The U’mista Cultural Centre, Alert Bay

The U'Mista Cultural Centre, Alert Bay

The pride of Alert Bay is the U’mista Cultural Centre, which opened in 1980, and has an excellent display of artifacts relating to an important part of the culture of the First Nations people - the Potlatch.

The word potlatch comes from a word meaning ‘to give’, and that is loosely what the potlatch is about, the giving of gifts as a show of your generosity. The First Nations people place a high a value on a person’s generosity, so Chiefs would wish to display theirs by giving gifts, and a potlatch was where this would happen.

However, it was rather more important than that, as the potlatch effectively formed part of their legal process too.

The U'Mista Cultural Centre, Alert Bay

Potlatches were held by the chief of a tribe to mark important events. Much like in our own culture, people might gather to mark significant life events, such as births, marriages and deaths, and the coronations or inaugurations of new leaders. But whereas for us, the purpose of attending an event is simply to celebrate or commemorate it, for the First Nations people it would also serve the equivalent purpose of the legal record.

The U'Mista Cultural Centre, Alert Bay

We leave all that to the registrar or some other official, who keeps a written record of what has transpired, but in this culture, there is no such official, and no written communication, so the people who attended the event, which would include those from other tribes, would effectively act as those who would bear witness to it, should the need ever arise.

The potlatch ceremony would include storytelling and dance, and whatever the official business of the day was, followed by the giving out of the gifts. The fact that the guests take the gifts offered, confirms that they accept the event that has taken place, and will attest to it.

The U'Mista Cultural Centre, Alert Bay

This was all fine until we white settlers came along and wanted to ‘civilise’ everyone. Quite why we have the arrogance to believe that our way of doing things is the only right way, I don’t know, but that’s a question for another day. It wasn’t a problem early on, but as the colonial systems became established, frustrations grew with those pesky people that would insist on doing things their own way.

Chilkat Blanket, The U'Mista Cultural Centre, Alert Bay

In 1884, the first version of the Indian Act was passed, in an effort to stop the potlatch taking place, but it was ineffectual. The law was later revised, and when the potlatches continued, the authorities started to crack down. In December 1921, a potlatch was held in a place called Village Island, and forty-five people were arrested. Twenty-two of those were convicted of offences such as dancing, making speeches, and the giving of gifts.

The U'Mista Cultural Centre, Alert Bay

The sentences were suspended on condition that the tribe that each individual belonged to turned in all of their masks, chests and other items that were connected to the holding of a potlatch. The items confiscated were thankfully not destroyed, but were passed out to two main museums and private collectors.

Chilkat Blanket, The U'Mista Cultural Centre, Alert Bay

In this way, the First Nations tribes lost a huge part of their culture and heritage, as well as their established method of recording events. Some potlatches did continue ‘underground’ usually held during storms, when only the First Nations people were confident in travelling by canoe, as would have been necessary to reach the venues.

Items made from woven cedar bark, The U'Mista Cultural Centre, Alert Bay

Whilst I’m not going to go into it further now, I do just want to mention that of course the potlatch wasn’t the only thing that was banned. The legislation banned the use of First Nations languages, and required children to be sent to ‘residential schools’ where they were taught to abandon their own ways in favour of western culture and process, undermining the ability of the First Nations people to keep their culture and way of life alive.

Chilkat Blanket, The U'Mista Cultural Centre, Alert Bay

The Indian Act was revised again in 1951, and section 149 on the banning of the potlatch was deleted, but never officially repealed.  Nonetheless, in the latter third of the 1900s, steps were taken to start repatriating the potlatch ceremonial items that had been confiscated.

The U'Mista Cultural Centre, Alert Bay

The National Museum of Man in Ottawa, which had received a large share of the items, decided to return them to the First Nations people, on condition that two new museums were built to house them. This U’mista Cultural Centre is one of the two museums, and it now has a great collection of items.

Unfortunately, no photos were allowed in that section of the museum, so I can’t show you any of the pieces that they have. The photos that I have included were from the permitted section, and show other items of First Nations art and weaving.

The U'Mista Cultural Centre, Alert Bay

Those sections are OK, but probably not as good as the museums in Vancouver and Victoria. In terms of information and analysis, I would have liked to see more exploration of the issues surrounding the potlatch being banned, its impact, how the tribes tried to adapt, and now that it is being brought back into the culture, how these traditional aspects and stories are being reconciled with more western education, knowledge and process.

That said, the museum is definitely worth a visit, just for the potlatch ceremonial items, which are both interesting for their history and great pieces of artwork in their own right.

Head and neckwear, The U'Mista Cultural Centre, Alert Bay

Blanket and apron, The U'Mista Cultural Centre, Alert Bay