MMSt alum Rhéanne Chartrand on her new role as the ROM’s Hatch Curator of Indigenous Art & Culture

When she graduated from the Master of Museum Studies program in 2011, Rhéanne Chartrand was thrilled to be one of the first in her class to land a job in her field. A few months later, however, the organization she was working for folded and she found herself unemployed. It was a “reality check” about the precariousness of the cultural heritage sector and the challenges of finding permanent work.  

While Chartrand still held on to her goal of becoming a curator, she applied for any and all jobs supporting Indigenous art and culture and, over the next few years, spent time working in Indigenous performing arts, music and film. That varied experience eventually led to Chartrand being named artistic director for the Aboriginal Pavilion, an Indigenous arts, culture and sports festival held in conjunction with the 2015 Pan Am Games in Toronto.  

Chartrand seized on the opportunity to solo curate the photographic and mixed media art exhibition, Gazing Back, Looking Forward. Artists and others took note. And not long after, Chartrand became an Aboriginal Curatorial Resident at the McMaster Museum of Art in Hamilton. When a permanent position of Curator of Indigenous Art was later created, she successfully competed for the job. In that role, which she held for six years, Chartrand worked mostly on thematic exhibitions that explored Indigenous visual sovereignty and art histories, often weaving together visual art, music, and performance. 

Chartrand says the job enabled her to develop what she calls “curatorial cornerstones” as well as to focus on ethics in practice, experience that she relies on at the ROM where a key part of her role is reframing how museums engage with Indigenous cultural belongings.  “It’s about honouring the relationships and the attachments that people have to these belongings,” she says, stressing the importance of access, information sharing and collaboration. 

When the ROM established its new position of Hatch Curator of Indigenous Art & Culture, one of the people it sought out was Chartrand, whose colleagues and mentors were also encouraging her to apply for the job. In May of last year, the museum announced it had chosen Chartrand for the role, which was conceived to signal both the ROM’s commitment to the ongoing work of reconciliation, as well as its efforts to become an even more inclusive, open, and accessible hub for the community.  

Frequent community visits play a critical role in this work. “Sometimes we get a call a day before, and we pivot to make it happen,” Chartrand says. These interactions might involve giving Indigenous visitors priority access to belongings from their nations and communities or facilitating the temporary return of sacred and ceremonial belongings to communities for specific events. 

Chartrand’s commitment to cultural sovereignty is also evident in her push for updating repatriation policies, a complex but essential aspect of her mission. “The grounds for repatriation really need to change,” she says, explaining that she favours broadening the criteria of what is “repatriationable”.  

Chartrand views these efforts as part of a larger shift toward decolonizing museum practices, including  initiatives like the Canadian Museums Association’s Moved to Action report (2022), written in response to Call #67 from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (2015). “Repatriation isn’t about emptying collections. It’s about healing, relationship building, and relevance,” she says. By aligning institutional policies with the needs and rights of Indigenous communities, she believes museums can better fulfill their mission as stewards of cultural heritage. 

Chartrand will help to oversee the ROM’s First Peoples Gallery, which has not been renovated in almost 20 years and is “long overdue for a facelift.” She envisions transforming the huge first floor gallery into a sovereign space where Indigenous communities can tell their own stories, an idea that involves rethinking traditional exhibit models to prioritize consultation, collaboration and consent. 

“I want this gallery to become a case study for how to implement best practices,” Chartrand says, highlighting the potential for the ROM to lead by example. “We have the opportunity to fix misrepresentation and create spaces where Indigenous voices to lead the narrative.” 

While Chartrand acknowledges the challenges of working within a 110-year-old colonial institution, she also makes clear that the museum has led on Indigenous issues at moments in the past. “I’m not the first indigenous person to work at the ROM,” says Chartrand, who is a citizen of the Métis Nation of Ontario. “It’s surprising to a lot of people that there were actually Indigenous folks that worked here at an earlier time when it was much harder to affect change.”  

Chartrand’s commitment to Indigenous sovereignty also extends to the Faculty of Information’s Museum Studies program where she now teaches the Museums and Indigenous Communities course that was launched when she was a student. She has, however, overhauled the syllabus to address some of the gaps she encountered. “I hope to catalyze conversations about making this course mandatory,” she says. “I don’t think you can enter the field at the current moment without knowing something about the relationship between museums and Indigenous communities.” 

Chartrand believes students must cultivate critical research skills, self-awareness, and the ability to work collaboratively. “You need to know your positionality – how your lived experiences shape your perspectives and approach,” she says.  

A signature assignment in her course requires them to design programs, exhibitions, or other initiatives that translate theory into practice. “At first, they struggle with the lack of parameters, but that’s what we do in museums – turn knowledge into something tangible,” she says. “Gone are the days of the curator sitting at their desk conducting research or curating a show in isolation.” 

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Caption for visit photo 

Rhéanne Chartrand (MMSt, 2011) often meets with Indigenous visitors to the ROM, who get priority access to belongings from their nations and communities. 

Pull quote 

‘We have the opportunity to fix misrepresentation and create spaces where Indigenous voices to lead the narrative.’ 

Photo: Paul Eekhoff