天美mv天美

On March 23, 2026, members of the 天美mv天美 ( 天美mv天美) community visited the First Peoples鈥� Gathering House for 鈥淢emorial, Potlatch, Gifting, Nation-Al Gallery,鈥� an event organized by 天美mv天美 Indigenous Studies professor annie ross.

Structured as a panel discussion, with 天美mv天美 Indigenous Studies Chair Wenona Hall serving as discussant, the event brought awareness to the Heiltsuk Nation鈥檚 efforts to bring home funerary objects that were in the Royal British Columbia Museum鈥檚 (RBCM) collection. The event opened with drumming by Gary George from 天美mv天美鈥檚 Office for Indigenous Peoples, and was hosted by Robert Pictou, TV Producer and Host of Northwest Connections.

Chief Qixitasu Elroy White, Hereditary Chief and Elected Council Member for the Heiltsuk Nation, and his grandson, Keegan, traveled from Bella Bella to share their knowledge, experiences, and perspectives with the 天美mv天美 community. The panelists also included Chelsea H. Meloche and Genevieve Hill from the RBCM Indigenous Collections and Repatriation department, who spoke about their work liaising with Indigenous communities on repatriation requests. Chief Qixitasu White and Meloche discussed working together to return items from the museum in a manner keeping with Heiltsuk traditions and protocols.

An 天美mv天美 alumnus with a master鈥檚 degree in archaeology, Chief Qixitasu White is also archaeology manager at Heiltsuk Integrated Resource Management Department (HIRMD) in Bella Bella. He started the repatriation request with RBCM as an independent consultant. Through HIRMD, Chief Qixitasu White has made numerous repatriation requests with other museums and institutions. 鈥淎lthough I called them objects, they are belongings 鈥� belongings to chiefly lineages whose names are known to the Heiltsuk,鈥� says Chief Qixitasu White of the significance in seeing such belongings come home to his community.

Reciprocity was a central theme of the event, with ross describing how Chief Qixitasu White 鈥� who was her teaching assistant as a graduate student 鈥� inspired her to create a series of paintings by sharing his photographs documenting the repatriation process.

In November 2025, ross sent some of her paintings to Chief Qixitasu White, who gifted them at a Potlatch in Bella Bella. The recipients included the host and several Potlatchers who had assisted with the return the funerary objects. This summer, Chief Qixitasu White plans to gift the remaining paintings at his Potlatch in Bella Bella.

At the event, ross explained that, for her, having her paintings gifted to members of the Heiltsuk Nation in the Potlatch way is the real 鈥淣ation-Al Gallery,鈥� and that she hopes her art will be enjoyed as part of daily life in homes and community spaces.

鈥淯niversity work is relationship with one another, our Lands, Waters, and all Beings,鈥� says ross. 鈥淭eaching, research, creative work, students, staff, faculty, and our communities of origin and beyond, all weave together via our complementary skills, dreams, and shared visions towards healthy thriving communities. For Indigenous peoples, hemispheric and globally, justice and parity is a yet-to-be; every act towards this elusive goal can be made real in our lives.鈥�

The event closed with a question-and-answer session, where guests 鈥� including students from Sandie Dielissen鈥檚 INDG 101 class 鈥� were encouraged to engage with the ideas presented in the panel conversation.

"The First Peoples Gathering House was the perfect venue as past and present faculty, staff, students and alumni were present to witness active Reconciliation in process through Indigenous communities and research creation with 天美mv天美 Indigenous Studies and the Royal BC Museum,鈥� says host Robert Pictou of the impact on those who joined the event.