Introducing MAS Repatriation and Community Liaison: Gabriel Essaunce Lamarche 

MAS is committed to building understanding and capacity within our members, ensuring relevancy and community vibrancy as a key aspect of our member support.

Many of the museums in Saskatchewan have a long and celebrated history in their communities. Today, many museums are facing challenges with community trust due to outdated practices, shifting expectations for museums to play a role in social discourse, and their responsibilities to implement UNDRIP and to respond to the TRC Calls to Action. MAS recognizes our role in supporting our members to navigate these challenges.

MAS is committed to meaningful collaboration with Indigenous people in Saskatchewan to ensure self-determination and Indigenous control through the physical care and ongoing, informed consent over the care, presentation, context, and safeguarding of their ancestors, cultural materials and sacred and ceremonial objects.

With a warm welcome, we would like to introduce Gabriel Essaunce Lamarche, MAS Repatriation and Community Liaison. This role is responsible for working directly with MAS members to help them understand the objects in their collections and guide them in initiating repatriation processes and stewardship agreements through meaningful relationships with Indigenous Peoples.

“I am a member of Beausoleil First Nation, an Ojibwe community on the shores of Lake Huron, and have lived in Saskatchewan for most of my adult life, and I am happily married to a woman from Prince Albert, and the Lac la Ronge Indian Band. My roots aren’t from here, but I have an appreciation for the role that Heritage Institutions can play in helping people to develop a healthy sense of heritage, to respect deep roots and cultivate new roots, so that we can all live together well. I have an academic background in archaeology, and I have an expertise in artifact identification. I have a strong passion for making our Heritage Institutions more useful for Indigenous people, to address the exclusionary historical legacies we have inherited. An important goal in that direction is to return control and authority of Indigenous items to Indigenous people. I am here to assist with that process. I don’t have all the answers, but I want to work with you to find the right ones that fit your unique cases.”

Gabriel can be reached by at: [email protected]
(306) 780-9279

Welcome Gabriel to MAS!

If you have any questions regarding Gabriel’s role, or any other questions for MAS, please contact Executive Director Emma Morris, [email protected]
(306) 780-9280