“A lot of what I care about is making things right, bringing dignity back to our people in the world, because I spent so much time as a kid seeing our people spoken about as if they didn't exist, as if I didn't exist in these museums,” James McGuire, SG̱aan Kwahagang, confides. He is a Haida citizen and the collections coordinator and engagement coordinator at the Haida Gwaii Museum. He’s the frontman for a band called Jason Camp and the Posers, the director of the Haida Gwaii Radio Society, and Director of Ging Gang Hla TllGaad Music and arts cooperative. A cultural dancer and singer, he is very involved in his community and culture.

McGuire developed a love of museums early on. He explains, “Unfortunately, as an Indigenous person in this country, you're almost forced to be interested in going to museums, because for a lot of us, it's some of the only way we get to interact with our traditional cultures.” Growing up between Haida Gwaii and Vancouver, when he couldn’t get home, visiting his ancestral artifacts in museums helped him stay connected. He also visited with family in museums. “In the past, I hadn't realized the kind of damage it was doing to my soul just to visit our ancestors in these colonial museums,” he reflects. These days, his museum experience is so much different.

A Red Seal auto collision mechanic and welder by trade, McGuire moved home to Haida Gwaii in his twenties. The museum he now works in has a different approach than others because it’s Haida-led, by Haida people, for Haida people. It has a living collection where items are used for cultural purposes. Cases are open and can be touched by family members if it is safe to do so. Cultural continuity and respectful representation are priorities in the way the museum presents cultural collections. They work with other museums to address how Haida are spoken about and to repatriate items and physical remains of ancestors back home through the 30 year old repatriation process. The museum hires based on what they call nation-based scholarship, connection to culture and community, and does not solely rely on degrees.

“I think that's really important for people, especially Indigenous people and Indigenous young people, is to remember that the footing of your culture and your people is what will carry you through this world, and it is so important to get in touch and understand it and and be able to communicate it and understand it in your soul, and spend time with elders, spend time learning songs, if you can, spend time speaking language, if you can, work to repair the damages that have been done to our people and the ancestors will carry you towards whatever pathway you need to be in,” he urges.

When it comes to music, McGuire sees it as his fun side, though he acknowledges music has always been a way of life for his people and is part of human behaviour. He grew up around musicians and jazz, blues and soul are integral to his community. His band started out as a bit of a joke but turned into fun. “Once you start to do things from the points of view of the way that we Indigenous people see the world, none of these barriers that are told that we could have from our communities exist,” he says. They found ways to produce records, put on concerts and tour despite challenges by pooling funds and helping each other. They started off playing punk but ended up playing Blues.

From an educational perspective, McGuire struggled with school, noting for Indigenous students, “this curriculum that is given to us is not meant to serve us.” Seeing his uncle in a textbook with incorrect information about his community eroded his trust. He did a high school apprenticeship in auto collision, completed his high school by correspondence and graduated with a first year apprenticeship.   He welded every summer since he was 14. He earned his Red Seal in auto collision by the time he was in his early 20s. While he was not inclined towards traditional academics, he was able to follow what he was intrigued by and thrive, building a contracting business for auto collision and mechanics and welding. Later, he ran the props department, did set design and art direction for a Haida language movie called Edge of the Knife, winning a Leo award. He also makes traditional coppers for his people.

When it comes to inspiration, McGuire loves being part of figuring out how to respectfully share culture so people feel good and full of pride when they leave. He takes particular joy in reshaping representation in museums so people can reflect on Haida people as living, breathing people.  

He’s also inspired by the importance of oral history as observational science and the work he gets to do around that at the museum. He encourages people to listen to the oral histories of their own people. In all that he does, he gives thanks to his ancestors who kept culture alive during the potlatch ban.

His advice for any youth who might be thinking about leaving their community to learn or travel is, “Make sure you always keep one foot and one part of your brain grounded in your people, as much as you can. Always look to how you can connect what you're learning in a colonial world to the connections and teachings of your ancestors…. Never forget where you come from, never forget the teachings of your ancestors. Try to stay as connected as you possibly can.” That need to be connected is why McGuire has tried to create a radio station, Haida Gwaii Radio, to encourage practicing language, stay grounded, and learn from cultural media.  

He advises youth to find teachings that can help their home communities while they are away but warns, “We do walk in two different worlds, we have brains that think in Indigenous. We're out there in a world that doesn't think in Indigenous, that doesn't think in community, that only thinks as individuals. We have to avoid becoming that. If you could study economics, you would understand that the dollar is based on no value, the only thing that is worth anything in this world is community, love and the people around you being comfortable. And that is what’s most important.”

Making things right and bringing dignity back to his people in the world, James McGuire is participating in healing Haida relationships with museums. From repatriation work to reshaping representation, he’s doing justice work by day and arts community work on the side. With songs in his heart, he leaves room for joy and fun, creating a radio station and music to play on it.

“Never forget where you come from, never forget the teachings of your ancestors. Try to stay as connected as you possibly can.”

Thank you to Alison Tedford Seaweed for authoring this article!

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