 weekly themes
Each week will be dedicated to a different theme to highlight specific aspects of Indigenous history, cultures and perspectives.
- June 1–6: Women, girls and 2SLGBTQI+ people
- June 5–11: Environment, traditional knowledge and territory
- June 10–18: Children and youth
- June 19–25: Languages, cultures and arts
- June 26–30: Reconciliation
Week 2: Environment, traditional knowledge and territory
To launch this second week with the theme of environment, traditional knowledge and territory, discover the archives we preciously preserve in our collections:
- We Are Here: Sharing Stories: Map of waters north of Lake Kipawa, Quebec, on the unceded traditional territory of the Algonquin and Cree nations. This unique map is a pencil drawing on birch bark.
- Exhibition: Hiding in Plain Sight: Discovering the Métis Nation in the Archival Records of Library and Archives Canada
- Project Naming: A First Nation elder making a birch bark basket, British Columbia, 1947. Do you recognize this woman?
- Blog: Modification of records: A case study with moose hair embroidered birch bark boxes
- Blog: Métis Nation river lot plans and the related Flickr album Métis river lot plans
- Blog: Centuries of kinship—Exploring Métis identity through genealogy
- Blog: Métis carioles and tuppies
- Blog: Kimutset Labradorimi
- Podcast: Healing Journey: Project Naming at 15
LAC acknowledges that a great deal of records related to First Nations, Inuit and Métis Nation peoples held in our collections lack important contextual information. As outlined in Vision 2030: A strategic plan to 2030, LAC is doing more to place collections in context, making them easier to understand by setting them in a wider historical and cultural landscape. We do this in various ways, including by offering theme-based collections and programs and by encouraging a variety of uses for the collections. The projects We Are Here: Sharing our Stories and Listen, Hear Our Voices support this commitment.
Reconciliation will not be accomplished overnight and is a journey that requires commitment from all people in Canada.
#MNHA2023
Associated links
- National Indigenous History Month
- Images for National Indigenous History Month (rcaanc-cirnac.gc.ca)
- Project Naming | Facebook / Project Naming (canada.ca) / @project_naming
- Resources related to NIHM week 1: Women, girls and 2SLGBTQI+ people
- Resources related to NIHM week 2: Environment, traditional knowledge and territory
- Resources related to NIHM week 3: Children and youth
- Resources related to NIHM week 4: Languages, cultures and arts
- Resources related to NIHM week 5: Reconciliation