With Fort Steele Heritage Town soon to be under new management, the Ktunaxa and Shuswap Nations will have more involvement in decision-making.
Chief Operations Officer with the Cranbrook History Centre Jared Teneese says the Cranbrook Archives, Museum and Landmark Society (CAMAL) will include more Indigenous histories and perspectives at Fort Steele.
“With our programming, we’ve really worked with more of the surrounding communities to have what they would like to see,” said Teneese.
“I think Fort Steele and the Cranbrook History Centre are both sites that need more of an Indigenous footprint installed.”
Teneese says progress toward adding more exhibits is already underway.
“At the Cranbrook History Centre, we have our new interpretation plan that has a really good Indigenous section. I think that’s going to be a great first step to that,” said Teneese.
“At Fort Steele, we’re really heavy on repatriation and working with the communities on what repatriation means to them.”
Work of repatriation will be a joint effort between CAMAL and Indigenous communities.
“We’ll be taking our lead from the communities on repatriation. The Province opens the collection on the site, so it will be us supporting that communication between the community here and the Province,” said Honor Neve, Chief Heritage Officer.
Management of Fort Steele Heritage Town will be handed over to CAMAL on April 1.
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