Museum of Civilization donates aboriginal exhibit

Museum of Civilization donates aboriginal exhibit

Canadian Press

July 2, 2005

GATINEAU, Que -- The Canadian Museum of Civilization has donated to the Kitigan Zibi native community an exhibition tracing the history of aboriginal culture in the Ottawa Valley.

Artifacts in the exhibition, which includes ceramic cooking pots, pendants, tools and weapons, provide evidence of how aboriginal people lived in the region for at least 8,000 years before the arrival of Europeans, the museum says.

Shown at the museum from 2001 until last December, the exhibition -- Kichi Sibi: Tracing Our Region's Ancient History -- will go on display in July at the new Kitigan Zibi Cultural Centre near Maniwaki, Que.

The museum also recently transferred human remains and burial items including beads, tools and weapons to the Kitigan Zibi community, several decades after they were excavated by archeologists.

The agreement to "repatriate" the remains for reburial on the Kitigan Zibi reserve followed two years of negotiations between the museum and the community.

On the web: www.kza.qc.ca