The official opening of the exhibit known as Anishinaabewin Maamninendimowin: Pane Gii-Bite, or Indigenous Ingenuity: Timeless Inventions, took place at Shingwauk Kinoomaage Gamig Friday.
The exhibit at SKG will be available to individuals, families, tourists and groups of elementary and secondary level students to enjoy between now and March 19 and is an educational reminder of Indigenous ingenuity and how non-Indigenous peoples in Canada have benefited from it.
The exhibit at SKG includes a hands-on look into how Inuit igloos are built, the care and skill that goes into making Indigenous fishnets, the value of an Inukshuk - a stone marker that serves as a navigational aid and a marker for travel routes, fishing places, camps and hunting grounds - a wigwam, snowshoes and canoes and their modern day equivalents and an interactive look at bow hunting.
The traveling exhibit is being presented in several communities by Indigenous Tourism Ontario and Science North.
“Indigenous Ingenuity is a version of the exhibit that has been customized to northern Ontario in size and content,” said Ashley Larose, Science North CEO speaking to SooToday at Friday’s exhibit opening at SKG.
“Here in the Sault we have this beautiful host in SKG where we can host this exhibit and it’s about showcasing Indigenous innovation and ingenuity. We want people to think differently about items or inventions that they use in their everyday lives and show them how they come from original Indigenous innovations. We want people to look at things through a different lens.”
“This exhibit has been designed to be a traveling exhibition. We can’t anticipate that everyone in the north can visit us at Science North in Sudbury so we wanted to create exhibits like this one that can tour across the north,” Larose said.
Indigenous Ingenuity: Timeless Inventions opened in Kenora in October and was followed by a stop in Red Lake before coming to the Sault.
The exhibit will continue traveling to locations across northern Ontario until June 2024, Larose said.
“Stop by and see the exhibition for only five dollars from Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m,” Science North wrote in a release.
Over the next two years, the exhibition will be traveling to approximately 20 communities across the north.
“The biggest contribution that I think the exhibition would give this community is that it’s interactive,” said Lauren Doxtater, SKG director of academics.
Visitors on Friday especially enjoyed interactive bow hunting, for example.
“I think, in terms of cross cultural knowledge exchange, that there are non-Indigenous people who would benefit by experiencing this exhibit, knowing that the activities that are in it are still practiced by Indigenous people, especially in this territory,” Doxtater said, pointing to the canoe and Indigenous fishnets as examples.
“On the flip side the Indigenous learner can have the opportunity to be proud that our people have contributed this way.”
Sault MP Terry Sheehan, City Councillor Sonny Spina, SKG and Science North officials - as well as ADSB students - were on hand for Friday’s exhibition opening.
Shingwauk Kinoomaage Gamig is at 1491 Queen St. E.