Museums are too colonial, says Department of Canadian Heritage

Canadian museums are too “colonial” and don’t cover enough pressing issues, according to a Department of Canadian Heritage report.

“Museums are colonial institutions,” the report Renewal Of The Canadian Museum Policy said, according to  Blacklock’s Reporter. “Museums are part of the colonial legacy.”

Cabinet has ordered revisions to a 1990 Museum Policy used as a guide by some 2,700 exhibitors, art galleries and heritage groups that rely on federal funding. “Canada’s museums are at a crossroads,” said the report.

“The 1990 policy does not take into consideration important societal shifts such as reconciliation with Indigenous peoples, addressing issues of equity, diversity and inclusion or the ongoing digital transformation,” wrote the department. “As a trusted source of information, museums can help educate the public and encourage debate on issues such as climate change, equity, diversity and inclusion. Museums must also consider these issues in their behind-the-scenes operations.”

The report also took issue with most archivists, curators, librarians and other museum employees in the country being white women, Blacklock’s said.

“People of colour, people with disabilities, immigrants, LGBTQ communities, religious minorities, official language communities and even people of different economic status were often marginalized or excluded from museum collections and exhibits,” said the report.

The same department said it was hiring Indigenous elders and “knowledge keepers” as $100-per-hour consultants on its new policy.