
About The Cumberland Museum & Archives
tuwa akʷs χoχoɬ ʔa xʷ yiχmɛtɛt (ʔa) kʷʊms hɛhaw tʊms gɩǰɛ.
For thousands of years, Indigenous people occupied the shoreline of eastern Vancouver Island in a place they referred to as “The Land of Plenty”. This Land of Plenty stretched from what is known today as Kelsey Bay in the north, down to Hornby and Denman Island in the south, and included the watershed and estuary of the Puntledge River.
The Cumberland Museum and Archives is located within these lands, the Unceded traditional territory of the K’òmoks First Nation, consisting of the Pentlatch, Ieeksan (eye-ick-sun), Sasitla (sa-seet-la), and Sathloot (sath-loot) people. The Museum acknowledges the indigenous groups of these areas as knowledge keepers and guardians who have cared for the land and water of this unceded territory since time immemorial.
The Museum has committed to implementing the Truth & Reconciliation Committee’s Calls to Action for Museums and Archives as well as the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The Museum is working with the K’ómoks First Nation to ensure that any content, stories, and knowledge shared onsite or through the digital museum is generated by community members.
The late nineteenth century brought the arrival of settlers from Europe, Asia, and other parts of the world, who placed overlapping values on the land of plenty. The Museum’s exhibits and collection explore important social, political, economic and environmental themes that reflect the Museum’s understanding and representation of Cumberland’s rich history. The Museum’s aims to celebrate the stories of the people who called Cumberland home. They are at the very core of the Museum and as integral as the objects and documents found within. These diverse voices provide an exciting, riveting, and sometimes challenging juxtaposition of perspectives within our activities, programming, and exhibitions.