‘Walking the Wabanaki Way’ exhibit at the Fredericton Region Museum

Ramona Nicholas, Wolastoqey archaeologist, curator, and cultural knowledge keeper, gave a lecture exploring the deep connections between Wabanaki culture and history. (Malachi Lefurgey/AQ)

On Sept. 18, the Fredericton Region Museum hosted a small gallery and lecture named “Walking the Wabanaki Way”, created and spoken by Ramona Nicholas.  

In a small room packed with three rows of chairs sat local New Brunswickers, coming from all different backgrounds to gather together and learn about the nation of the Wabanaki people. 

“This [exhibit] goes into a little more detail into understanding these creation stories and how we came to this land,” said Nicholas. 

The gallery filled the entire third floor. It held several past generational artifacts, including handwoven baskets, tribal outfits, paintings, stitching, old photographs and maps.

Nicholas said she created the gallery with family, friends and different regional chief leaders.

“We don't have a lot of people that do this work and to be able to create space for that is really important for me,” said Nicholas. 

This gallery provides a space to include all of the Indigenous people and bring their unknown history to the public.  

“When you realize and see what happened to Indigenous people it strikes a chord. It was a fight for life for a long time,” said Nicholas.  

To Nicholas, it’s important to showcase the good but also show the trials and tribulations the Indigenous culture has experienced.

A heavy inspiration to the exhibit was Nicholas’ mother, who died a few years ago but was still present in their story.  

One of the ways she was represented in the gallery was the wall colour — turquoise. 

Nicholas’ next steps will be working on new projects at the University of New Brunswick.  

A new project in the making is to include baskets. According to Nicholas, the history of hand weaving slits of wood in creating a simple basket goes beyond the common first thoughts.  

Nicholas reminded the community that we are all treaty people and should not stop here, but continue to seek out information about Indigenous communities.

“In order to know who you are you need to know where you came from,” said Nicholas.