"OUR GUIDES WERE REALLY GOING PLACES/Nishnaabeg e-paamwingewaad waasa zhaawag"
EXHIBITION SUMMARY
Between 1901 and 1958, guides from the Nbisiing (Nipissing), Omuskego, and Eeyou (James Bay Cree in present-day Ontario and Quebec) Nations led naturalists from Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Museum on 25 expeditions through northern Ontario, Quebec, and Labrador.
Guides such as Paul Commanda (Nbisiing) and George Carey (Omuskego) led the expeditions along rivers, through rapids, and over portages. They cooked meals and kept everyone safe while sharing their extensive land-based knowledge. This work enabled the naturalists to collect northern birds, plants, and animals for the museum’s collections, which are still used by scientists today.
For the guides, the expeditions earned them money that had been lost as settlers, lumbermen, and fish-and-game inspectors encroached on their traditional ways of life. They also earned the respect of scientists.
This exhibit will tell the guides’ stories, honouring their work and their contributions to science.
Image: Paul Commanda on the North Shore of the Saint Lawrence River, 1928
Photograph Courtesy of Nipissing First Nation