ABSTRACT
While the exhibition From Time Immemorial: Canadian and Indigenous Art at the National Gallery of Canada received considerable press coverage, one of the most innovative aspects of the exhibition was given little attention. This was the role of translation. Government policy obliges the museum, like other federal institutions, to provide bilingual (English-French) labelling. In the case of this exhibition, third languages were also added. Fifty-three of the labels (referring to 145 indigenous items in the collection) included the language of the community from which the objects originated. As of June 2017, the languages included were Anishinabemowin, Inuktitut (six different dialects), Haida Masset, Blackfoot, Michif, Kanyen’keha (Mohawk), Ojibwe, Gwich’in, Kwak’wala, Western Abenaki and Naskapi.
