Past Recipients
2024
Blackfoot Crossing Historical Park
The Award recognizes Blackfoot Crossing's leadership as
champions for the Siksika Nation on the local, provincial, and
international levels. The cultural centre places the vision of
"preserving, maintaining and promoting Siksikawa 'Way of Life'" at
the core of every program, event, and initiative, celebrating and
sharing authentic Blackfoot culture and history with their
community, Albertans, and the world through relationships with
knowledge keepers, leaders, artists, and performers. Blackfoot
Crossing's work has positioned them as a central community
institution, and active participant in the museum and tourism
communities. Their recent achievements in repatriation have
developed expertise, experience, and leadership in work that the
museum sector is currently being challenged to embrace and expand.
Blackfoot Crossing Historical Park is at the forefront of our
understanding of what true self-determination, reconciliation, and
decolonization in the museum sector can look like.
For more on this Robert R. Janes Award recipient, click here.
2023
Red Deer Museum + Art Gallery
The Award recognizes the Red Deer Museum + Art Gallery's work to
embed collaboration, partnership, and shared authority into the
institution. Over the last several years, the museum has built
relationships and developed partnerships with community members and
organizations to help to tell a fuller story of the city of Red
Deer and its citizens, from the Indigenous communities that have
lived there for millennia to the newcomers who are just arriving.
The work of the MAG to integrate historical and modern perspectives
positions the museum as a relevant community institution that is
actively engaging with and shaping the future of their community,
not just the past. Their joyful approach to community building,
programming, and exhibition development makes them a gathering
place that people want to be a part of.
For more on this Robert R. Janes Award recipient, click here.
2022
Galt Museum & Archives /
Akaisamitohkanao'pa
The Galt Museum & Archives' / Akaisamitohkanao'pa's work to
engage in community-centred change making and relationship building
with community partners is an excellent example of meaningful
social responsibility. The museum has developed long-lasting
community partnerships, especially those with local Treaty 7
Nations and the Métis Nation of Alberta Region 3. The real social
change the museum is making is especially evident in the deepening
personal relationships between museum staff and Indigenous
community partners and the Niitsitapi (Blackfoot) name granted to
the museum in 2022.
For more on this Robert R. Janes Award recipient, click here.
2021
Wetaskiwin and District Heritage Museum
The Wetaskiwin and District Heritage Museum has demonstrated a
long-standing commitment to embedding social responsibility and
sustainability into all aspects of its work. The museum is a
welcoming gathering space that grows with and for the community it
serves and joins with local organizations to expand its reach,
demonstrating an understanding of the importance of collaboration
to make limited resources stretch further. The museum stands out as
a model for other institutions, especially for similar small and
rural museums.
For more on this Robert R. Janes Award recipient, click here.
2020
Lougheed House
Lougheed House has challenged itself to go beyond the
traditional historic house museum to embrace, challenge, and
educate the communities around it and evolve alongside them. This
Award recognizes the House's commitment to creating exciting and
unique visitor experiences that tell the lesser-known stories of
Calgary and to integrating social responsibility into all aspects
of its museum practice. The House's ongoing partnerships with
Indigenous, racialized, queer, and feminist communities and its
responsiveness to the feedback gathered from these diverse
communities firmly positions it as a leader in the museum
field.
For more on this Robert R. Janes Award recipient, click here.
2019
Musée Héritage Museum
Every aspect of operations at the Musée Héritage Museum is
guided by their inclusive, collaborative mission of moving forward
together with their community and celebrating the historic
diversity of the area they serve. The Musée Héritage Museum
has embraced the 2015 Truth and Reconciliation Commission's
Calls to Action, taking steps to advance reconciliation by
putting Indigenous people, narratives, and history at the core of
their exhibits, programming, and partnerships.
In addition to its Indigenous partnerships, the Musée Héritage
Museum also collaborates with local organizations to create
projects, exhibitions, and events that reach beyond their walls to
support the community. Treasured by the community, the Musée
Héritage Museum's commitment to being an inclusive, welcoming space
for all is a shining example of how a museum can think outside the
box to affect the wider world.
For more on this Robert R. Janes Award recipient, click
here.
2018
Calgary Police Discovery Centre (Formerly
YouthLink Calgary Police Interpretive Centre)
For over two decades, the Calgary Police Discovery Centre (CPDC)
has sought to foster positive relationships between youth and the
Calgary Police Service (CPS) through engaging, impactful, and
educational programming. Their work involves extensive
collaboration with Calgary-based partners and agencies to stop
crime before it happens and build trust between the CPS and
citizens. By educating youth on the five Safe for Life themes -
gangs, drugs, bullying, online safety, and healthy relationships -
CPDC and their partners empower youth with knowledge that enables
them to make better life choices and reduce crime and
victimization.
For more on this Robert R. Janes Award recipient, click here.
2017
Fort Edmonton Park
One of the largest living history museums in Canada, Fort
Edmonton Park serves as model for developing an inclusive approach
to partnering with First Nations and Métis communities as they work
together in the spirit of reconciliation to create and deliver
authentic, historically accurate, and engaging programming.
As a Robert R. Janes Award recipient, Fort Edmonton Park was
selected to attend and present at the Best In Heritage Awards
Projects of Influence annual event, where their work received
the first runner-up recognition.
"Relationships and Reconciliation at Fort Edmonton"
Presentation by Darren Dalgleish, President and CEO, Fort Edmonton Management Company
To learn more about the Best in Heritage Awards Projects of Influence, please visit their website.
For more on this Robert R. Janes Award recipient, click here.
Additional Past Recipients of the Robert R. Janes Award: