Giving new life to Indigenous belongings

In 5 seconds From snowshoes to oil lamps, First Peoples' cultural objects in UdeM's anthropology department's ethnographic collection become educational tools via new testimonials on video.
This project aims to contribute to the promotion and recognition of Indigenous perspectives, knowledge and skills.

There are the objects and there are the voices – and now the two have come together as one.

At Université de Montréal, of the 4,000 cultural objects in the Department of Anthropology's ethnographic collection, approximately 500 are Indigenous belongings from the Atikamekw Nehirowisiwok, Innu, and Inuit (Inuinnait, Netsilingmiut, and Nunavimmiut) communities. 

In the classroom and online, these objects – everything from snowshoes and baby carriers to knives and oil lamps – can spark learners' interest in history, geography and anthropology, help them understand different societies and territories, and develop an interest in heritage and cultural sensitivity.

But until recently, what was missing from the collection were voices to make them come alive: specifically, the voices of members of First Peoples communities who hold the cultural knowledge needed to interpret the story behind the objects and what they signify.

Now, thanks to an initiative by a specialist in UdeM's Faculty of Education and the members of the team project, those voices can be heard. The project is called Rencontres au coeur de la collection ethnographique, and it's led by Kevin Péloquin, an assistant professor in the faculty's Department of Didactics.

Kevin Péloquin, an assistant professor in the faculty's Department of Didactics at Université de Montréal

A year in the making, the $25,000 project also involves the collection's curator Violaine Debailleul, Bibliothèques de l’UdeM social engagement and innovation advisor Marie-Pierre Gadoua, and two Indigenous organizations, Chicoutimi-based La Boite Rouge VIF and Montreal-based Ivirtivik.

The former helps Indigenous communities preserve and promote their cultural heritage. The latter is an initiative of the Kativik Regional Government, which represents most of the Nunavik region of northern Quebec, home to some 10,000 people.

UdeM's vice-rectorate of community, international and First Peoples affairs, as well as   Quebec's Department of Higher Education, also provided valuable support for the project, funded through UdeM's Place aux Premiers Peuples action plan.

Indigenous cultural experts came in to view the ethnographic collection.

'Great pride'

"I take great pride in this project, whose aim is to contribute to the promotion and recognition of Indigenous perspectives, knowledge and skills," said Péloquin, a researcher at UdeM's Centre de recherche interuniversitaire sur la formation et la profession enseignante.

“The principal component of the project is a series of audiovisual recordings of meetings we held in March and May 2025 with seven Indigenous cultural experts who came in to view the ethnographic collection. And the exchanges we had were rich in insights.”

Posted online, the recordings provide Indigenous perspectives on the objects, all of it accessible not just to the UdeM academic community, including education students, but also the general public, too. There are nine complete interviews, including two with the three Inuit participants 

"The video interviews are now included in geography and history teaching courses so that students in training can design ways to teach the varied perspectives, knowledge and skills of First Peoples in primary and secondary schools," said Péloquin.

For now, the material is almost entirely in French, with French subtitles, but  Péloquin hopes to secure future funding for full English translations as well, so that English and French-language schools and communities can benefit equally.

These objects can spark learners' interest in history, geography and anthropology.

'Every object had its specific use'

In a series of short videos, seven "bearers of knowledge" from Atikamekw Nehirowisiw, Innu and Inuit communities shared information and memories of objects they handled last year in UdeM's Department of Anthropology's ethnographic collection.

Here are excerpts of what they had to say.

The objects represent the best ways of doing things at the time. (They're) the result of many years of improvement […] and make us think about how each object was made, about the technologies used at the time [...] When you analyze these objects and learn a little more about their conception, you understand that it's really part of a whole [...] The crooked knife (for instance) is crooked for a good reason: it looks primitive, but it's not. It's really very ingenious.

Samuel St-Onge (Innu)

Every object here has its specific use. When I was little, home was a temple, with the smell of pine trees and my mother's cooking. My mother made me moccasins, my grandmother told me stories, and my grandfather told me about his life and that of his family, who lived with us […] The bark of the birch tree comes in different thicknesses, some thin, some thicker. For canoes, it was often at the beginning of summer that we went to gather the materials needed to make them.

Jacques Newashish (Atikamekw nehirowisiw)

The objects we see here take us back to places, memories and locations [...] We learn a lot [...] It's important to pass on the knowledge and savoir-faire related to these objects, even if they're far from what interests young people today. (They need) to know why these objects are sacred, respected. [...] The harpoon (for instance): […] there was one for everyone, planted in the riverbank. You use it […] and you put it back for other families to use; it was a communal tool, just like the birch bark ladle was.

Jean St-Onge (Innu)

Water ladle made in 1973 by Albert Birote, Atikamekw Nehirowisiw of Wemotaci
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